Colac, Victoria
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| Colac Victoria |
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| Population: | Approx. 14,000 | ||||||
| Postcode: | 3250 | ||||||
| Elevation: | 134.0 m | ||||||
| Location: | |||||||
| LGA: | Colac Otway Shire | ||||||
| State District: | Polwarth | ||||||
| Federal Division: | Corangamite | ||||||
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Colac is a town in the western district of Victoria, Australia, situated approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac. It is approximately twenty five miles inland from Bass Strait and is on the Princes Highway, which is the main road from Melbourne to Adelaide and part of Australia's circumnavigational Highway 1, which is reputed to be the longest road in the world. The town has a population of just below 14,000.
The area was first settled by Hugh Murray in 1837 and proclaimed a town in 1948. Colac Botanic Gardens in Queen Street located on the shores of Lake Colac, were established in 1868, and remodelled in 1910 by William Guilfoyle and include a huge diversity of plants with many old and rare trees and a rose arbour. As one of the gateways to the Otway Ranges, Colac is an entry point to some of Victoria's most picturesque scenery. The Twelve Apostles, Shipwreck Coast and the Great Ocean Road are all readily accessible on sealed roads.
Colac is the home of the annual "Cliff Young Australian 6-day race". The event has been going for over 20 years and is a running/walking event. It is held on the Memorial Square which is right in the Heart of Colac and attracts entries from all over the world. A plaque on the southern side of the Memorial Square commemerates two historic speeches given on consecutive nights in Colac, beginning on September 5th 1914 with the then Federal opposition leader, Andrew Fisher,and followed the next night by Prime Minister Joseph Cook. The two speeches declared Australia's commitment to follow Britain into World War I, with Fisher declaring "Australia will stand by the mother country to our last man and our last shilling" and Cook's famous reiteration that "If the old country is at war, so are we."
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[edit] Industry
With a wealth of natural resources, such as agriculture and timber, Colac has a strong manufacturing background, with major local employers including Bulla Dairy Foods, CRF (Colac Otway) Pty Ltd, Fonterra Cororooke, and AKD Softwoods.
While historically the region supported numerous successful brickworks, nowadays the major primary industries are agriculture such as the dairying, beef, lamb and finewool merino industries.
[edit] Media & Public Portrayal
Colac has its own newspaper The Colac Herald, published on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Colac is serviced by a number of local radio stations, 3CS 1134AM, MIXX FM 106.3MHz, Otway FM (Community Radio Service) 104.7MHz& 99.1MHz
Most digital & analogue terestrial television services are received via UHF from Ballarat Lookout Hill, in addition to the Ballarat service, a local repeater on nearby Warrion Hill provides an alternative source of ABC & SBS located on VHF / UHF respectively.
FM radio services direct from Melbourne can be received in Colac but signal levels are low. Television services direct from Melbourne can be received in Colac but large antenna arrays must be used with mixed results.
Colac is serviced by Austar Subscription Television delivered by DTH satellite transmission, via Optus C1 Ku Band Satellite located at 156E.
[edit] Neighbours (Television programme)
In 2005 there was controversy relating to the portrayal of Colac in the Australian television series 'Neighbours'. The show's 'problem' family, the Timmins family, were portrayed as originating from Colac, and their home town was referred to negatively on several occasions. This includes the addition of guest characters Caren (a trashy teenage girl who was a bully and was known around school for sleeping around), Roo (an armed robber and general criminal) and Shazza (a girl who was almost a Timmins' clone. She was also portrayed as a boyfriend stealer and obnoxious teenager.) The Timmins' themselves also show the qualities of the guest characters, but in less of an extreme fashion. Most notably is Janae Timmins' stealing of Shazza's boyfriend Mike Pill and Dylan Timmins smashing up the Bishops house. Colac officials have reportedly demanded the inclusion of positive references to the town, as reported by UK magazine 'Inside Soap', and although it is unknown whether or not anything was done about this, every member of the family are now practically redeemed characters. In addition, in 2006 reports have surfaced that the town is receiving an increased amount of tourism due to it being featured in the show.
[edit] Backpackers (Television programme)
In November 2006 a self made programme called Backpackers depicting the European shoestring travels of three young men from Colac aired on the Foxtel's music channel Channel V. Mick Middleton, James Grech (JAG) and Lee Mahoney created and starred in the show which has been described as a warts and all home video on steroids. The show has also seen success overseas.
[edit] External links
- Colac Otway Web has resources to cover every aspect of Colac including *Trades and Services, *Town by Town and *First Stop Travel.
- Cliff Young Australian 6-day race - Website for the annual 6-day race which is held on Memorial Square.
- Colac Otway Shire Council provides information about local services, economic development and cultural activities in the Colac Otway Shire
- Geelong Advertiser Victoria's oldest daily newspaper circulating throughout the Barwon Region.
