| City of Greater Geelong Victoria |
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 Location in Victoria |
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| Population: | 211,841 (2008)[1] | ||||||||||||
| • Density: | 165.23/km² (427.9/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1993 | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 1240 km² (478.8 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Mayor: | John Mitchell | ||||||||||||
| Council Seat: | Geelong Town Hall | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Bellarine, Geelong, Lara, South Barwon | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Corio, Corangamite | ||||||||||||
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The City of Greater Geelong is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia.
It is located in the western part of the state, south-west of Melbourne. It has an area of 1,240 square kilometres. In 2006 it had a population of 191,000. The council chambers are located at the Civic Conference and Reception Centre, a part of the Geelong Town Hall in central Geelong.
It is an amalgamation of parts or wholes of the former municipalities of the Shire of Barrabool, Shire of Bannockburn, Shire of Bellarine, Shire of Corio, City of Geelong, City of Geelong West, City of Newtown, and City of South Barwon that was created in 1993.[2]
Contents |
History of former municipalities
- 1838 - Geelong (Aboriginal word for 'Ocean') region declared a Town.
- 1849 - Geelong Incorporated as a Town.
- 1843 - Barrabool declared Road District.
- 1854 - Bellarine declared Road District.
- 1857 - South Barwon a separate District.
- 1858 - Newtown and Chilwell a Borough.
- 1862 - Bannockburn a Road District.
- 1863 - South Barwon a Borough.
- 1864 - Corio and Bannockburn made Shires.
- 1865 - Bellarine a Shire.
- 1872 - South Barwon a Shire.
- 1875 - West Geelong a Borough.
- 1910 - Geelong a City.
- 1915 - Meredith added to Bannockburn Shire.
- 1922 - West Geelong a Town.
- 1924 - Newtown and Chilwell a Town.
- 1929 - West Geelong a City.
- 1959 - Newtown and Chilwell a City.
- 1963 - Queenscliff and Pt Lonsdale separates from Bellarine to form the Borough of Queenscliffe.
- 1967 - Newtown discarded Chilwell from its title as a city.
- 1974 - South Barwon a City.
- 1993 - City of Greater Geelong formed
Sourced from Appendix V, A Journey to Destiny 1890-1990 - 100 Years of Cement Manufacturing at Fyansford by Australian Cement Limited .[3]
Wards
- Austin, named after Elizabeth Austin, civic benefactor of homes and hospital.
- Beangala, named the homeland of the Bengali clan of the Wathaurong people.
- Brownbill, named after Fanny Brownbill who was the first female local member of the Legislative Assembly (1938-1946).
- Buckley, named after William Buckley, an escaped convict from Sorrento who lived with the local aboriginals.
- Cheetham named after Richard Cheetham, salt pioneer.
- Corio, an aboriginal name for the area. (Aboriginal word for 'land')
- Coryule, named after the home of Anne Drysdale, a pioneer squatter in this area.
- Cowie, named after James Cowie an early land owner
- Deakin, named after Deakin University
- Kardinia, the aboriginal name for sunrise and the home of Alexander Thomson, first elected Mayor of Geelong.
- Kildare, an earlier name for the area of the ward.
- Windermere, named after the home of the Fairbairn family, pioneers of the area.
Each ward is represented by one elected Councillor.
2008 Council Elections
The 2008 Victorian Council elections, were for the first time in history held on the same day throughout Victoria for all councils, Saturday 29 November 2008. A postal ballot was held for the City of Greater Geelong, conducted in the week prior to ballots closing at 6.00pm on Friday 28 November 2008.
Forty-three individuals stood for election to the twelve vacancies available on council. Cr Lou Brazier and Cr Tom O'Connor were the only sitting councillors of the ten then current members contesting the election, to be ousted. Cr's Tony Ansett (Windermere Ward) and Peter McMullin (Buckley Ward) did not stand for re-election, with McMullin failing in his second bid to become Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Cr's Abley, Farrell, Harwood, Katos, Kontelj, Macdonald, Mitchell and Saunderson were all re-elected. Joining them on the new council are four fresh faces in former Queenscliff councillor John Doull, Kylie Fisher, electorate officer Cameron Granger and Andy Richards.
John Doull defeated sitting councillor Tom O'Connor in Coryule Ward. Doull led by 127 votes after first preferences but won by a considerable margin. O'Connor had caused some controversy after first being elected to Council in November 2004 when he claimed that he had not spoken to prominent Geelong businessman and Geelong Football Club President, Frank Costa. Costa later confirmed that he had met and spoken with newly elected Cr Tom O'Connor.
