The Geelong city centre is the

urban center An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

and main commercial

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

of the

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

, also referred to as the Geelong CBD, Central Geelong, the Central Activities Area, or informally simply as "Town" by locals. The name of the area is officially

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

as Geelong. The Geelong city centre is the oldest part of Geelong and includes many of the city's historic landmarks such as the

Geelong Town Hall Geelong Town Hall is a civic building located on Gheringhap Street in central Geelong, Victoria. It was originally built for the City of Geelong, which became the City of Greater Geelong in 1993. Construction The land for the Town Hall was f ...

, St. Mary of the Angels Basilica, the T & G Building, Johnstone Park,

Geelong railway station Geelong railway station is located on the Warrnambool railway line, Warrnambool line in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It serves the city of Geelong, and it opened on 1 November 1856.

, and the old

Geelong Post Office The current Geelong Post Office opened in 1994 and is located on the corner of Gheringhap and Little Myers Streets. The original post office was located on the corner of Ryrie and Gheringhap Streets. The Geelong Telegraph Station was located ne ...

. It is also a cultural area for the region, housing the

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional art gallery, gallery in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collectio ...

and the

Geelong Arts Centre Geelong Arts Centre, formerly the Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC), is a performing arts, functions, and events venue located in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The complex is located between Little Malop and Ryrie Streets in central Geelon ...

, as well as the

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

waterfront campus. Tourist attractions include the

Waterfront Geelong The Geelong Waterfront is a tourist and recreation area on the north facing shores of Corio Bay in Geelong, Australia. The area was once part of the Port of Geelong, falling into disuse before being redeveloped during the 1990s. Attractio ...

, Eastern Beach, and the

National Wool Museum The National Wool Museum, located in Drefach Felindre, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire is part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Background Historically and into the 19th century, the woollen industry in Wales, including spinning and we ...

. The city centre is one of Geelong's major

shopping district A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a city/town that is composed of individual retail establishments (such as stores, boutiques, restaurants, and shopping complexes). Such areas will typically be pedest ...

s. Two large

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Westfield Geelong Westfield Geelong is a shopping centre located in the Geelong CBD in Victoria, Australia which was opened in 1988. It was formerly known as Westfield Bay City before the 2008 redevelopment, and as Bay City Plaza before being acquired by the We ...

and Market Square Shopping Centre, have been opened in the last three decades, which has led to a decline in street shopping on the city's two main thoroughfares, Moorabool Street and Ryrie Street, resulting in a declining number of customers and some empty shops. The Geelong city centre has seen some significant redevelopment since 2016. In 2018, the WorkSafe office building was opened, followed by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) national headquarters in 2019, significantly altering the skyline. New multi-storey

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

s, such as The Mercer and The Miramar, have also been built recently.

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 5,210 people living in the Geelong city centre. 69.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.1%, India 2.7%, Italy 2.0% and China 1.9%. 75.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken included Italian 2.8% and Mandarin Chinese 2.4%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 33.1% and Catholic 26.0%.

References

External links

Central Geelong revitalisation - City of Greater GeelongCentral Activities Area - City of Greater GeelongOfficial Website of the Geelong Otway Tourism Region of the Great Ocean Road
{{Geelong suburbs Suburbs of Geelong