Shire of Central Goldfields is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of 1533 km2 and, in August 2021 had a population of 13,483. It includes the towns of Bealiba, Carisbrook, Dunolly, Maryborough and Talbot. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the City of Maryborough, most of the Shire of Tullaroop, and parts of the Shire of Bet Bet and Shire of Talbot and Clunes. The Shire is governed and administered by the Central Goldfields Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Maryborough. It also has a service centre located in Talbot. The Shire is named after the region having historically been a major goldfields region in central Victoria.

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of four wards and seven councillors, with four councillors elected to represent the Maryborough Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards. In 2017, the Victorian Government removed the elected councillors because of financial mismanagement, and Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins appointed three administrators to oversee the city until the 2020 local government elections: Noel Harvey OAM, Hugh Delahunty, and Karen Douglas. Councillors elected at the 2020 election are:

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Maryborough Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Maryborough, and its service centre in Talbot.

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 13,483, up from 12,995 in the 2016 census. ^ - Territory divided with another LGA ***** - Not noted in 2016 Census # - Not noted in 2021 Census