The Shire of Colac Otway is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state.

Needs more padding in intro

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent the municipality. In order of election in 2020, they are:^[5]

Ward	Party		Councillor	Notes
Unsubdivided		Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews	Tosh-Jake Finnigan	Elected on a countback in 2023 to replace Joe McCracken[6]
		Independent	Chris Potter	Councillor since 2016
		Independent	Graham Lesie Costin
		Independent	Kate Hanson	Councillor since 2016
		Greens	Stephen Hart	Councillor since c2008
		Independent	Jamie Bell
		Independent	Margaret White

The Shire is currently not subdivided into wards, and its seven councillors represented the entire area.

If there are any wards:
===... Ward===

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Colac Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Colac, and its service centre in Apollo Bay.

• Stephen Hart (c2008-)
• Kate Hanson (2016-)
• Chris Potter (2016-)
• Jamie Bell (2020-)
• Graham Lesie Costin (2020-)
• Margaret White (2020-)
• Tosh-Jake Finnigan (2023-)

• Frank Buchanan (c2008-2012, 2013-2016)
• Brian Crook (c2008-2016, 2018-2020)
• Stuart Hart (c2008-2012)
• Geoff Higgins (c2008-2012)
• Lyn Russell (c2008-2016)
• Chris Smith (c2008-2020)
• Michael Delahunty (2012-2016)
• Mick McCrickard (2012-2013)
• Terry Woodcroft (2012-2018)
• Joe McCracken (2016-2022)
• Jason Schram (2016-2020)

Kate Hanson

1. Jim Ryan (1996-?)

if there are Deputy Mayors:
==Deputy Mayors==
===Former Deputy Mayors===

The original inhabitants of the area are the Gulidjan people (from the Colac region) and the Gadubanud people (from the southern area of the municipality)^[7] of the Eastern Maar Nation.^[8] Colac was known as “Kolak” or “Kolakgnat” which means ‘belonging to sand’ in the Gulidjan language.^[8]

The earliest European settlers arrived in the district in the 1830s and settled around Lake Colac.^[9]

The Colac Otway Shire was created as a new municipality on 23 September 1994 as part of Local Government amalgamations of the City of Colac, Shire of Colac and parts of the Shire of Heytesbury and Shire of Otway.^[3]

If it has been renamed or altered:
===City of ...===
If it has been altered:
==Former compositions==
===Composition ... to ..===

• Colac (1996–2008)
• Murray (1996–2008)
• Otway (1996–2008)
• Warrion (1996–2008)

The Colac Ward had three councillors.

The Murray Ward had one councillor.

The Otway Ward had one councillor.

The Warrion Ward had one councillor.

Should this be included?
==Elections==
===... election===

The 2021 census, the shire had a population of 22,423, up from 20,972 in the 2016 census^[4].

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

The median age in 2021 was 45, same as in 2016^[4].

Ages	2016[4]		2021[4]
	Count	%	Count	%
0-4	1,166	5.56	1,123	5.01
5-9	1,267	6.04	1,286	5.74
10-14	1,262	6.02	1,327	5.92
15-19	1,191	5.68	1,214	5.41
20-24	1,081	5.15	1,025	4.57
25-29	1,105	5.27	1,277	5.7
30-34	1,095	5.22	1,294	5.77
35-39	1,055	5.03	1,266	5.65
40-44	1,215	5.79	1,199	5.35
45-49	1,386	6.61	1,325	5.91
50-54	1,437	6.85	1,490	6.64
55-59	1,556	7.42	1,574	7.02
60-64	1,593	7.6	1,646	7.34
65-69	1,464	6.98	1,639	7.31
70-74	1,105	5.27	1,428	6.37
75-79	832	3.97	975	4.35
80-84	566	2.7	680	3.03
85-89	366	1.75	416	1.86
90-94	179	0.85	187	0.83
95-99	33	0.16	41	0.18
100+	9	0.04	7	0.03

Affiliation	2016[4]		2021[4]
	Count	%	Count	%
Catholic	5,265	25.1	4,962	22.13
Anglican	2,314	11.03	1,844	8.22
Baptist	173	0.82	186	0.83
Lutheran	65	0.31	61	0.27
Pentecostal	124	0.59	184	0.82
Presbyterian & Reformed	898	4.28	592	2.64
Salvation Army	44	0.21	40	0.18
Seventh-day Adventist	16	0.08	12	0.05
Uniting Church	1,659	7.91	1,209	5.39
Other Protestantism	41	0.2	28	0.12
Protestantism total	5,334	25.43	4,156	18.53
Churches of Christ	13	0.06	10	0.04
Eastern Orthodox	104	0.5	106	0.47
Jehovah's Witnesses	67	0.32	54	0.24
Latter Day Saints	12	0.06	10	0.04
Other Christian	347	1.65	402	1.79
Other Christian total	543	2.59	582	2.6
Christian total	11,149	53.16	9,704	43.28
Buddhism	116	0.55	174	0.78
Hinduism	39	0.19	80	0.36
Islam	116	0.55	91	0.41
Judaism	9	0.04	14	0.06
Sikhism	13	0.06	30	0.13
Other non-Christian	38	0.18	48	0.21
Non-Christian total	332	1.58	439	1.96
No Religion, so described1	7,290	34.76	10,286	45.87
Other Beliefs2	101	0.48	69	0.31
Irreligion total	7,392	35.25	10,358	46.19
Not Stated3	2,102	10.02	1,922	8.57
Totals4	20,972	100%	22,423	100%

1: 'No Religion, so described' does not include those who reported Secular and Other Spiritual Beliefs such as Atheism, Agnosticism and Own Spiritual Beliefs

2: Includes relatively small numbers of so-called 'Secular Beliefs' such as Atheism, Agnosticism, Humanism &, Rationalism, and Other Spiritual Beliefs such as New Age, Own Spiritual Beliefs, Theism(!), etc.^[10]

3: Includes 'Inadequately described'

4: Due to rounding, figures may not add up to the totals shown.

If sister cities:
=Sister cities=
(small list of 1-3 places)

• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Colac Otway

{{Commons category-inline}}
Still need to check these links

• Colac Otway Shire Council official website
• Colac Otway Web – Regional Web Site
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
• Colac Otway Shire: Know Your Council

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[[Category:Local government areas of Victoria (Australia)]]
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[[Category:Shire of Colac Otway| ]]
[[Category:Otway Ranges]]