The Shire of Southern Grampians is a local government area (LGA) in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of 6,654 square kilometres (2,569 mi2) and in June 2018 had a population of 16,135. It includes the city of Hamilton and the towns of Coleraine, Dunkeld and Penshurst.
The Shire is governed and administered by the Southern Grampians Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Hamilton, it also has service centres located in a couple of other locations within Hamilton. The Shire is named after the major geographical feature in the region, The Grampians, and that the southern part of this feature occupies the northern part of the LGA.
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History
The traditional owners of this shire are the Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung and Bunganditj people.
The Shire of Southern Grampians was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Hamilton, Shire of Wannon, the vast bulk of the Shire of Mount Rouse and Shire of Dundas, and small parts of the Shire of Kowree and Shire of Heywood.
The creation of the Shire was strongly supported by the councils of the City of Hamilton and the Shires of Wannon, Dundas and Mount Rouse. The four municipalities were eager to amalgamate, as they were already collaborating in a range of areas including library services, health, water, waste disposal and weights and measures. At public meetings held in the respective towns, Branxholme residents voted to join Southern Grampians, while Caramut and Macarthur residents chose to join the Shire of Moyne.
The Shire of Wannon suggested the name "Southern Grampians Council" for the combined entity. The Local Government Board initially planned to call the amalgamated municipality the "Shire of Napier" (after Mount Napier), but the four councils expressed their preference for "Southern Grampians", a suggestion the Board ultimately adopted.
In January 1996, about 180 km2 of farmland west and south-west of Wickliffe was transferred from Southern Grampians to the Rural City of Ararat and the Shire of Moyne after a further Local Government Board review.
Council
Current composition
The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. Council composition as of May 2026:
Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Hamilton Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre on Brown Street in Hamilton, and its service centre in Roberts St in Hamilton.
Townships and localities
The 2021 census recorded the shire population at 16,588, compared to 15,944 in the 2016 census.
^ - Territory divided with another LGA