← East Gippsland Shire Council
Shire profile

Shire profile

East Gippsland is the council for Victoria's far east, from the Gippsland Lakes to the New South Wales border and up into the Alps. Bairnsdale is its main centre, and other towns include Lakes Entrance, Paynesville, Metung, Bruthen, Lindenow, Orbost, Marlo, Cann River, Mallacoota, Buchan, Omeo and Swifts Creek. The council says it covers about 21,000 km², roughly 10% of Victoria.

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)
49,669ABS Estimated Resident Population (preliminary).
Area
20,940 km²ABS (20,939.5 km²). The council gives about 21,000 km².
Population density
About 2.4 people per km²ABS population ÷ ABS area (our calculation). Much of the shire is sparsely settled, so density varies widely.
Wards
None — 9 councillors represent the whole shire
Council group (LGPRF)
Large Shire
Rateable properties
34,011 assessments (2026–27 budget)
Traditional Custodians
Gunaikurnai, Monero and BidawelAs acknowledged by the council: 'East Gippsland Shire Council acknowledges the Gunaikurnai, Monero and Bidawel people as the Traditional Custodians of the land that encompasses East Gippsland Shire.'
Council offices
Corporate Centre, Bairnsdale; service centres in Lakes Entrance, Mallacoota, Omeo, Orbost and Paynesville

Suburbs & postcodes

On the map

The shaded area is the official Local Government Area boundary.

The council doesn't publish a list of its localities, so we took the official Vicmap locality boundaries that fall inside the council's Vicmap boundary. Postcodes come from the CSA's suburb-and-postcode table for East Gippsland. Localities shared with neighbouring councils are marked '(part)': Cobungra with Alpine; Dartmouth, Mitta Mitta, Nariel Valley and Tom Groggin with Towong; Fernbank, Hollands Landing and Ocean Grange with Wellington. Fifteen localities have no row in the CSA table, so we don't list a postcode for them: Banksia Peninsula, Broadlands, Brumby, Butchers Ridge, Marthavale, Nariel Valley (part), Ocean Grange (part), Ryans, Shannonvale, Stirling, Tabberabbera, Tom Groggin (part), Wentworth, Wroxham and Wulgulmerang West. The council has proposed a new locality, Mosquito Point, carved from Metung, Nungurner, Nyerimilang and Boole Poole (September 2026). If you live in a split locality, your rates notice shows which council you pay. The shaded area on the map is the ABS council boundary (ASGS 2025); area and density figures use the ABS area.

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.