The Shire is governed and administered by the Moira Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Cobram, it also has a service centre located in Yarrawonga. The Shire is named after the county of Moira, of which the LGA occupies the northern part.
By the time of the Local Government Board's review of north-eastern Victoria earlier that year, Nathalia and Numurkah had expressed readiness to merge with each other, as had Tungamah and Yarrawonga (who were also open to a three-way merger with the Shire of Rutherglen). These four shires did not support further amalgamation, owing to concerns that travel times would be excessive, and that the irrigated farmers in the west and dryland farmers in the east did not belong in the same shire. However, the Board was ultimately persuaded by a submission from the Shire of Cobram, which proposed a merger of all five councils into a new Shire that would benefit from a diversified agricultural base and a stronger capability in dealing with the area's drainage and flooding issues.[3]
In the Local Government Board's initial proposal, the Shire was to be called "Muckatah".[3] This name, suggested by the Shire of Cobram,[4] was taken from the locality of Muckatah situated near the geographic centre of the LGA, and the Muckatah Depression, a drainage basin extending across much of the Shire from Boomahnoomoonah (south-east of Yarrawonga) to Numurkah.[5]
Moira Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.
Council
Current composition
The council is composed of nine councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.[6]
In the wake of a report detailing the "preventable" murder of a senior manager, the Moira Shire council was dismissed by the Minister for Local Government, Melissa Horne on 7 March 2023. An interim administrator has been appointed.[7] Elections for a new council will not be held until 2028.[8]
Administration and governance
The council meets in various locations around the Shire. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Cobram and its service centre in Yarrawonga.
Townships and localities
In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 30,522, up from 29,112 in the 2016 census.[9]
12Victoria Government Gazette – Online Archive (1837–1997). "S87of1994: Order estg (Part 11) the Shire of Moira". State Library of Victoria. State Government of Victoria (published 18 November 1994). p.4. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
12North East Victoria review: interim report. Melbourne: Local Government Board. 1994.
↑Rogers, Kenn (2002). The story of Cobram: a social history. p.296.
↑Local Government in Victoria. "Moira Shire Council". Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
