Shire of Colac Otway: History
The Colac district is the traditional land for the Gulidjan people and was known as “Kolak” or “Kolakgnat” which means ‘belonging to sand’. The Gulidjan people are of the Easter Maar Nation.
The earliest European settlers arrived in the district in the 1830s and settled around Lake Colac.
The Shire of Colac Otway came into existence on 23 September 1994 through the amalgamation of the City of Colac, Shire of Colac, the bulk of the Shire of Otway and part of the Shire of Heytesbury. The Birregurra and Barwon Downs districts, historically part of the Shire of Winchelsea, were included in the new Shire as a result of their transfer to the Shire of Colac earlier in 1994. The name originally proposed for the Shire was "Shire of Gellibrand", after the Gellibrand River and the locality of the same name.