1.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Census in Australia
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The census in Australia, or officially, the Census of Population and Housing, is a descriptive count of population of Australia on one night, and of their dwellings, generally held quinquennially. Participation in the census is compulsory, though answering some questions is optional, the count is taken every five years and is managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The first Australian census was held in 1911, on the night of 2 April, in 1961 the five-year period was introduced. Censuses are held on the second Tuesday of August, the most recent was held on 9 August 2016. The cost of the 2011 census was $440 million, a separate census of Norfolk Island has been conducted by the Norfolk Island Government every five years since 1981, and occurs on the same day as the Australian census. The census examines data such as age, gender, incomes, occupations, dwelling types and occupancy, transportation modes, ancestry, languages spoken, the Census and Statistics Act 1905 led to the 1906 establishment of the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. The Bureau was renamed the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1975, the census is collected and published against geographic areas defined by the Australian Standard Geographical Classification. The ASGC provides a set of classifications for the dissemination of all ABS statistics. In 2007 the ABS published a set of spatial units called mesh blocks. The primary aim of mesh blocks is to provide a block for constructing alternative. Only data on persons and total dwellings is released at the mesh block level. Mesh blocks will form the basis of a new statistical geography, the traditional concept of a Collection District is that it was the area that one census collector can cover in about a ten-day period. In the 2001 census, collectors may be allocated more than one urban district because of their size. In urban areas collection districts average about 220 dwellings, in rural areas the number of dwellings per collection district reduces as population densities decrease. For the 2001 census there were 37,209 collection districts and 1,353 Statistical Local Areas defined throughout Australia, the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and Privacy Act 1988 guarantee that no personally-identifiable information is released from the ABS to other government organisations, or the public. However the ABS makes confidential census data available to researchers, who must make various legal commitments before being given access, in the 1970s there was public debate about privacy and the census. In 1979 the Law Reform Commission reported on Privacy and the Census, one of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names. It was found that excluding names reduced the accuracy of the data, individuals were likely to leave questions blank
4.
Postcodes in Australia
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Postcodes are used in Australia to more efficiently sort and route mail within the postal system. All postcodes in Australia have four digits and are placed at the end of the Australian address, Australian postcodes are managed by Australia Post. Postcodes are published in booklets available from post offices or online from the Australia Post website, Australian envelopes and postcards often have four square boxes printed in orange at the bottom right for the postcode. These are used when addressing mail by hand, use of the Australian postcode system commenced in 1967, implemented by the Postmaster-Generals Department, now called Australia Post. It replaced earlier postal sorting systems, such as Melbournes letter and number codes, if addressing a letter from outside Australia, the postcode is recorded before Australia. They are often linked with one area, due to post code rationalization, But are now sometimes they can be quite complex, especially in country areas. The south-western Victoria 3221 postcode of the Geelong Mail Centre also includes twenty places around Geelong with very few people and this means that mail for these places is not fully sorted until it gets to Geelong. Some postcodes cover large populations, while other postcodes have much smaller populations, Australian postcodes range from 0200 for the Australian National University to 9944 for Cannonvale, Queensland. Some towns and suburbs have two postcodes — one for deliveries and one for post office boxes. g. The Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital has the postcode 4029, the Australian National University had the postcode 0200, more postcode ranges were made available for LVRs in the 1990s. Australia Post has been progressively discontinuing the LVR programme since 2006, Australian National Universitys postcode 0200 was the last LVR to be closed in September 2014. For example, postcode 2620 covers both a locality in NSW as well as a locality in the ACT, and postcode 0872 covers a number of localities across WA, SA, NT and QLD. Jervis Bay Territory, once an exclave of the ACT but now a territory, is geographically located on the coast of NSW. It is just south of the towns of Vincentia and Huskisson, Mail to the Jervis Bay Territory is still addressed to the ACT. The numbers used to show the state on each radio callsign in Australia are the number as the first number for postcodes in that state, e. g. 2xx in New South Wales, 3xx in Victoria. Radio callsigns pre-date postcodes in Australia by more than forty years, australias external territories are also included in Australia Posts postcode system. Capital city postcodes were the lowest postcodes in their state or territory range, before new ranges for LVRs, however, postcodes with the same second number are not always next to each other. As an example, postcodes in the range 2200–2299 are split between the suburbs of Sydney and the Central Coast of New South Wales
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Local government in Victoria
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Local government in the Australian state of Victoria describes the 79 municipal districts often referred to as local government areas. They are constituted as cities, shires, rural cities and, in one case, in addition to the LGAs, there are also 10 coastal islands and ski resorts which are unincorporated areas and administered either by the state or management boards. At present, the councils not controlled by administrators have a total of 611 councillors, after the elections in October 2016, this number will increase due to changes in electoral structure and administrators leaving some councils. Up till 1994 there had been 210 LGAs, when Jeff Kennett, the councils of Benalla and Mansfield split subsequent to this to arrive at the current number. Both bodies continued after the creation of Victoria as a separate colony, Road districts were established pursuant to legislation passed in 1853. From 1862 many road districts became shires pursuant to the District Councils Bill 1862, to become a shire, the road district had to be over 100 square miles in size and have annual rate revenue of over £1000. There were 96 road districts or shires created by 1865, promotion to town or city status was dependent on the gross revenue of the council. Such promotion was not automatic, but it was granted often, the clauses have been amended many times by parliament, but since 2006 the Constitution Act has required a referendum to further alter them. Five shires became rural cities but were dissolved with the 1994 restructure, in 1992 there were 65 cities in Victoria, more than there were in England at the time despite a significantly lower population. In 1994, the Jeff Kennett government restructured local government in Victoria and his reforms dissolved 210 councils and sacked 1600 elected councillors, and created 78 new councils through amalgamations. In suburban Melbourne 53 municipalities were reduced to 26, the new local government areas were headed by commissioners appointed by the State Government, democratically elected councils did not return until 1996. The current total of 79 LGAs arose when the Shire of Delatite was split in 2002 into the Rural City of Benalla and the Shire of Mansfield. A new City of Sunbury was proposed to be created from part of the City of Hume after the 2016 council elections, all local government areas are governed in a similar fashion, with an elected council, one of whom is the mayor. The City of Melbourne and the City of Greater Geelong have a elected mayor. The average area of a district within the Melbourne metropolitan area is 285 square kilometres. In practice, this is understood as referring to the distribution between urban centres and rural areas. The term borough, used of the Borough of Queenscliffe, is not defined by the act but has retained for the single borough which survived the reforms of the 1990s. Under the repealed Local Government Act 1958, boroughs, towns and cities were defined on the basis of area, population, in practice, boroughs were and are small towns
6.
