Shire of Southern Grampians

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox Australian place The Shire of Southern Grampians is a local government area (LGA) in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of Template:Convert and in June 2018 had a population of 16,135.<ref name=ABSLGA/> It includes the city of Hamilton and the towns of Coleraine, Dunkeld and Penshurst.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Southern Grampians Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Hamilton, it also has service centres located in a couple of other locations within Hamilton. The Shire is named after the major geographical feature in the region, The Grampians, and that the southern part of this feature occupies the northern part of the LGA.

History

The traditional owners of this shire are the Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung and Bunganditj people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Shire of Southern Grampians was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Hamilton, Shire of Wannon, the vast bulk of the Shire of Mount Rouse and Shire of Dundas, and small parts of the Shire of Kowree and Shire of Heywood.<ref name="Gazette" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The creation of the Shire was strongly supported by the councils of the City of Hamilton and the Shires of Wannon, Dundas and Mount Rouse. The four municipalities were eager to amalgamate, as they were already collaborating in a range of areas including library services, health, water, waste disposal and weights and measures.<ref name=":0" /> At public meetings held in the respective towns, Branxholme residents voted to join Southern Grampians, while Caramut and Macarthur residents chose to join the Shire of Moyne.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Shire of Wannon suggested the name "Southern Grampians Council" for the combined entity.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The Local Government Board initially planned to call the amalgamated municipality the "Shire of Napier" (after Mount Napier), but the four councils expressed their preference for "Southern Grampians", a suggestion the Board ultimately adopted.<ref name=":1" />

In January 1996, about 180 km² of farmland west and south-west of Wickliffe was transferred from Southern Grampians to the Rural City of Ararat and the Shire of Moyne after a further Local Government Board review.<ref>Template:Cite Gazette VIC</ref>

Southern Grampians Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.
🞲 Area transferred out of Southern Grampians Shire in 1996

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.<ref name=Council>Template:Cite web</ref> Council Composition as of September 2022:

Ward	Councillor		Term	Notes
Unsubdivided	Template:Australian party style|	David Robertson	2020–Present	Mayor
	Template:Australian party style|	Bruach Colliton	2008–2016, 2020–Present
	Template:Australian party style|	Helen Henry	2020–Present
	Template:Australian party style|	Mary-Ann Brown	2016–Present	(Mayor 2016–2019)
	Template:Australian party style|	Albert Cavano	2008–Present	(Mayor 2012-2014)
	Template:Australian party style|	Greg McAdam	2016–Present
	Template:Australian party style|	Katrina Rainsford	2004–Present

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Hamilton Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre on Brown Street in Hamilton, and its service centres on Market Pl and Roberts St in Hamilton.

Townships and localities

The 2021 census recorded the shire population at 16,588, compared to 15,944 in the 2016 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	294	281
Template:VICcity	1,793	1,996
Template:VICcity	81	84
Template:VICcity^	351	304
Template:VICcity	39	42
Template:VICcity	25	21
Template:VICcity	93	104
Template:VICcity^	123	129
Template:VICcity	119	134
Template:VICcity^	246	256
Template:VICcity^	70	67
Template:VICcity	334	366
Template:VICcity^	3	3
Template:VICcity^	17	15
Template:VICcity	1,029	1,062
Template:VICcity	38	38

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	70	70
Template:VICcity	35	31
Template:VICcity^	678	688
Template:VICcity	23	23
Template:VICcity	29	35
Template:VICcity^	43	42
Template:VICcity^	16	23
Template:VICcity^	232	256
Template:VICcity	0	0
Template:VICcity	21	44
Template:VICcity	55	61
Template:VICcity	9,974	10,346
Template:VICcity^	200	184
Template:VICcity	59	75
Template:VICcity	19	29
Template:VICcity	30	29

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	50	60
Template:VICcity	42	63
Template:VICcity	26	31
Template:VICcity	83	79
Template:VICcity	31	29
Template:VICcity	17	16
Template:VICcity	83	108
Template:VICcity^	31	29
Template:VICcity^	36	48
Template:VICcity^	93	79
Template:VICcity^	622	677
Template:VICcity	29	29
Template:VICcity^	14	21
Template:VICcity	14	25
Template:VICcity	93	84

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	39	38
Template:VICcity^	36	30
Template:VICcity^	21	25
Template:VICcity	37	25
Template:VICcity	301	328
Template:VICcity	49	45
Template:VICcity	17	16
Template:VICcity	79	65
Template:VICcity^	104	96
Template:VICcity	108	124
Template:VICcity	24	50
Template:VICcity	39	34
Template:VICcity	46	32
Template:VICcity	26	35
Template:VICcity	127	128

Template:Columns-end ^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also

List of localities (Victoria)

External links

• Southern Grampians Shire Council official website
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
• Template:Victorian local government areas pre-1994 vs present map link