Shire of Glenelg

The Shire of Glenelg is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 19,665. It includes the towns of Casterton, Heywood, Merino and Portland.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Glenelg Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Portland, it also has service centres located in Casterton and Heywood. The Shire is named after the Glenelg River, a major geographical feature that meanders through the Shire.

Service industries, timber production, grazing and manufacturing are the Shire's main economic activities.

History

The formally recognised traditional owners for the area in which Glenelg Shire sits are the Gunditjmara People who are represented by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

Although a shire of the same name existed before the amalgamations of the mid-1990s, the current Shire was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of most of the former Shire of Glenelg with the Shire of Heywood and City of Portland.

During the local government review process in 1993 and 1994, all three former municipalities made submissions to the Local Government Board arguing that the City of Portland should continue to stand alone, even if Glenelg and Heywood were to be merged. However, the Board considered that, despite Portland's industrial character, the city's role as a service and export centre gave it a sufficiently strong connection to its rural hinterland, and proposed to merge the three LGAs into a "Shire of Henty". The name "Glenelg" was substituted later.

File:Victoria LGAs pre- vs post-amalgamation Glenelg.png

Glenelg Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. The current councillors, in order of election at the 2020 election, are:

Ward	Party		Councilor	Notes
Unsubdivided	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Gilbert Wilson
	Template:Australian party style|	Nationals	Anita Rank
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Karen Stephens
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Martin Scott
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Michael Carr
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Chrissy Hawker
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Jayden Smith

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Portland Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Portland, and its service centres in Casterton and Heywood.

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the shire had a population of 20,152 up from 19,557 in the 2016 census

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	128	168
Template:VICcity	35	56
Template:VICcity^	98	113
Template:VICcity	601	647
Template:VICcity^	351	304
Template:VICcity^	50	39
Template:VICcity	4	11
Template:VICcity^	123	129
Template:VICcity	150	151
Template:VICcity^	70	67
Template:VICcity	228	197
Template:VICcity	1,668	1,673
Template:VICcity^	86	85
Template:VICcity^	17	15
Template:VICcity	121	104
Template:VICcity	33	27

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	322	299
Template:VICcity^	43	57
Template:VICcity	124	122
Template:VICcity	47	46
Template:VICcity	152	160
Template:VICcity	73	70
Template:VICcity	116	91
Template:VICcity	188	236
Template:VICcity	227	237
Template:VICcity	18	54
Template:VICcity	51	58
Template:VICcity	237	238
Template:VICcity	60	75
Template:VICcity	1,726	1,815
Template:VICcity	23	36
Template:VICcity	45	34

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	8	9
Template:VICcity^	6	9
Template:VICcity	29	37
Template:VICcity	7	9
Template:VICcity	29	31
Template:VICcity	253	249
Template:VICcity	63	46
Template:VICcity	43	42
Template:VICcity	111	100
Template:VICcity^	31	29
Template:VICcity	73	64
Template:VICcity	14	17
Template:VICcity^	93	79
Template:VICcity	387	462
Template:VICcity	190	191

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	30	33
Template:VICcity	9,712	10,016
Template:VICcity	625	708
Template:VICcity	569	619
Template:VICcity	144	130
Template:VICcity	183	176
Template:VICcity^	36	30
Template:VICcity	20	20
Template:VICcity	21	17
Template:VICcity^	212	198
Template:VICcity^	113	94
Template:VICcity	48	41
Template:VICcity^	104	96
Template:VICcity	28	46
Template:VICcity	20	14

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also

• List of localities (Victoria)

External links

• Glenelg 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