South Gippsland Shire
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The Shire of South Gippsland is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of the state. It covers an area of 3,305 square kilometres and and it includes the towns of Leongatha, Korumburra, Foster, Poowong and Mirboo North. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the former Shire of South Gippsland with the Shire of Mirboo, the Shire is named after the Gippsland region, in which the LGA occupies the southernmost portion, including Wilsons Promontory at the southern tip of the Australian continent. The council is composed of three wards and nine councillors, with three councillors per ward elected to represent each ward, the council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Leongatha Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the councils administrative activities. It also provides services at both its administrative centre in Leongatha, and its service centre in Mirboo North
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Lands administrative divisions of Australia
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Many property titles in Australia are listed as being in the parish and county. Parts of South Australia and Western Australia were similarly divided into counties, however South Australia has subdivisions of hundreds instead of parishes, along with the Northern Territory, which was part of South Australia when the hundreds were proclaimed. There were also formerly hundreds in Tasmania, Counties in Australia have no administrative or political function, unlike those in England, the United States or Canada. Australia instead uses local government areas, including shires, districts, councils and municipalities according to the state, below these are groups of land parcels known as deposited plans, registered plans or title plans. Queensland has registered plans, New South Wales and Western Australia have deposited plans, within these are individual land parcels such as lots, in total there are estimated to be about 10.2 million of these in Australia. Counties were used since the earliest British settlement in Australia, with the County of Cumberland proclaimed by Captain Phillip on 4 June 1788, in 1804 Governor King divided Van Diemens Land into two counties, Buckingham in the south and Cornwall in the north. The parishes date to the surveys conducted after 1825, with the given to Governor Brisbane on 23 Jun 1825 to divide the colony into counties, hundreds. At this time there were five counties already proclaimed in New South Wales, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Camden, Argyle, Counties were established soon after the foundation of other Australian colonies. Many of the counties have English names, often the names of counties in England, such as Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, less frequently, some have Aboriginal names such as the County of Yungnulgra in New South Wales, and County of Croajingolong in Victoria. Legal cases referenced counties, and many records for Australia in the 19th century list the county and parish for location of birth, deaths. Counties and parishes are still referenced in property law, and in industrial relations instruments, for example in a New South Wales award. Similar award examples exist in the states and territories that have been subdivided into counties. The County of Yancowinna is also the part of New South Wales which is in a different time zone to the rest of the state. Counties are also used on paperwork for mortgage securities in banks, Parishes and counties are also mentioned in definitions of electoral districts. Counties have since gone out of use in Australia, and are used or even known by most of the population today. The counties which contain the cities have millions of people, while those in remote areas have a very small population. The County of Adelaide, for instance, has a population than all the other counties in South Australia combined. Wangaratta, for instance, is located at the junction of the Ovens and King rivers, some of the county names live on by being the same name of present-day local government areas, general region names, towns or establishments in the area
8.
County of Buln Buln
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The County of Buln Buln is one of the 37 counties of Victoria which are part of the cadastral divisions of Australia, used for land titles. It was first proclaimed in government gazette on 24 Feb 1871 together with others from the Gipps Land District and it includes Wilsons Promontory, and the Victorian coast from around Venus Bay in the west to Lake Wellington in the east. Sale is near its north-eastern edge, some time earlier maps showed proposed counties of Bass, Douro, and part of Haddington and Bruce occupying the area of Buln Buln
9.
Electoral district of Gippsland South
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The Electoral district of Gippsland South is a Lower House electoral district of the Victorian Parliament. It is located within the Eastern Victoria Region of the Legislative Council, the electorate includes all of South Gippsland Shire and the southern parts of Wellington Shire. Industries include agriculture, timber production and tourism, dairying is the biggest agricultural contributor to the local economy. Natural features include Wilsons Promontory National Park, Corner Inlet, and it has never been won by the Australian Labor Party, and has been in the hands of the National Party for all but two terms since 1929. Sir Herbert Hyland held the seat for thirty years from 1929 until he died in office in 1970 and he held many portfolios in government including Transport, Chief Secretary, State Development, Labour, Decentralisation and Transport and Prices. Hyland was knighted in 1952, and elected leader of the parliamentary Country Party in 1955, the district is currently held by Nationals MP Danny OBrien, who won the seat in a by-election in 2015 following the resignation of former Nationals leader Peter Ryan. A = now known as Merriman Creek Electorate profile, Gippsland South District, Victorian Electoral Commission
