← Wellington Shire Council
Shire profile

Shire profile

Wellington Shire runs from the Great Dividing Range and the High Country, through irrigated farming flats, to the Gippsland Lakes, the Ninety Mile Beach and Bass Strait. Sale is its main centre and the council's headquarters; other towns include Maffra, Yarram, Heyfield, Stratford, Rosedale, Loch Sport, Longford, Briagolong, Port Albert and Dargo. The shire was formed in 1994 from the Shires of Alberton, Avon and Maffra, the City of Sale and part of the Shire of Rosedale.

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)
46,551ABS Estimated Resident Population (preliminary). The council's own page quotes 45,639 from the 2021 Census.
Area
10,817 km²ABS (10,817.4 km²). The council gives 10,924 km² and calls Wellington Victoria's third-largest municipality; the VEC gives 11,002 km².
Population density
About 4.3 people per km²ABS population ÷ ABS area (our calculation). Much of the shire is sparsely settled, so density varies widely.
Wards
3 — Northern, Central and Coastal, 3 councillors each
Council group (LGPRF)
Large Shire
Rateable properties
32,750 assessments (2026–27 budget)
Traditional Custodians
GunaikurnaiAs acknowledged by the council: 'Wellington Shire Council acknowledges our offices are located on the traditional lands of the Gunaikurnai nation.'
Council offices
Sale Service Centre (18 Desailly Street, Sale) and Yarram Service Centre (156 Grant Street, Yarram)

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 Vicmap postcode boundaries. Localities with less than 95% of their area inside Wellington are marked '(part)'; your rates notice shows which council you pay. Six localities with less than 5% of their area inside Wellington are left out: Bengworden, Callignee, Gunyah, Mount Buller, Wonnangatta and Woorarra East. Lake Wellington and Snake Island are official localities with few or no homes. 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.