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Surf Coast Shire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Surf Coast Shire
Local government area
Location in Victoria
Location in Victoria
Official logo of Surf Coast Shire
CountryAustralia
StateVictoria
RegionBarwon South West
Established1994
Council seatTorquay
Government
 • MayorCr Mike Bodsworth
 • State electorates
 • Federal divisions
Area
[1]
 • Total
1,553 km2 (600 sq mi)
Population
 • Total37,623 (2021)[1]
 • Density24.226/km2 (62.745/sq mi)
Gazetted9 March 1994[2]
WebsiteSurf Coast Shire
LGAs around Surf Coast Shire
Golden Plains Golden Plains Greater Geelong
Colac Otway Surf Coast Shire Bass Strait
Colac Otway Bass Strait Bass Strait
Aerial views of the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia.

The Surf Coast Shire 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 1,553 square kilometres (600 mi2). It had a population of 32,251 in June 2018.[1] It includes the coastal towns of Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Lorne and Torquay and the inland towns of Moriac and Winchelsea.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Surf Coast Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Torquay. The Shire is named after its location on the popular surf coast of Victoria.

History

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Formation

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Before the 1990s local government reforms, the Surf Coast Shire's area was covered by three municipalities: the Shire of Winchelsea, the Shire of Barrabool, and the City of South Barwon. The Barrabool/South Barwon boundary was the Surf Coast Highway. This meant that Jan Juc and part of Torquay were in Barrabool, while the remainder of the Torquay district, including the traditional town centre, was in South Barwon.

When the City of Greater Geelong was created in May 1993, it initially took in the entire Torquay/Jan Juc area as far west as Ghazeepore Road. It also annexed areas on Geelong's fringe (Ceres, Wandana Heights, Waurn Ponds and Mount Duneed) which had previously belonged to Barrabool.[3]

In March 1994, the Surf Coast Shire was formed from the amalgamation of the Torquay/Jan Juc area from Greater Geelong, the remainder of the Shire of Barrabool, and the Shire of Winchelsea (less the Birregurra and Barwon Downs districts, which were lost to the Shire of Colac).[2] The Surf Coast Shire's modern boundaries were settled six months later when the Lake Murdeduke and Mount Gellibrand area, part of the territory lost to Colac, was brought back into the Shire.[4]

BERJAYA
The Surf Coast Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as at the beginning of 1993. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.

Representation and structure

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Post-2008, following an electoral representation review, the decision was made to re-subdivide the municipality into four wards, the current wards are Torquay, Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne. Between 2004 and 2008, the Shire was an unsubdivided municipality and as a result, the entire municipality voted to elect nine councillors. Between 1996 and 2004, the municipality was subdivided into six wards, where three councillors per ward were elected from the Torquay and Anglesea wards, and one councillor per ward was elected from the Lorne, Winchelsea, Moriac and Aireys Inlet wards. A position of Deputy Mayor was created in 2004, but it was abolished for the 2005 mayoral election.

Council

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Current composition

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Map
2024 ward boundaries. Expand the map and click on a ward to see the ward name.

The council is composed of three wards electing three councillors each.

WardCouncillorAffiliationNotes
Otway Range Ward  Mike BodsworthIndependentMayor
 Libby StapletonIndependentDeputy Mayor
 Leon WalkerIndependent
Torquay  Paul BarkerLibertarian
 Liz PattisonIndependent
 Phoebe CrockettGreens
Winchelsea   Joel Grist Independent Libertarian
 Tony PhelpsIndependent
 Adrian SchonfelderIndependent Labor

