The Shire of Southern Grampians is a local government area (LGA) in the

Barwon South West The Barwon South West is an economic rural region located in the southwestern part of Victoria, Australia. The Barwon South West region stretches from the tip of the Queenscliff Heads to the border of South Australia. It is home to Victoria� ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 16,135. It includes the towns of

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...

and

Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, within the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The village is situa ...

. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Hamilton, Shire of Wannon and parts of the

Shire of Dundas The Shire of Dundas is a local government area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The shire covers an area of and its seat of government is the town of Norseman. Its territory lies between Norseman and the border with S ...

Shire of Kowree The Shire of Kowree was a local government area in western Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1862 until 1995. History Kowree was first incorporated as a road district on 24 June 1862, and became a shire on ...

Shire of Mount Rouse The Shire of Mount Rouse was a Local government in Australia, local government area about west of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1860 until 1994. Histo ...

and

Shire of Heywood The Shire of Heywood was a local government area about west-southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1856 until 1994. It was, for most of its life, known as the Shire of ...

. The Shire is governed and administered by the Southern Grampians Shire Council; its

seat of local government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation’s capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

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.

Traditional owners

The traditional owners of this shire are the

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...

Tjap Wurrung The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrene ...

and

Bunganditj Bungandidj is a language of Australia, spoken by the Bungandidj people, Indigenous Australians who lived in an area which is now in south-eastern South Australia and in south-western Victoria. According to Christina Smith and her book on the B ...

people.

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. Council Composition as of September 2022:

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.

Main towns in shire

In 2021 Census the shire had a population of 16,588.

References

External links

Southern Grampians Shire Council official websiteMetlink local public transport map

Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
Local government areas of Victoria (Australia) Barwon South West {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub