How Queenscliffe and Torquay avoided becoming part of Greater Geelong

Queenscliff and Torquay narrowly avoided becoming part of the City of Greater Geelong during the 1990s, against the recommendation of an audit – unsealed cabinet papers reveal why.

The Borough of Queenscliffe avoided amalgamation. Picture: Alison Wynd

Unsealed cabinet papers have offered a glimpse into the inner workings of cabinet during the creation of the City of Greater Geelong.

The Borough of Queenscliffe remains Victoria’s smallest council and last-remaining borough after emerging unscathed from Victoria’s local government amalgamations under premier Jeff Kennett in the early 1990s.

Now secret documents, released to the Geelong Advertiser through Freedom of Information, have shone a light as to why.

The state government slashed 210 councils to 78 between 1993 and 1994, with the City of Greater Geelong being a test case.

At the time, the region was split into numerous smaller municipalities: Bannockburn, Barrabool, Bellarine, Corio, Geelong, Geelong West, Newtown, Queenscliffe and South Barwon.

Premier Jeff Kennett and Roger Hallam in 1993. Picture: File

The state government considered the region to be “overgoverned”, with the structures in place at the time resulting “in a fractured system of government and cumbersome decision making”.

In December 1992, the state government commissioned an audit into a restructuring of the Geelong area, and hired consultancy firm KPMG Peat Marwick for the job.

The audit recommended, among other things, that both Queenscliffe and the area of Barrabool Shire that took in Wandana Heights, Ceres and Torquay be amalgamated into the new City of Greater Geelong.

Unsealed cabinet in-confidence papers drafted in response to the audit by then-local government minister Roger Hallam reveals the state government’s perspective.

Mr Hallam wrote that, while the KPMG proposal “provides a rational basis on which to approach restructuring the Geelong area … during my discussions with affected Councils, several elements not fully developed or explained by KPMG were identified”.

One of these was the Borough of Queenscliffe.

The KPMG report argued for Queenscliffe’s inclusion on the basis it had strategic importance to Geelong, it had a “community of interest” with Geelong, ageing infrastructure and small population.

Mr Hallam noted that, separate from the report, “any exclusion of Queenscliffe may raise questions from other communities as to why it has been treated as a special case”.

Nonetheless, Mr Hallam recommended the Borough be left out, due in part to a “letter writing campaign” of 200 letters that was directed at him and a petition signed by 896 residents.

In 2023, former MP Garry Spry, who was the member for Bellarine between 1992 and 2002 and helped lobby for Queenscliffe to remain untouched, said a “pretty powerful lobby group” had been opposed to amalgamation.

“Eventually I went into bat for the local lobby group, against my better judgment,” he told the Geelong Advertiser in 2023.

Meanwhile, Torquay’s inclusion in a Geelong council would have left around 4000 residents in a vastly reduced Barrabool Shire, which the audit recommended should “hold discussions” with the Shire of Winchelsea.

However, Mr Hallam said Barrabool council wanted a “Surf City Council” established, a notion rejected by KPMG as “Torquay has increasingly become a commuter suburb of Geelong” and that development of the coast would “be greatly assisted by the resources” of a Greater Geelong council.

Mr Hallam believed there was “little benefit” in splitting Barrabool Shire, setting the stage for the current municipal boundaries.

Originally published as How Queenscliffe and Torquay avoided becoming part of Greater Geelong