Moira Shire is a local government area in the Northern Victoria Region of Victoria, Australia. Located in the north-east part of the state, it covers an area of . As at August 2021 the population was 30,522. It includes the towns of Cobram, Nathalia, Numurkah and Yarrawonga.
The Shire is governed and administered by the Moira Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Cobram, it also has a service centre located in Yarrawonga. The Shire is named after the county of Moira, of which the LGA occupies the northern part.
History The Shire of Moira was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Cobram, Shire of Nathalia, Shire of Numurkah, Shire of Tungamah (less the Katandra district) and Shire of Yarrawonga (less the Peechelba township area).
By the time of the Local Government Board's review of north-eastern Victoria earlier that year, Nathalia and Numurkah had expressed readiness to merge with each other, as had Tungamah and Yarrawonga (who were also open to a three-way merger with the Shire of Rutherglen). These four shires did not support further amalgamation, owing to concerns that travel times would be excessive, and that the irrigated farmers in the west and dryland farmers in the east did not belong in the same shire. However, the Board was ultimately persuaded by a submission from the Shire of Cobram, which proposed a merger of all five councils into a new Shire that would benefit from a diversified agricultural base and a stronger capability in dealing with the area's drainage and flooding issues.
In the Local Government Board's initial proposal, the Shire was to be called "Muckatah". This name, suggested by the Shire of Cobram, was taken from the locality of Muckatah situated near the geographic centre of the LGA, and the Muckatah Depression, a drainage basin extending across much of the Shire from Boomahnoomoonah (south-east of Yarrawonga) to Numurkah.
Council Current composition The council is composed of nine councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.
In the wake of a report detailing the "preventable" murder of a senior manager, the Moira Shire council was dismissed by the Minister for Local Government, Melissa Horne on 7 March 2023. An interim administrator has been appointed. Elections for a new council will not be held until 2028.
Administration and governance The council meets in various locations around the Shire. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Cobram and its service centre in Yarrawonga.
Townships and localities In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 30,522, up from 29,112 in the 2016 census.
Population Locality 2016 2021 26 31 282 229 62 76 145 167 22 14 105 108 43 42 428 512 51 42 197 241 24 24 6,014 6,148 242 232 41 41 9 17 610 601 85 93 401 453 35 30 996 1,025 296 305 105 132 66 70 25 30 ^ 111 98 213 170 119 138 14 20 120 122 1,880 1,982 4,477 4,604 ^ 184 177 33 29 207 206 9 14 132 123 1,052 1,072 24 21 408 449 23 17 390 420 40 52 166 192 334 326 101 104 27 32 206 222 7,930 8,661 15 15 548 551 87 93 59 56 39 34 44 52 ^ - Territory divided with another LGA
See also List of localities (Victoria) List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Moira
References
External links
Moira Shire Council official website Metlink local public transport map Link to Land Victoria interactive maps