From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
Shire of Gannawarra
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | lga |
| name | Shire of Gannawarra |
| state | vic |
| image | Australia Victoria Gannawarra Shire.svg |
| caption | Location in Victoria |
| pop | 10683 |
| pop_year | 2021 |
| pop_footnotes | |
| area | 3735 |
| area_footnotes | |
| est | 1995 |
| gazetted | 20 January 1995 |
| mayor | Cr Charlie Gillingham |
| seat | Kerang |
| region | Loddon Mallee |
| logo | New Gannawarra Shire Council Logo.jpg |
| url | http://www.gannawarra.vic.gov.au/ |
| stategov | Murray Plains |
| fedgov | Mallee |
| near-nw | Swan Hill |
| near-n | Murray River (NSW) |
| near-ne | Murray River (NSW) |
| near-w | Buloke |
| near-e | Murray River (NSW) |
| near-sw | Buloke |
| near-s | Loddon |
| near-se | Campaspe |
| near-nw = Swan Hill | near-n = Murray River (NSW) | near-ne = Murray River (NSW) | near-w = Buloke | near-e = Murray River (NSW) | near-sw = Buloke | near-s = Loddon | near-se = Campaspe
The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of 3735 km2 and, in August 2021 had a population of 10,683. It includes the towns of Cohuna, Kerang, Koondrook, Leitchville and Quambatook.
The Shire is governed and administered by the Gannawarra Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Kerang, it also has a service centre located in Cohuna.
The Shire is named after the locality of Gannawarra, roughly equidistant from the two main towns, which is in turn named for a 19th-century pastoral run. The underlying meaning of the name is variously given as "running water" or "geese".
History
The Shire of Gannawarra was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the Borough of Kerang, the vast bulk of the Shire of Kerang and Shire of Cohuna, giving the new LGA a mixed economic base – dairying country to the east of Kerang township and dryland cropping to the west. The Borough and Shire of Kerang advocated for the inclusion of the Shire of Gordon in the combined LGA, but Gordon was staunchly opposed to a northward merger. Gordon was instead amalgamated into the Loddon Shire.
The new LGA required a name that did not show bias towards Kerang or Cohuna. Under the Local Government Board's initial proposal, it was to be called the "Shire of Illoura", a word meaning "still waters" in an unspecified Aboriginal language that, following inquiries with local groups, was found not to be local to the area. Representatives from the three municipalities agreed to put forward "Gannawarra" – the name of the pastoral run that once covered much of the eastern part of the Shire – to the Board as an alternative.
Geography
The northeastern border of the shire is the Murray River. The Loddon River flows through the shire, feeding into the Murray. The Gunbower State Forest is a significant source of River Red Gum timber, supplying a historic sawmill in Koondrook. Gunbower Island is the largest inland island in the local area. It is between the Murray River and the Gunbower Creek, an anabranch of the Murray.
The western part of the shire is predominantly used for cereal grain production. The north and east have significant dairying and milk processing. Tourists are attracted to the local rivers (for fishing) and lakes (for bird watching and water sports).
Council
Current composition
The council is composed of four wards and seven councillors, with three councillors elected to represent the Patchell Ward, two councillors elected to represent the Yarran Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards. The current council was elected in October 2020.
| Ward | Party | Councillor | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avoca | Independent | Charlie Gillingham | ||
| Murray | Independent | Ross Stanton | ||
| Patchell | Independent | Kelvin Burt | ||
| Independent | Travis Collier | |||
| Independent | Jane E. Ogden | |||
| Yarran | Independent | Garner Smith | ||
| Independent | Keith Link |
Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Kerang Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Kerang, and its service centre in Cohuna.
Townships and localities
In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 10,683, up from 10,549 in the 2016 census.
| Population | Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 12 | ||
| ^ | 29 | 38 | |
| 8 | 10 | ||
| ^ | 44 | 44 | |
| 45 | 56 | ||
| 5 | 0 | ||
| 14 | 14 | ||
| 22 | 16 | ||
| 35 | 54 | ||
| 2,428 | 2,415 | ||
| 39 | 36 | ||
| 37 | 57 | ||
| 81 | 99 | ||
| 15 | 14 |
| Population | Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | 110 | ||
| 56 | 50 | ||
| ^ | 15 | 13 | |
| ^ | 91 | 93 | |
| 60 | 57 | ||
| 3,893 | 3,960 | ||
| 40 | 44 | ||
| 991 | 1,101 | ||
| 80 | 63 | ||
| 168 | 147 | ||
| ^ | 23 | 22 | |
| 151 | 138 | ||
| ^ | 558 | 576 |
| Population | Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ^ | 87 | 67 | |
| 20 | 31 | ||
| 93 | 87 | ||
| 89 | 102 | ||
| ^ | 20 | 19 | |
| ^ | 13 | 12 | |
| 24 | 31 | ||
| 32 | 16 | ||
| 201 | 230 | ||
| 45 | 41 | ||
| 10 | 17 | ||
| 181 | 212 | ||
| 11 | 13 |
| Population | Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 34 | ||
| 21 | 19 | ||
| 0 | 4 | ||
| 249 | 229 | ||
| 26 | 26 | ||
| 5 | 9 | ||
| 60 | 54 | ||
| ^ | 3 | 3 | |
| ^ | 11 | 4 | |
| 104 | 83 | ||
| 69 | 67 | ||
| 35 | 31 | ||
| 26 | 27 |
^ - Territory divided with another LGA
References
References
- {{Census 2021 AUS
- (27 March 2019). "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]].
- Victoria Government Gazette – Online Archive. (1837–1997). "S4 of 1995: Order estg (Part 6) the Shire of Gannawarra". State Government of Victoria.
- Ballinger, Robyn. (December 2008). "Gannawarra Shire Heritage Study Stage One: Volume One - Thematic Environmental History".
- (March 1995). "New municipalities of Victoria: a guide to their names". Local Government Board.
- Reed, Alexander W.. (1973). "Place names of Australia". Reed.
- (November 1994). "North West review: interim report". Local Government Board.
- (2 December 1994). "The road to reform". Northern Times.
- (2 December 1994). "Obscure name concerns MP". Northern Times.
- (8 December 1994). "All differences aside, name unites councils". Northern Times.
- (13 March 2003). "Gannawarra Shire Council - Murray River Region". Gannawarra Shire Council.
- "Gannawarra Shire Council election results 2020".
- (11 January 2023). "Census {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics".
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about Shire of Gannawarra — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report