Shire of Indigo
Local government area in Victoria, Australia
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The Shire of Indigo, a local government area (LGA) in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, lies in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 2,040 square kilometres (790 mi2) and in August 2021 had a population of 17,368.[1] It includes the larger towns of Beechworth, Chiltern, Rutherglen, Wahgunyah and Yackandandah, the smaller towns of Barnawartha and Tangambalanga, and surrounding rural areas.
Shire of Indigo | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Location in Victoria | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Victoria | ||||||||||||
| Region | Hume | ||||||||||||
| Established | 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Council seat | Beechworth | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • Mayor | Bernard Gaffney | ||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 2,040 km2 (790 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 17,368 (2021 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 8.514/km2 (22.05/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Gazetted | 18 November 1994[2] | ||||||||||||
| Website | Shire of Indigo | ||||||||||||
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The Shire is governed and administered by the Indigo Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Beechworth, it also has service centres located in Chiltern, Rutherglen and Yackandandah. The Shire is named after the Indigo Valley and Indigo Creek, geographical features that meander through the LGA and into the Murray River.
In 2008, the Bankwest Quality of Life Index rated Indigo fifteenth of 590 Australian local government areas.[3]
History
The Shire of Indigo was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Rutherglen and most of the Shire of Chiltern, Shire of Yackandandah and United Shire of Beechworth.[2]
Council
Current composition
As of 22 September 2016, the council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.[4]
The makeup of the council is as follows:[6]
Administration and governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Beechworth Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Beechworth, and its service centres in Chiltern, Rutherglen and Yackandandah.
Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the shire had a population of 17,368 up from 15,952 in the 2016 census[7]
| Population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Allans Flat | 318 | 297 |
| Barnawartha | 904 | 987 |
| Beechworth | 3,859 | 4,274 |
| Brimin | 171 | 181 |
| Browns Plains | 102 | 99 |
| Bruarong | 77 | 114 |
| Carlyle | 79 | 82 |
| Charleroi | 73 | 82 |
| Chiltern | 1,605 | 1,580 |
| Chiltern Valley | 60 | 77 |
| Cornishtown | 96 | 94 |
| Gooramadda | 58 | 62 |
| Gundowring^ | 214 | 208 |
| Huon | 219 | 206 |
| Indigo Valley | 329 | 346 |
| Kergunyah | 215 | 232 |
| Kiewa | 474 | 483 |
| Lilliput | 76 | 84 |
| Norong | 118 | 130 |
| Osbornes Flat | 233 | 285 |
| Rutherglen | 2,378 | 2,579 |
| Sandy Creek | 179 | 200 |
| Staghorn Flat^ | 293 | 368 |
| Stanley | 364 | 371 |
| Tangambalanga | 542 | 908 |
| Wahgunyah | 1,098 | 1,061 |
| Wooragee | 345 | 342 |
| Yackandandah | 1,811 | 2,008 |
^ - Territory divided with another LGA
