Lara, Victoria facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lara Geelong, Victoria
Lara Location in City of Greater Geelong
Population	19,014 (2021 census)
• Density	1,311/km2 (3,400/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	3212
Area	14.5 km2 (5.6 sq mi)
LGA(s)	City of Greater Geelong
State electorate(s)	Lara
Federal Division(s)	Corio
Suburbs around Lara: Anakie Little River Little River Anakie Lara Avalon Lovely Banks Corio Avalon

Lara is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located about 18 kilometres north-east of the Geelong city centre. Lara is inland from the Princes Freeway, which connects to Melbourne. In 2021, 19,014 people lived in Lara.

History of Lara

Landsat 7 image of the Greater Geelong area. Lara is at the top of the photo.

For thousands of years before Europeans arrived, the land around Lara was home to the Wadawurrung people. They were the traditional owners of this area.

Early European Exploration

Explorers Hume and Hovell reached Lara on December 16, 1824. They thought they had found Westernport Bay. They wrote that the Aboriginal people called the bay Djillong and the land Corayo. These names might be where Geelong and Corio got their names.

The area was first called Kennedy's Creek. It also had other names like Duck Ponds, Hovell's Creek, Cheddar, and Swindon. At that time, there were only a few farms here.

Growth of the Town

The railway line through Lara opened in 1857. The local railway station also opened then. This led to new areas for houses being planned. A Post Office opened on March 1, 1858, called Duck Ponds. It was renamed Hovell's Creek in 1872 and finally Lara in 1884.

By 1890, a few hundred people lived in Lara. Schools and churches were built. However, the town did not get a proper water supply until 1947.

Important Events

In January 1969, a serious bushfire swept through Lara. Sadly, 17 people lost their lives. Most of them were caught in or near their cars on the Princes Highway by a fast-moving grass fire.

Lara has also been a filming location. Some scenes from the 1979 movie Mad Max were filmed here. The ABC show We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year also filmed in Lara, calling the town "Dunt" in the show.

On February 13, 2024, a big storm hit the area. Many homes lost power. The temperature reached 41 degrees Celsius just before a strong wind gust of 122 kilometres per hour was recorded at nearby Avalon Airport.

Preserving History

The history of Lara is kept alive at the Lara Museum and Historical Centre. It is located on the corner of Forest and Canterbury roads. The museum is in an old building called the Lake Bank Hotel, built around 1860. A local businessman, Lino Bisinella, renovated it. In 2013, he gave it to the community group that runs the museum.

Heritage Listed Sites

Lara has several places that are important for their history. These are called heritage listed sites:

• 605 Bacchus Marsh Road, Elcho Homestead
• Princes Highway, Hume and Hovell Monument
• 108 Windermere Road, Pirra Homestead

Population of Lara

The 2021 census showed that 19,014 people lived in Lara.

• About 2.1% of the people were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Most people (79.5%) were born in Australia.
• The next most common countries of birth were England (3.6%), India (1.9%), Philippines (1.7%), and New Zealand (1.2%).
• Most people (80.2%) spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken included Punjabi (1.4%), Tagalog (0.9%), Croatian (0.6%), and Italian (0.5%).
• For religion, 41.5% said they had no religion, and 22.6% were Catholic.

Geography of Lara

Hovell's Creek flows through Lara and into Limeburners Bay. This bay is a small part of Corio Bay. The creek does not always have water because the soil is poor and there is not much rain. This area is one of the driest parts of southern Victoria. This is because the Otway Ranges create a rain shadow, meaning Lara gets only about 425 millimetres of rain each year.

The You Yangs are granite peaks located 4 kilometres north of Lara. They rise sharply to 352 metres high. You can see them from most parts of Geelong.

Education in Lara

Lara has three primary schools for younger students:

• St. Anthony's Primary School
• Lara Lake Primary School
• Lara Primary School

Lara Secondary College opened in 2004. It teaches students from Year 7 to Year 12 and offers the VCE. The VCE is a certificate students get at the end of high school in Victoria. Lara is also home to Avalon College, a school that helps international students get ready for traditional schools.

Industry in Lara

The Princes Freeway at Lara.

On the edges of Lara, there are industrial areas and two prisons. These are the maximum security HM Prison Barwon, which opened in 1990, and the medium security Marngoneet Correctional Centre, which opened in 2006.

Lara also has retirement villages. St Laurence Park retirement village is set on 42 acres of parkland near the town centre. It has many self-contained units and apartments. Lakeside Lara is a newer development for people over 55. It has more than 200 cottages.

Ford Australia has a special testing ground for cars at the northern end of the You Yangs. Here, they test and evaluate new vehicles.

Transport in Lara

Lara has regular V/Line passenger train services. These trains run on the Geelong line to Melbourne and Geelong. Many people who live in Lara use these trains to travel to work every day from Lara railway station. Lara has become a popular place to live for people who work in Melbourne but want to be close to Geelong.

In 2013, the Myki ticketing system was extended to the Geelong line. Lara became a Myki Zone 2, 3 & 4 station. Since 2015, there are more trains running every 20 minutes during off-peak times. This has led to more people using the train between Geelong and Lara.

CDC Geelong operates bus services in Lara on routes 10, 11, and 12. These buses run to and from Lara station. Taxis are also available.

Avalon Airport is close by. However, there is no regular public transport from Lara station to the airport terminal.

Amenities in Lara

Lara has many services and shops for its residents. There is a post office, two banks, and several hairdressers. You can also find a butcher, a greengrocer, and a newsagency.

The town has two large supermarkets: a Woolworths supermarket (opened in 2016) and a Coles supermarket. The Coles supermarket opened in December 2014 as part of a town centre expansion. The Lara Library opened in 2011.

For food, Lara offers several bakery/coffee shops, three Thai restaurants, two Indian restaurants, and three pizza shops. There are also three fish-and-chip shops, McDonald's, Subway, and three Chinese and noodle shops. Two petrol stations serve the town, one of which is open 24 hours a day.

For places to stay and have fun, Lara has a pub/hotel, a sports club, and a lawn bowls club.

Sport in Lara

Lara has an Australian rules football team that plays in the Geelong Football League. There are also two soccer clubs: North Geelong Warriors FC and Lara United FC. North Geelong Warriors FC plays in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, and Lara United FC plays in division 5 of the Victorian State League.

The Lara Giants Basketball club was started in 1992. It plays in the Geelong United Basketball association.

The Lara Golf Club, known as Elcho Park Golf Club until 2014, has an 18-hole course and a driving range on Elcho Road.

Environmental Issues in Lara

An EPA car in front of waste piles at a recycling facility in Lara.

C&D recycling was a recycling facility on Broderick Road. For several years, it did not follow its rules. In 2019, the company closed down. EPA Victoria estimated that 286,200 cubic metres of waste was piled up at the site. This created a high risk of fire.

The cleanup of the site started in September 2019 and finished in June 2022. Workers removed large amounts of timber, soil, concrete, bricks, plastic, glass, and ceramics. Soil that had asbestos in it was also removed safely. The Victorian state government provided $30 million to help with the cleanup and reduce the fire risk.