The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, 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. 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, Batesford, Ceres, Clifton Springs, Drysdale, Lara, Ocean Grove, Portarlington and St Leonards. It was formed in 1993 from the amalgamation of the Rural City of Bellarine, Shire of Corio, City of Geelong, City of Geelong West, City of Newtown, City of South Barwon, and parts of Shire of Barrabool and Shire of Bannockburn.
In 2019, City of Greater Geelong announced a new headquarters across the road from WorkSafe Victoria. This project, known as the Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct, was completed in 2022.
History of former municipalities
thumb|300x300px|Greater Geelong's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1992
- 1838 – Geelong (from the Indigenous Wadawurrung 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 proclaimed
- 1860 – Portarlington Road District renamed as Indented Head Road District
- 1861 – Corio Road District proclaimed
- 1862 – Bannockburn 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 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 Rural City
- 1993 (18 May) – The City of Greater Geelong was formed by amalgamating part of Bannockburn Shire, part of Barrabool Shire, Bellarine Rural City, Corio Shire, Geelong City, Newtown City and South Barwon City. The City's original boundaries included Torquay and Jan Juc.
- 1994 (March) – The Torquay district was transferred to Surf Coast Shire upon its creation.
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 2025)
Since 2024, councillors of Greater Geelong have been elected from eleven single-member wards.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Ward!!colspan="2"|Party!!Councillor!!Notes
|-
| Barrabool Hills
| |
| Independent
| Ron Nelson
|
|-
| Charlemont
| |
| Independent
| Emma Sinclair
|
|-
| Cheetham
| |
| Independent Labor
| Melissa Cadwell
|
|-
| Connewarre
| |
| Independent
| Elise Wilkinson
|
|-
| Corio
| |
| Independent
| Anthony Aitken
|
|-
| Deakin
| |
| Independent Liberal
| Andrew Katos
|
|-
| Hamlyn Heights
| |
| Independent
| Eddy Kontelj
| Deputy Mayor
|-
| Kardinia
| |
| Independent Liberal
| Stretch Kontelj
| Mayor
|-
| Leopold
| |
| Independent Liberal
| Trent Sullivan
|
|-
| Murradoc
| |
| Independent Liberal
| Rowan Story
|
|-
| You Yangs
| |
| Independent
| Chris Burson
|
|-
|}
Election results
2024
2020
Administrators
In December 2015, the Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins 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 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.
thumb|City of Greater Geelong and urban areas including Geelong
Former and current Mayors
- Gerry Smith (1995–1998)
- Ken Jarvis (1998–2000)
- Michael Crutchfield (2000–2001)
- Stretch Kontelj (2001–2002)
- Barbara Abley (2002–2004)
- Ed Coppe (2004)
- Shane Dowling (2004–2005)
- Peter McMullin (2005–2006)
- Bruce Harwood (2006–2008)
- John Mitchell (2008–2012)
- Keith Fagg (2012–2013)
- Darryn Lyons (2013–2016)
- Bruce Harwood (2017–2019)
- Stephanie Asher (2019–2022)
- Peter Murrihy (2022–2022)
- Trent Sullivan (2022–2024)
- Stretch Kontelj (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)
- Stretch Kontelj (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
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="5" | Population
|-
! Locality !! 2006 !! 2011 !! 2016 !! 2021
|-
| ^ || 676 || 603 || 690 || 734
|-
| || # || # || 4,247 || 11,247
|-
| || # || 306 || 293 || 255
|-
| ^ || 232 || 241 || 290 || 254
|-
| || 2,997 || 3,536 || 3,875 || 4,353
|-
| ^ || 879 || 740 || 952 || 1,141
|-
| || 4,650 || 5,287 || 5,009 || 5,602
|-
| || 4,919 || 5,009 || 4,919 || 5,083
|-
| || # || # || 169 || 169
|-
| || 13,645 || 13,617 || 14,054 || 15,066
|-
| || 1,049 || 1,060 || 1,014 || 1,060
|-
| ^ || 242 || 444 || 162 || 151
|-
| || # || 237 || 254 || 266
|-
| || # || # || 364 || 2,612
|-
| || 7,065 || 7,154 || 7,519 || 7,646
|-
| ^ || 75 || 351 || 788 || 953
|-
| || 14,919 || 15,074 || 15,296 || 15,497
|-
| || 396 || 225 || 1,551 || 4,175
|-
| || 601 || 614 || 560 || 571
|-
| || 3,738 || 4,317 || 4,275 || 4,976
|-
| || 3,829 || 3,862 || 3,862 || 4,012
|-
| || 172 || 188 || 196 || 1,206
|-
| || 4,359 || 4,699 || 5,210 || 5,811
|-
| || 6,302 || 6,681 || 6,966 || 7,345
|-
| || 13,184 || 14,153 || 14,308 || 14,869
|-
| || 5,842 || 6,074 || 6,293 || 6,518
|-
| || 3,268 || 3,322 || 3,413 || 3,507
|-
| || 14,492 || 16,656 || 18,953 || 20,736
|-
| || 590 || 920 || 1,133 || 1,391
|-
| || 12,853 || 13,844 || 16,355 || 19,014
|-
| || 8,748 || 10,112 || 12,814 || 13,272
|-
| ^ || 1,750 || 1,395 || 1,322 || 1,353
|-
| || 1,007 || 2,219 || 2,301 || 2,782
|-
| || 2,550 || 2,605 || 2,649 || 2,681
|-
| || # || 188 || 88 || 108
|-
| || 277 || 181 || 159 || 164
|-
| || 841 || 1,798 || 1,885 || 2,299
|-
| || 692 || 1,108 || 1,373 || 1,825
|-
| || # || 184 || 90 || 94
|-
| ^ || 983 || 623 || 1,578 || 6,182
|-
| || 4,503 || 4,520 || 4,500 || 4,704
|-
| || 9,578 || 9,680 || 10,148 || 10,445
|-
| || 7,933 || 8,014 || 8,306 || 8,682
|-
| || 2,670 || 2,394 || 2,966 || 3,225
|-
| || 321 || 354 || 357 || 325
|-
| || 11,276 || 12,556 || 14,165 || 17,714
|-
| ^ || 2,477 || 2,466 || 2,684 || 3,788
|-
| || # || # || 0 || 0
|-
| || 3,020 || 3,581 || 3,619 || 4,436
|-
| || 353 || 439 || 875 || 994
|-
| || 852 || 906 || 993 || 1,014
|-
| || 4,696 || 4,923 || 4,843 || 4,942
|-
| || 1,623 || 2,001 || 2,480 || 3,542
|-
| || # || # || 98 || 105
|-
| || # || # || 59 || 103
|-
| || 1,610 || 1,533 || 1,607 || 1,606
|-
| || 1,351 || 1,294 || 1,364 || 1,515
|-
| || 1,831 || 1,958 || 2,037 || 2,195
|-
| || 2,328 || 3,993 || 5,046 || 4,956
|-
| || 4,053 || 4,157 || 3,879 || 3,990
|}
^ - Territory divided with another LGA<br>
# - Not noted in Census
Sister cities
Geelong has sister city relations with the following cities:
- Izumiōtsu, Japan (established 1992)
- Lianyungang, China (established 1994)
See also
- List of mayors of Geelong
- List of Geelong suburbs
- List of localities in Victoria
References
External links
- Greater Geelong City Council official website
- Geelong Region Alliance Website
- Metlink local public transport map
- Link to Land Victoria interactive maps