The Surf Coast Shire is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of . It had a population of 32,251 in June 2018. It includes the coastal towns of Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Lorne and Torquay and the inland towns of Moriac and Winchelsea.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Surf Coast Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Torquay. The Shire is named after its location on the popular surf coast of Victoria.

History

Formation Before the 1990s local government reforms, the Surf Coast Shire's area was covered by three municipalities: the Shire of Winchelsea, the Shire of Barrabool, and the City of South Barwon. The Barrabool/South Barwon boundary was the Surf Coast Highway. This meant that Jan Juc and part of Torquay were in Barrabool, while the remainder of the Torquay district, including the traditional town centre, was in South Barwon.

When the City of Greater Geelong was created in May 1993, it initially took in the entire Torquay/Jan Juc area as far west as Ghazeepore Road. It also annexed areas on Geelong's fringe (Ceres, Wandana Heights, Waurn Ponds and Mount Duneed) which had previously belonged to Barrabool.

In March 1994, the Surf Coast Shire was formed from the amalgamation of the Torquay/Jan Juc area from Greater Geelong, the remainder of the Shire of Barrabool, and the Shire of Winchelsea (less the Birregurra and Barwon Downs districts, which were lost to the Shire of Colac). The Surf Coast Shire's modern boundaries were settled six months later when the Lake Murdeduke and Mount Gellibrand area, part of the territory lost to Colac, was brought back into the Shire.

Representation and structure Post-2008, following an electoral representation review, the decision was made to re-subdivide the municipality into four wards, the current wards are Torquay, Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne. Between 2004 and 2008, the Shire was an unsubdivided municipality and as a result, the entire municipality voted to elect nine councillors. Between 1996 and 2004, the municipality was subdivided into six wards, where three councillors per ward were elected from the Torquay and Anglesea wards, and one councillor per ward was elected from the Lorne, Winchelsea, Moriac and Aireys Inlet wards. A position of Deputy Mayor was created in 2004, but it was abolished for the 2005 mayoral election.

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of three wards electing three councillors each. WardCouncillorAffiliationNotesOtway Range Ward  Mike Bodsworth Independent Mayor  Libby Stapleton Independent Deputy Mayor  Leon Walker Independent Torquay  Paul Barker Libertarian   Liz Pattison Independent   Phoebe Crockett Greens Winchelsea Joel GristIndependent Libertarian  Tony Phelps Independent   Adrian Schonfelder Independent Labor

List of former and current mayors Cr Noel Bates (1995–1997) Cr Henry Love (1997–1998) Cr Julie Hansen (1998–2000) Cr Mike Barrow (2000–2001) Cr Beth Davidson (2001–2004) Cr Keith Grossman (2004–2005) Cr Libby Mears (2005–2006) Cr Rose Hodge (2006–2007) Cr Dean Webster (2007–2008) Cr Libby Mears (2008–2009) Cr Libby Coker (2009–2010) Cr Dean Webster (2010–2011) Cr Brian McKiterick (2011–2012) Cr Libby Coker (2012–2013) Cr Rose Hodge (2013–2014) Cr Margot Smith (2014–2015) Cr Rose Hodge (2015–2016) Cr Brian McKiterick (2016-2017) Cr David Bell (2017-2018) Cr Rose Hodge (2018–2020) Cr Libby Stapleton (2020–2022) Cr Liz Pattison (2022–2024)

Administration and Governance The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Torquay Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its Municipal Office in Torquay.

Election results 2024

2016 +Surf Coast Shire: Anglesea Ward Party Candidate Votes % ±%   Labor Libby Coker 2,504 48.50   Independent Margot Ann Smith 1,393 27.00   Independent Jenna Robinson 1,268 24.6   Labor hold Swing   Independent hold Swing

+Surf Coast Shire: Torquay Ward Party Candidate Votes % ±%   Labor Rose Hodge 2,866 27.20   Independent David Bell 1,962 18.60   Liberal Brian McKiterick 1,268 16.00   Greens Marian Smedley 1,529 14.50   Independent Martin Paul Duke 1,522 14.20   Independent Joe Remenyi 993 9.40   Labor hold Swing   Independent hold Swing   Liberal hold Swing   Independent gain from Greens Swing

Townships and localities According to the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 37,694, up from 29,397 in the 2016 census.

Population Locality 2016 2021 802 979 2,545 3,208 101 115 235 247 865 1,346 130 151 5 9 Big Hill 261 281 ^ 828 942 21 18 ^ 162 151 211 228 ^ 788 953 269 368 35 47 296 390 414 454 370 391 267 297 ^ 1,474 1,746 3,683 4,151 1,114 1,327 276 277 89 120 782 852 ^ 1,578 6,182 240 251 ^ 97 93 151 167 ^ 86 110 13,258 18,534 107 95 ^ 1,954 2,456 179 171 138 147 ^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also List of localities (Victoria) List of places of worship in Surf Coast Shire

Notes

References

External links Surf Coast Shire Council official website Great Ocean Road Journey, Victoria, Australia (replaces the Surf Coast Tourist website) Metlink local public transport map Link to Land Victoria interactive maps The Anglesea & District Historical Society Inc.