The Shire of Buloke 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 ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, in August 2021, had a population of 6,201. It includes the towns of

Birchip Birchip is a town in the Mallee region of Victoria, Australia on the Sunraysia Highway north of Donald. The town is located in the Shire of Buloke local government area. At the , Birchip had a population of 694, down from the 2016 figure of 7 ...

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wales ...

Donald Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinter ...

Sea Lake Sea Lake is a town in the Mallee district of north-west Victoria, Australia and is situated on the southern shores of Lake Tyrrell. The town is located on the Calder Highway, north-west of Melbourne, and west of Swan Hill. Sea Lake is in th ...

and

Wycheproof Wycheproof is a town in the centre of the Shire of Buloke, in north western Victoria, Australia. As of the , it had a population of 610. History The name "Wycheproof" originates from an Aboriginal word meaning 'grass on a hill', referring to ...

. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Wycheproof, Shire of Birchip, Shire of Charlton,

Shire of Donald The Shire of Donald was a local government area about west-northwest of Bendigo, in western Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1861 until 1995. History Donald was originally incorporated as the St Arnaud Roa ...

, and parts of the

Shire of Kara Kara The Shire of Kara Kara was a local government area about northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1861 until 1995. History Kara Kara was first incorporated as the St Ar ...

. The Shire is governed and administered by the Buloke 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 Wycheproof, it also has service centres located in Birchip, Charlton, Donald and Sea Lake. The Shire is named after a major geographical feature in the region,

Lake Buloke Lake Buloke is a eutrophic lake in the Wimmera region of north-western Victoria, Australia. The lake is fed by the Richardson River and is located adjacent to the township of . Lake Buloke is also one of the most popular duck shooting lakes in ...

, which is located in the south of the LGA; the name also comes from the "buloke" or "bulloak" tree ''

Allocasuarina luehmannii ''Allocasuarina luehmannii'', commonly known as buloke or bull-oak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a dioecious tree, that has its leaves reduced to scales ...

'', which is common in the region. Within the Shire, agriculture, particularly grain production, is the predominant source of income and employment.

Council

Current composition

The Council is composed of three wards and six Councillors, with two Councillors elected to represent each of the wards.

Administration and governance

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

Election results

2024

2020

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the shire's population was 6,178, down from 6,201 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 ...

''
* - ''Not noted in 2016 Census''
# - ''Not noted in 2021 Census''

Traditional owners

The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of this area are the

Wotjobaluk The Wotjobaluk are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. They are closely related to the Wergaia people. Language R. H. Mathews supplied a brief analysis of the Wotjobaluk language (now known as Wergaia), describing what ...

, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali,

Wergaia The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee (Victoria), Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj ( ...

and

Jupagalk The Jupagalk or Jupagulk are an Aboriginal people of northern Victoria, Australia. They may have been a Wergaia clan. Language The language of the Jupagalk was related to Jaara, according to remarks by Alfred William Howitt, as interpreted by ...

and Dja Dja Wurrung.

References

External links

Buloke Shire Council official website

Metlink local public transport map

Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
* Local government areas of Victoria (state) Loddon Mallee (region) Mallee (Victoria) North Central Victoria {{Mallee-geo-stub