Rural City of Ararat
The Rural City of Ararat is an Australian local government area located in the western part of the state of Victoria. It covers an area of and in the 2021 had a population of 11,880. The area includes the towns of Ararat, Lake Bolac, Moyston, Pomonal, Streatham, Tatyoon, Wickliffe and Willaura.
The rural city is governed and administered by the Ararat Rural City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Ararat. The rural city is named after the main urban settlement located in the north of the LGA, that is Ararat, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of 8,076.
The traditional owners of the area are the Djab Wurrung.
History
The Rural City of Ararat was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Ararat, Shire of Ararat, and the Armstrong district of the Shire of Stawell.In January 1996, after a further Local Government Board review, the Rural City of Ararat gained about 500 km2 of farmland in the Wickliffe, Lake Bolac and Nerrin Nerrin districts from the Shire of Moyne and Shire of Southern Grampians.
Council
Current composition
The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. Composition as of September 2022:Administration and governance
The Ararat Rural City Council meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 6pm in the Council Chamber at the Ararat Shire Hall, 239 Barkly Street, Ararat. The Ararat Municipal Offices, 59 Vincent Street, Ararat, is the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at this location and is open from 8.15am to 5.15pm on week days.Townships and localities
The 2021 census, the rural city had a population of 11,880 up from 11,600 in the 2016 census^ - ''Territory divided with another LGA''