Colac, Victoria

Colac is a small city in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac and the surrounding volcanic plains, approximately 40 km inland from Bass Strait. Colac is the largest city in and administrative centre of the Colac Otway Shire. At the 2006 census, Colac had a population of 10,857.

A commercial centre for a major agricultural district, it was named after nearby Lake Colac and was proclaimed a city in 1960.

History
For thousands of years clans of the Gulidjan people occupied the region of Colac, living a semi-nomadic life.

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1837 by Hugh Murray, and proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848.

The Post Office opened on 1 July 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854. Colac Botanic Gardens in Queen Street located on the shores of Lake Colac, were established in 1868.

Brookhouse Mystery
In 1854 town founder Hugh Murray employed a couple of shepherds named Thomas Brookhouse and Patrick Geary. Brookhouse who was looking for missing sheep disappeared without a trace. Patrick Geary and his wife soon left the district. Fifteen years later a boy out rabbiting found the skeletal remains of Thomas Brookhouse under a pile of rocks near Lake Corangamite. Brookhouse had his head smashed in. It took Police two years to track Patrick Geary and charge him with Brookhouse's murder. A friend of Geary told the court that Geary had killed Brookhouse with an axe to stop him from informing Murray of Geary's sheep stealing activities. Geary was hanged in Melbourne in 1871.

Role in World War I
A plaque on the southern side of the Memorial Square commemorates two historic speeches given on consecutive nights in Colac, beginning on 31st July 1914 with the then Federal opposition leader, Andrew Fisher, and followed the next night by the Prime Minister Joseph Cook. The two speeches declared Australia's commitment to follow Britain into World War I, with Fisher declaring "Should honor demand the mother country taking part in hostilities, Australians would stand beside her to the last man and shilling." and Cook's famous reiteration that "If the old country is at war, so are we." Fisher became Prime Minister for the third time on 5th September.

Heritage listed sites
Colac contains a number of heritage listed sites, including:


 * 1 Murray Street, Adam Rea's Store
 * 1-5 Fyans Street, Colac Botanic Gardens

Schools

 * Trinity College, Colac
 * Colac Secondary College

Natural features
The plains around Colac are the third largest volcanic plain in the world. Australia's largest permanent salt lake and Victoria's largest natural lake, Lake Corangamite, is nearby and Red Rock Reserve is nearby too.

Lake Colac's water level can drop over summer dry periods to the point that it actually dried up for the first time in recorded history in 2009, but is always replenished after drought and is used for fishing, boating and water skiing.

Transport
The main form of transport in Colac is the automobile. The Princes Highway (part of Australia's circumnavigational Highway 1) runs through the city and forms its main street, Murray Street. The highway runs west toward Camperdown and east to Geelong and beyond to Melbourne. Several secondary sealed roads including the C161, C155 and C154 run south toward Apollo Bay and the coastal tourism areas of the Otway Ranges Great Ocean Road, Twelve Apostles and the Shipwreck Coast. The Colac-Ballarat Road runs north connecting Colac to Ballarat via Cressy.

The railway through the town was opened in 1877, and extended from 1883 as part of the line to the south west of the state.

The Irrewarra-Cressy line towards Ballarat also ran from Colac between 1889 and 1953 and the Alvie line opened in 1923 and closed in 1954.

A narrow gauge branch line also originated from the town, the branch line to Beech Forest and Crowes opened in 1902 and closed in 1962. The route of the abandoned railway has been developed as the Old Beechy Rail Trail.

The local railway station is served by V/Line passenger services on the Warrnambool line. The train stops at Camperdown and Terang.

Events
Colac was the home of the annual "Cliff Young Australian 6-day race". The event occurred for over 20 years until 2006 and is a running/walking event. It was held on the Memorial Square which is right in the Heart of Colac and attracted entries from all over the world.

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.

Sister City
Colac is the sister city of Walker, Michigan, U.S.A.

Media
Colac has its own newspaper, The Colac Herald, published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Colac is serviced by a number of local radio stations: 3CS 1134AM, MIXX FM 106.3 MHz, and OCR FM Community Radio Station 98.3 MHz 88.7 MHz.

Most digital terrestrial 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 television reception. Television channels available include WIN Television, GEM HD and GO!  (sub-licensees of the Nine Network)  Prime7, 7TWO, 7mate (a sub-licensee of the Seven Network). These two stations broadcast relayed services throughout regional Victoria. The city also receives Southern Cross Ten, One HD and Eleven (sub-licensee's of Network Ten). In addition to commercial television services, Colac receives Government ABC Television (ABC1, ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24) and SBS (SBS One and SBS Two) television services. Analog Television transmissions ceased on Thursday 5 May 2011 as part of the Federal Government`s nationwide plan for Digital terrestrial television in Australia, which involves switching over all television broadcast services from analog systems to digital DVB-T systems.

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.

Sport
Colac is home to a number of teams in the Colac & District Football and Netball League combining both Australian Rules football clubs and netball clubs from around the district. The Colac Tigers, formerly of the CDFNL, compete in the Geelong Football League. Colac is also the hometown of Luke Hodge, current Captain of the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Colac was the hometown of cycling legend Gail Oliver, who also cooks up a storm.

Colac has a horse racing club, the Colac Turf Club, which schedules around four race meetings a year including the Colac Cup meeting in February. It also has a picnic horse racing club, Colac St Patrick Picnic, which holds its one race meeting a year in March.

Golfers play at the Colac Golf Club on Colac–Lavers Hill Road, Elliminyt.

Colac has a swimming club which trains swimmers and has athletes competing at Region, State and national competitions.

Colac has a baseball club, the Colac Braves, a team which competes in the Geelong Baseball Association winter competition and the Pan Pacicific Masters Games on the Gold Coast. The Colac Braves also cater for Junior Baseballers aged 5 to 15. The Braves have claimed recent premiership success in the Geelong Baseball Association with wins in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The Colac Otway Rovers AFC is the region's only Soccer club established in 2010. The club entered the Football Federation Victoria—Geelong Region in 2011—fielding a team in the Mens Division 3 Competition. The Colac Otway Rovers conducts a Small Sided Football Program for juniors and an Indoor Soccer competition.