The City of Greater Geelong is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

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 Victori ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the

2021 Australian census The 2021 Australian census, simply called the 2021 Census, was the eighteenth national Census of Population and Housing in Australia. The 2021 Census took place on 10 August 2021, and was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ...

. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Geelong urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Anakie, Balliang,

Barwon Heads Barwon Heads (previously known as Point Flinders) is a town on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the west bank of the mouth of the Barwon River below Lake Connewarre, and is bounded to the west by fa ...

, Batesford, Ceres, Clifton Springs, Drysdale,

Lara Lara may refer to: People * Lara (name), can be a given name or a surname in several languages * Lara (mythology), a naiad nymph, daughter of the river Almo in Ovid's ''Fasti'' Places *Lara (state), a state in Venezuela * Electoral district ...

, Ocean Grove, Portarlington and St Leonards. It was formed in 1993 from the amalgamation of the

Rural City of Bellarine In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

Shire of Corio The Shire of Corio was a local government area located between Geelong and Werribee, about southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire, which included all of Geelong's northern suburbs, covered an area of , and e ...

City of Geelong The City of Geelong was a local government area about southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1849 until 1993. History Geelong was the second municipality in Victoria, ...

City of Geelong West The City of Geelong West was a Local government in Australia, local government area about west of the regional city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1875 un ...

City of Newtown The City of Newtown was a local government area about west of the regional city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1858 until 1993. History Newtown and Chilwell was first incorporated as a borough ...

City of South Barwon The City of South Barwon was a local government area in Victoria, Australia, which contained a number of Geelong suburbs south of the Barwon River, and extending to Torquay in the south and Barwon Heads to the east. The city covered an area o ...

, and parts of

Shire of Barrabool The Shire of Barrabool was a local government area about southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1853 until 1994. History Barrabool was incorporated as the second roa ...

and

Shire of Bannockburn The Shire of Bannockburn was a Local government in Australia, local government area about west-south-west of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1862 until ...

. The city is governed and administered by the Greater Geelong City 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 Geelong, it also has service centres located in Drysdale, Ocean Grove and several other locations within Geelong. The city is named after the main urban settlement located in the centre-west of the LGA, that is Geelong, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 211,986. In 2019, City of Greater Geelong announced a new headquarters across the road from

WorkSafe Victoria WorkSafe Victoria is the trading name of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, a statutory authority of the state government of Victoria, Australia. History After being renamed in 2014 as Victorian Work-cover Authority by Minister Gordon Rich-P ...

. The project will be part of the new "Civic Precinct" in the Geelong CBD.

History of former municipalities

*1838 – Geelong (from the

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Wadawurrung The Wadawurrung nation, also called the Wathaurong, or Wathaurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong, and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin alliance. The W ...

word "djillong", meaning "tongue of land") declared a town *1849 – Geelong incorporated as a Town *1853 – Barrabool road district proclaimed *1853 – Portarlington Road District proclaimed *1856 – Connewarre Road District proclaimed *1857 – South Barwon Municipal District proclaimed *1857 – South Barwon Road District proclaimed *1858 – Newtown and Chilwell

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

proclaimed *1860 – Portarlington Road District renamed as Indented Head Road District *1861 – Corio Road District proclaimed *1862 –

Bannockburn Bannockburn () is an area immediately south of the centre of Stirling in Scotland. It is part of the City of Stirling. It is named after the Bannock Burn, a stream running through the town before flowing into the River Forth. History Land in ...

Road District proclaimed *1863 – Meredith Road District proclaimed *1863 – Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale separated from Indented Head Road District to form Queenscliffe Municipal District. Redesignated as Queenscliffe Borough October 1963. *1863 – South Barwon Borough created by amalgamating South Barwon Municipal District and South Barwon Road District *1864 – Bannockburn Road District redesignated as Shire *1864 – Corio Road District redesignated as Shire *1865 – Indented Head Road District redesignated and renamed as Bellarine Shire *1874 – South Barwon Shire created by amalgamating Connewarre Road District and South Barwon Borough *1875 –

Geelong West Geelong West is a commercial and residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. When Geelong was founded, the area was known as Kildare but its name was changed to Geelong West in 1875. The main street is Pakington Street. At the 2016 c ...

Borough proclaimed *1910 – Geelong proclaimed a City *1915 – Meredith Shire added to Bannockburn Shire *1922 – Geelong West proclaimed a Town *1924 – Newtown and Chilwell proclaimed a Town *1929 – Geelong West proclaimed a City *1959 – Newtown and Chilwell proclaimed a City *1967 – Newtown and Chilwell City renamed as Newtown City *1974 – South Barwon proclaimed a City *1989 – Bellarine proclaimed a City *1993 – City of Greater Geelong formed by amalgamating part of Bannockburn Shire, part of Barrabool Shire, Bellarine Rural City, Corio Shire, Geelong City, Newtown City & South Barwon City. The part that had been in South Barwon City was then transferred to

Surf Coast Shire 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 . It had a population of 32,251 in June 2018. It includes the towns o ...

on its creation in March 1994. Sourced from Appendix V, ''A Journey to Destiny 1890–1990 – 100 Years of Cement Manufacturing at Fyansford by Australian Cement Limited ''.

