The Shire of Colac Otway 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 3,433 square kilometres (1,325 sq mi) and, at the 2011 Census, had a population of 20,345.[1] It includes the towns of Apollo Bay, Beeac, Beech Forest, Birregurra, Colac, Cressy, Forrest, Johanna, Kennett River, Lavers Hill, Warrion and Wye River. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Colac, Shire of Colac, Shire of Otway and part of the Shire of Heytesbury.[2]
The Shire is governed and administered by the Colac Otway Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Colac, it also has a service centre located in Apollo Bay. The Shire is named after the combination of the names for the former City of Colac, and Shires of Colac and Otway, of which the majority of the LGA was formed from. The name Colac is used for both the main urban settlement and the lake, Lake Colac, which are located in the north-centre of the LGA. Colac is also the most populous urban centre in the LGA with a population of 11,415.[3] The name Otways is used for the major geographical features located in the south of the LGA, which are The Otways and Cape Otway.
The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.[4]
Ward
Councillor
Notes
Unsubdivided
Brian Crook
Michael Delahunty
Stephen Hart
Frank Buchanan
Lyn Russell
Mayor (2013–14)
Chris Smith
Terry Woodcroft
Former Wards (1996–2008)[]
Colac – had three councillors
Murray – had one councillor
Otway – had one councillor
Warrion – had one councillor
Administration and governance[]
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Colac Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Colac, and its service centre in Apollo Bay.
Localities[]
Localities which encompass the Shire of Colac Otway include:
This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Shire of Colac Otway. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.