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 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. WardPartyCouncillorNotes Avoca Independent Charlie Gillingham Murray Independent Ross StantonPatchell Independent Kelvin Burt Independent Travis Collier Independent Jane E. OgdenYarran 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 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 ^ 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 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
See also List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Gannawarra
References
External links Gannawarra Shire Council official website Metlink local public transport map Link to Land Victoria interactive maps