The Shire of Northern Grampians is a local government area in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of 5,918 square kilometres (2,285 sq mi) and, at the 2011 Census, had a population of 11,845.[1] It includes the towns of Stawell, St Arnaud, Great Western, Marnoo, Glenorchy, Stuart Mill, Navarre and the tourist town of Halls Gap. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the City of Stawell, Town of St Arnaud, Shire of Stawell, Shire of Kara Kara and parts of the Shire of Wimmera, Shire of Dunmunkle and Shire of Donald.[2]
The Shire is governed and administered by the Northern Grampians Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Stawell, it also has a service centre located in St Arnaud. The Shire is named after the major geographical feature in the region, The Grampians, and that the northern part of this feature occupies the southern part of the LGA.
The local economy is based on a diverse range of industries including agriculture, tourism, wine production, gold mining, brick manufacturing and meat production.
Stawell Town Hall complex, a seat of local government for the Northern Grampians Shire Council
The council is composed of four wards and seven councillors, with three councillors elected to represent the Stawell Ward, two councillors elected to represent the Kara Kara Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards.[3]
Ward
Councillor
Notes
Central
Kevin Erwin
Mayor (2013–14)
Kara Kara
Merrilee Reid
Tony Driscoll
South West
Paul Russell
Stawell
Murray Emerson
Karen Hyslop
Wayne Rice
Administration and governance[]
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Stawell Town Hall Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Stawell, and its service centre in St Arnaud.