List of former and current mayors

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  • Cr Noel Bates (1995–1997)
  • Cr Henry Love (1997–1998)
  • Cr Julie Hansen (1998–2000)
  • Cr Mike Barrow (2000–2001)
  • Cr Beth Davidson (2001–2004)
  • Cr Keith Grossman (2004–2005)
  • Cr Libby Mears (2005–2006)
  • Cr Rose Hodge (2006–2007)
  • Cr Dean Webster (2007–2008)
  • Cr Libby Mears (2008–2009)
  • Cr Libby Coker (2009–2010)
  • Cr Dean Webster (2010–2011)
  • Cr Brian McKiterick (2011–2012)
  • Cr Libby Coker (2012–2013)
  • Cr Rose Hodge (2013–2014)
  • Cr Margot Smith (2014–2015)
  • Cr Rose Hodge (2015–2016)
  • Cr Brian McKiterick (2016-2017)
  • Cr David Bell (2017-2018)
  • Cr Rose Hodge (2018–2020)
  • Cr Libby Stapleton (2020–2022)
  • Cr Liz Pattison (2022–2024)

Administration and Governance

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The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Torquay Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its Municipal Office in Torquay.

Election results

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2024

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This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Victorian local elections in Barwon South West § Surf Coast results.[edit]
2024 Victorian local elections: Surf Coast[5]
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change
  Independent 12,164 49.67 5 Steady
  Back to Basics Team 5,604 22.88 +22.88 3[a] Increase 3
  Greens 4,284 17.49 0 Decrease 1
  Independent Labor 2,437 9.95 1 Decrease 1
 Formal votes 24,489 97.43
 Informal votes 648 2.57
 Total 25,137 100.0
 Registered voters / turnout 30,125 83.44

2016

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Surf Coast Shire: Anglesea Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
  Labor Libby Coker 2,504 48.50
  Independent Margot Ann Smith 1,393 27.00
  Independent Jenna Robinson 1,268 24.6
Turnout 6,891 76.20%
  Labor hold Swing
  Independent hold Swing
Surf Coast Shire: Torquay Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
  Labor Rose Hodge 2,866 27.20
  Independent David Bell 1,962 18.60
  Liberal Brian McKiterick 1,268 16.00
  Greens Marian Smedley 1,529 14.50
  Independent Martin Paul Duke 1,522 14.20
  Independent Joe Remenyi 993 9.40
Turnout 19,367 68.96%
  Labor hold Swing
  Independent hold Swing
  Liberal hold Swing
  Independent gain from Greens Swing

Townships and localities

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According to the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 37,694, up from 29,397 in the 2016 census.[6]

Population
Locality20162021
Aireys Inlet802979
Anglesea2,5453,208
Bambra101115
Barrabool235247
Bellbrae8651,346
Bells Beach130151
Benwerrin59
Big Hill261281
Birregurra^828942
Boonah2118
Breamlea^162151
Buckley211228
Connewarre^788953
Deans Marsh269368
Eastern View3547
Fairhaven296390
Freshwater Creek414454
Gherang370391
Gnarwarre267297
Inverleigh^1,4741,746
Jan Juc3,6834,151
Lorne1,1141,327
Modewarre276277
Moggs Creek89120
Moriac782852
Mount Duneed^1,5786,182
Mount Moriac240251
Ombersley^9793
Paraparap151167
Pennyroyal^86110
Torquay13,25818,534
Wensleydale10795
Winchelsea^1,9542,456
Winchelsea South179171
Wurdiboluc138147

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Including one endorsed Libertarian Party member and one independent Libertarian member.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 Victoria Government Gazette – Online Archive (1837–1997). "Orders estg the Surf Coast Shire: S8 of 1994". State Library of Victoria. State Government of Victoria (published 9 March 1994). pp. 1–9. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  3. ↑ City of Greater Geelong Act 1993 (Vic) s Note to Schedule 1
  4. ↑ Victoria Government Gazette – Online Archive (1837–1997). "Order altg (Part 8) the Surf Coast Shire: S63 of 1994". State Library of Victoria. State Government of Victoria (published 23 September 1994). p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Surf Coast Shire Council election candidates". VEC. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  6. ↑ "Census | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. 11 January 2023.
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38°18′00″S 144°00′00″E / 38.30000°S 144.00000°E / -38.30000; 144.00000

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