Greater Geelong City

Greater Geelong city, an area of 1250 sq km, was formed on 18 May 1993 from Bellarine rural city, Geelong, Geelong West, Newtown and South Barwon cities, Corio shire and parts of Barrabool and Bannockburn shires. It was the first of the Victoria-wide local government amalgamations in the early 1990s and had been an obvious candidate for many years. The extent of the amalgamation probably went further than earlier proponents would have thought.

The constituent councils were:

name	area (sq km)	population 1991	comments
Corio shire	704.7	57,870	Industrial; urban, rural
Bellarine rural city	331.8	43,620	Urban, rural; incl Ocean Grove
South Barwon city	165.4	43,240	Urban, rural; incl Belmont, Barwon Heads, Torquay
Geelong West city	5.3	13,980	Older urban
Geelong city	13.4	13,300	Older urban and business centre
Newtown city	6.2	10,290	Older urban

The parts of the other two councils that were put in Greater Geelong were:

Municipality	Place	comments
Barrabool shire	Wandana Heights and Waurn Ponds	Suburban overspill from Geelong
	Ceres	Rural village
Bannockburn shire	Batesford	Rural village

With its mixture of rural and urban spaces, Greater Geelong extends from rural Anakie in the north to Barwon Heads on Bass Strait. It has all of Bellarine Peninsula except Queenscliffe borough. Its eastern boundary is the Little River, next to Wyndham city. Its main western boundary is the Moorabool River which begins in the Brisbane Ranges and runs through Batesford to join the Barwon River near Geelong West.

When Greater Geelong was formed the city was recovering from the collapse of the Pyramid Building Society in 1990 with debts of $2 billion, mostly owed to local investors. Manufacturing industry, the postwar growth backbone in Geelong’s northern areas, was also flat or receding. There was one important urban asset: houses in well maintained streets at prices around two thirds of Melbourne’s. Rail and road put commuters in touch with employment in Melbourne, and the building of a 25 km ring road (2008-13) reduced travel time, at least until motorists met the banked-back traffic from the West Gate bridge.

During 2001-11 most parts of Greater Geelong have had population growth. The notable ones are:

name	population		comments
	2001	2011
Drysdale	1724	4315	Old town in rural surrounds
Grovedale	11,385	14,153	Outer south-east suburb next to Marshall railway station
Lara	9185	13,846	Between Werribee and Geelong, on railway station Avalon airport to its south-east
Leopold	6772	10,111	Outer east
Lovely Banks	513	2218	Elevated western suburb with entry/exit ramps on ring road
Marshall	728	1799	Outer south-east, with unsubdivided land
St Albans Park	3718	4927	Outer south-east, with unsubdivided land
Waurn Ponds	802	3995	Outer west, entry/exit ramps on ring road. Deakin University, drive-in shopping centres and lots of unsubdivided land

In central Geelong the former port area was redeveloped, beginning in 1994. The university’s waterfront campus was a leading project. An intangible boost to community confidence was the Geelong Football Club’s winning its first premiership in 44 years, defeating Port Adelaide in 2007. Two more followed in 2009 and 2011. The loss to Hawthorn in 2008 was deeply felt.

In May 2013 Ford Australia announced that it would close its Geelong factory in October 2016, involving a loss of about 510 jobs.

Census populations have been:

census date	population
	Greater urban Geelong	Greater Geelong city
1961	91,777
1971	115,181
1991	126,306
2001	129,668	183,530
2006	137,220	197,479
2011	143,921	210,875

Greater Geelong City

Further Reading