The City of Latrobe (until 2000 known as the Shire of La Trobe) is a local government area in the Gippsland region in eastern Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 75,211. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living within the four major urban areas of Moe-Newborough, Morwell, Traralgon, and Churchill, and other significant settlements in the LGA include Boolarra, Callignee, Glengarry, Jeeralang, Toongabbie, Tyers, Yallourn North and Yinnar.
The city is governed by the Latrobe City Council, with its seat of local government and administrative centre located at the council headquarters, 141 Commercial Road, Morwell. It also has service centres located in Moe, Churchill and Traralgon. The city is named after the Latrobe River and Latrobe Valley, major geographical features that meander through the north of the LGA.
History The LGA was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Moe, City of Morwell, City of Traralgon, Shire of Traralgon, the Yallourn North district of the Shire of Narracan, and the Glengarry and Toongabbie districts of the Shire of Rosedale. The Yallourn Works Area was added in 1996.
When formed, the municipality was called the Shire of La Trobe, but on 6 April 2000, it adopted its current name.
Industry and economy
The city has traditionally been recognised as the centre of Victoria's electricity industry, which is derived from one of the largest brown coal reserves in the world. It also the centre of a large forestry industry which services Australian Paper's pulp and paper mill (the largest in Australia) and other sawmills. Other industries in the area include food processing (Lion Foods – Morwell), engineering, post secondary education (Federation University Australia), and the service sector. Being the largest population centre in the Gippsland region, Latrobe acts as the regional headquarters for Government agencies and private operators including banks and insurance companies.
Latrobe is also close to popular tourist attractions including the Baw Baw and Tarra-Bulga National Parks and is the natural service centre to the historic gold mining town of Walhalla.
The power generators include: Loy Yang A & B Power Stations, Loy Yang Yallourn Power Station, Yallourn Jeeralang Power Station, Hazelwood North
Two power stations have closed in recent years, including International Power Hazelwood (2017), and EnergyBrix (Morwell) power station and briquette manufacturing facility (2014).
Townships and localities In the 2021 census, the city had a population of 77,318, up from 73,257 in the 2016 census.
Population Locality 2016 2021 ^ 4 9 973 1,023 137 147 147 146 319 391 4,783 4,924 ^ 368 389 ^ 30 46 ^ 32 37 85 101 ^ 180 188 ^ 9 12 ^ 1,084 1,113 192 215 122 155 ^ 12 10 184 189 1,478 1,552 297 289 327 365 72 76 560 584 31 42 98 89 0 7 37 43 ^ 290 334 ^ 8,778 9,375 ^ 541 529 13,771 14,389 0 0 ^ 253 262 6,763 6,886 ^ 544 540 ^ 989 1,085 24,933 26,907 1,726 1,780 562 553 824 893 144 143 ^ 1,545 1,511 907 1,021 691 675 ^ - Territory divided with another LGA
Council
Current composition The council is composed of four wards and nine councillors, with four councillors elected to represent the East Ward, two councillors per ward elected to represent each of the Central and West wards, and one councillor elected to represent the South Ward. WardCouncillorMayoral termsCentral Graeme Middlemiss Mayor (2003–2004, 2018–2019) Tracie Lund East Dale Harriman Mayor (2014–2015) Dan Clancey Mayor (2019–2020) Kellie O'Callaghan Mayor (2009–2010, 2016–2017, 2021-present) Darren Howe South Melissa Ferguson West Bradley Law Sharon Gibson Mayor (2013–2014, 2020–2021)
Administration and governance The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Morwell Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Morwell, and its service centres in Moe and Traralgon.
See also List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the City of Latrobe
References
External links
Metlink local public transport map Link to Land Victoria interactive maps 2005 Latrobe City Council elections results, Victorian Electoral Commission 2007 Latrobe City Council by-election results, Victorian Electoral Commission