← Buloke Shire Council
City profile

City profile

Buloke is a large farming shire in Victoria's north-west Mallee, stretching from Lake Tyrrell, Victoria's largest salt lake, to the northern reaches of the Avoca River. Grain growing is its main source of income and jobs. The council's headquarters are in Wycheproof; the other main towns are Birchip, Charlton, Donald and Sea Lake, with smaller townships at Berriwillock, Culgoa, Nandaly, Nullawil and Watchem. The shire is named after the buloke (bull oak) tree, Allocasuarina luehmannii.

New to these terms? Read them in plain English
Local Government Area (LGA)
The official area a council governs.
Estimated Resident Population (ERP)
The official population count for an area.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
The national statistics agency behind population figures.
See the full explainer, with formulas →

The area at a glance

Population (ERP, 30 June 2025)
5,887ABS Estimated Resident Population (preliminary).
Area
7,998 km²ABS: 7,998.2 km². The council says 'more than 8,000 square kilometres'.
Population density
Under 1 person per km²About 0.7 people per km² (ABS ERP ÷ ABS area).
Wards
3, with two councillors each
Council group (LGPRF)
Small shire
Rateable properties
6,443 assessments (2026–27 budget)2,995 residential, 452 commercial and industrial, and 2,996 farming (Budget §4.1.1(d)).
Traditional Owners
The Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk, the Dja Dja Wurrung and the Wamba Wemba peoplesAs acknowledged by the council in its Council Plan 2025–2029, as the Traditional Owners of parts of the land now known as Buloke.

Suburbs & postcodes

On the map

The shaded area is the official Local Government Area boundary.

The council doesn't publish a single list of its localities, so this list comes from the official Vicmap locality boundaries, checked against the council boundary. A locality is listed when at least 5% of its area is inside the council, and marked '(part)' when less than 95% is. Shares inside Buloke: Terrappee about 9%, Richmond Plains 18%, Nine Mile 24%, Lake Marmal 25%, Laen 40%, Tittybong 41%, Cope Cope 43%, Buckrabanyule 46%, Coonooer Bridge 49%, Tyrrell 56%, Watchem West 56%, Woosang 60%, Towaninny 70%, Wilkur 71%, Glenloth East 78%, Yeungroon East 87%, Lawler 90%. Vicmap names two of them 'Myall (Sea Lake)' and 'Springfield (Sea Lake)'. Postcodes come from the CSA's suburb and postcode table for Buloke and, for the localities it doesn't list, from Vicmap postcode boundaries; for Cokum the CSA table gives 3530 and Vicmap 3542. The shaded area on the map is the council boundary from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ASGS 2025) — the same boundary the ABS area and population figures are measured on.

Sources — check it yourself

Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.