Council

Council composition (as of 2023)

Due to conflicts in the previous council a new electoral structure was established for Geelong in 2017. The number of wards was reduced to 4 with 3 councillors for each (except Windermere having 2) elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. Residents were also no longer able to directly elect a mayor. The current councillors, in order of election at the 2020 election, are:

Election results

2024

2020

Administrators

In December 2015, the Minister for Local Government

Natalie Hutchins Natalie Maree Hutchins (''née'' Sykes, born 9 March 1972), also known as Natalie Sykes-Hutchins, is an Australian politician. She has been a Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly si ...

appointed a Commission of Inquiry into the Greater Geelong City Council in response to concerns about the workplace culture and adequacy of governance structures. The Inquiry found that the council is riven with conflict, unable to manage Geelong's economic challenges, has dysfunctional leadership and has a culture of bullying. On the recommendation of the commission, the

Victoria State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

dismissed the entire Greater Geelong City Council on 16 April 2016 and appointed Yehudi Blacher as interim administrator. On 25 May 2016, Dr Kathy Alexander (chairperson), Peter Dorling and Laurinda Gardner were sworn in as administrators, replacing Yehudi Blacher. Under the ''Local Government (Greater Geelong City Council) Act 2016'', the panel of administrators constitutes the Greater Geelong City Council, and has the same functions, powers and duties as the Greater Geelong City Council and its councillors. Likewise, the chairperson of the panel of administrators has the same functions, powers and duties as the mayor of the council. The council was run by administrators until fresh council elections were held on 27 October 2017. Australia Victoria Greater Geelong City location map

Australia Victoria Greater Geelong City location map

Former and current Mayors

* Gerry Smith (1995–1998) * Ken Jarvis (1998–2000) * Michael Crutchfield (2000–2001) *

Stretch Kontelj Srechko Jernej "Stretch" Kontelj, (born 1961) is the mayor of the City of Greater Geelong and former Councillor of the city. Early life and education Kontelj was born in Geelong, the son of newly arrived migrants from Slovenia. He holds degr ...

(2001–2002) * Barbara Abley (2002–2004) * Ed Coppe (2004) * Shane Dowling (2004–2005) * Peter McMullin (2005–2006) *

Bruce Harwood Bruce Harwood (born April 29, 1963) is a Canadian character actor best known for his role of John Fitzgerald Byers, one of The Lone Gunmen on the television series ''The X-Files''. In addition to ''The X-Files'', Harwood portrayed Byers in the ...

(2006–2008) * John Mitchell (2008–2012) * Keith Fagg (2012–2013) *

Darryn Lyons Darryn Lyons (born 19 August 1965) is an Australian media personality, entrepreneur and politician, who rose to prominence in Australia and the United Kingdom as a paparazzo. He held the position of Mayor of Geelong from 2013 to 2016. Early li ...

(2013–2016) * Bruce Harwood (2017–2019) * Stephanie Asher (2019–2022) * Peter Murrihy (2022–2022) * Trent Sullivan (2022–2024) *

(2024-incumbent)

Former and current Deputy Mayors

* Tony Ansett (2003–2004) * John Mitchell (2007–2008) * Rod Macdonald (2008–2009) * Bruce Harwood (2009–2010) * Cameron Granger (2010–2012) *

(2012–2013) * Bruce Harwood (2013–2014) * Michelle Heagney (2014–2016) * Peter Murrihy (2017–2019) * Kylie Grzybek (2019–2020) * Trent Sullivan (2020–2022) * Anthony Aitken (2022–2024) * Ron Nelson (2024-incumbent)

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Geelong City Hall Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. Council customer service centres are located in Belmont, Corio, Drysdale, Geelong West, Ocean Grove, Waurn Ponds and at Brougham St in Geelong.

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 271,057 up from 233,429 in the 2016 census ^ – ''Territory divided with another

LGA LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the northwestern shore of Long Island, bordering Flushing Bay. Covering , the facility wa ...

Sister cities

Geelong has

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

relations with the following cities: *

Izumiōtsu 260px, Supermarket in Izumiōtsu 260px, Kirara Town housing complex in Izumiōtsu is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 73,767 in 34920 households and a population density of 5400 persons per km2. The t ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(established 1992) *

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(established 1994)

References

External links

*
Greater Geelong City Council official websiteGeelong Region Alliance WebsiteMetlink local public transport mapLink to Land Victoria interactive maps
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greater Geelong, City of Local government areas of Victoria (state) Barwon South West (region)