Kylie Fisher provided the upset of the election when she defeated sitting councillor Lou Brazier in Corio Ward. Fisher, an integration aide at, and Council President of the North Shore Primary School second preferenced Brazier in the election and polled 1086 fewer first preference votes than Brazier. After the distribution of preferences, Fisher defeated Brazier by 541 votes. Immediately prior to the election, Brazier became embroiled in controversy regarding a possible conflict of interest issue resulting from two votes taken at council meetings.
Brazier's re-election prospects were damaged by these latest matters, which followed on from the conflict of interest issues that arose from the 2004 council elections and became more commonly known throughout the community as "Costa-gate", which dogged the 2004-2008 council and led to a municipal investigation by Merv Whelan.
2008 Council Election Voting
The first preference votes only for the City of Greater Geelong candidates are listed in numerical order (by ward). Former Mayor 'Stretch' Kontelj claimed the most primary votes of any candidate with 6,180 votes. Councillors Farrell, Katos, Macdonald and Mitchell were all re-elected unopposed.
Conflict of Interest
This issue has dogged the Geelong Council since the 2004 Council elections when a donation was received by Cr David Saunderson from developers for the 2004 election campaigns of five potential Labour councillors, including Saunderson.
Cr Cameron Grainger has been involved in conflict of interest charges and appeared before a Geelong Court where he was cleared in 2009.
Cr David Saunderson admitted in the Geelong Magistrates' Court in November 2009 that he was "stupid and foolish" not to declare a conflict of interest during a vote at a meeting of the Greater Geelong City Council in April 2009 involving the developer Lascorp. Saunderson pleaded not guilty in court, but was found guilty and fined $18,000 ($3,000 fine and $15,000 in costs).
Cr Saunderson's conviction now requires the City to call a by-election for the Cowie ward seat of the City of Greater Geelong.
Current Council
The council is composed of twelve councillors, each elected to represent one of the twelve existing wards.
- Cr Barbara Abley (Brownbill Ward) (Elected March 2001)
- Cr John Doull (Coryule Ward) (November 2008)
- Cr Jan Farrell (Beangala Ward) (November 2004)
- Cr Kylie Fisher (Corio Ward) (November 2008)
- Cr Cameron Granger (Windermere Ward) (November 2008)
- Cr Bruce Harwood (Kardinia Ward) (February 2003)
- Cr Andrew Katos (Deakin Ward) (May 2008)
- Cr Dr 'Stretch' Kontelj (Kildare Ward) (March 1998)
- Cr Rod Macdonald (Cheetham Ward) (November 2004)
- Cr John Mitchell (Austin Ward) (November 2004)
- Cr Andy Richards (Buckley Ward) (November 2008)
- Cr David Saunderson (Cowie Ward) (March 2001)
Mayors
- Cr Gerry Smith (1995 - 1998)
- Cr Ken Jarvis (1998 - 2000)
- Cr Michael Crutchfield (2000 - 2001)
- Cr Srechko 'Stretch' Kontelj (2001 - 2002)
- Cr Barbara Abley (2002 - 2004)
- Cr Ed Coppe (2004)
- Cr Shane Dowling (2004 - 2005)
- Cr Peter McMullin (2005 - 2006)
- Cr Bruce Harwood (2006 - 2008)
- Cr John Mitchell (2008 - present)
Deputy Mayors
- Cr John Mitchell (2007 - 2008)
- Cr Rod Macdonald (2008 - present)
Chief Executives
- Dr David Niven (1995)
- Mr Michael Malouf (1995 - 1997)
- Mr Geoff Whitbread (1998 - 2003)
- Ms Kay Rundle (2003 - 01 May 2009)
- Mr Stephen Griffin (01 May 2009 -)
Sister Cities
Geelong has sister city relations with the following cities[5]:
Lianyungang, China
Izumiotsu, Osaka, Japan
See also
References
- ^ http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Main%20Features52007-08?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2007-08&num=&view=
- ^ "Sale of Harding Park, Geelong". http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_mp_psa/psa0105_hard.html. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- ^ John, McNeil (1990). A Journey to Destiny 1890-1990 - 100 Years of Cement Manufacturing at Fyansford by Australian Cement Limited.
- ^ Local Government Victoria, Greater Geelong City Council, http://www.localgovernment.vic.gov.au/Web20/dvclgv.nsf/allDocs/RWPC96F0607C9BE15F8CA25716C0023FD34?OpenDocument, retrieved 2008-10-30
- ^ Sister Cities [1]
External links
- City of Greater Geelong
- Geelong Region Alliance Website
- Metlink local public transport map
- Link to official detailed pdf map of LGA
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