South Barwon City

South Barwon City (1974-93) was immediately south of Geelong. Its western boundary was at Belmont (near Geelong), extending coastwards to Torquay. Its eastern boundary was the Barwon River, the river running southwards to the coast where it enters Bass Strait at Barwon Heads. The city’s area was 164 sq km.

The name Barwon derives from the river named by in 1835 by John Helder Wedge, surveyor, who expressed it as Kondak Baarwon. The word is thought to be Aboriginal, burwan, meaning great, wide or deep water.