ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 CITY OF GREATER GEELONG

1927 - Barwon Heads – Ocean Grove Bridge
opened to traffic.
1929 - Geelong West declared a city.
1930 - Geelong’s first radio station 3GL (now K-Rock)
commenced transmission.
1933 - Apex Club first founded in Geelong.
1933 - Great Ocean Road scheme completed.
1961 - Parking metres introduced.
1965 - Coles opened Geelong’s first supermarket
in the city.
1963 - Alcoa aluminium smelter established.
1974 - Woollen Mills, for so long a feature of the city,
begun to disappear one by one.
1974 - South Barwon declared a city.
2001 - The Four Points by Sheraton Hotel opened on the
Geelong Waterfront.
2002 - Geelong Botanic Gardens opened its 21st Century
Garden extensions.
2004 - Skandia Group announced sponsorship of
Geelong’s Australia Day sailing regatta. Skandia
Geelong Week is now held over five days and is
Australia’s largest keel boat regatta.
CITY OF GREATER GEELONG ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008
1934 - T&G Building completed.
1936 - Bulk handling and loading facilities for grain
erected at the port.
1937 - St Mary’s Church completed.
1937 - Pilkington Glass Works and International
Harvester commenced operations.
1944 - Grace McKeller complex secured for housing
the elderly.
1947 - Plan for orderly town planning adopted – a first
for Victoria.
1949 - Newtown declared a city.
1951 - Geelong Football Club won back-to-back
1952 VFL Premierships.
1954 - New suburbs created – East Geelong, Norlane
and Corio.
1954 - Shell Refinery opened.
1954 - Queen Elizabeth II visited Geelong.
1956 - Tramway system scrapped, replaced by diesel
buses – a first for Victoria.
1977 - Geelong Regional Commission established.
1977 - Deakin University established.
1984 - Market Square redevelopment commenced.
1988 - Queen Elizabeth II visited Geelong.
1989 - Municipality of Bellarine became a rural city.
1989 - Collapse of giant financier Farrow Corporation
(Pyramid).
1993 - Amalgamation of six Councils to form the City of
Greater Geelong.
1996 - Deakin University opened new campus on the
Geelong waterfront.
1996 - Port of Geelong Authority privatised.
1998 - Council exhibited a new Greater Geelong
Planning Scheme.
1999 - Waterfront redevelopment project completed
(commenced in 1996).
2000 - $27M revitalisation of Geelong’s Central Activities
Area commenced.
2004 - Jetstar commenced domestic flights from
Avalon Airport.
2005 - Relocation of the Transport Accident Commission
headquarters to Geelong announced.
2007 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama returned to Geelong
after his first visit in 2002.
2007 - Geelong Football Club broke a 44 year drought
winning the 2007 AFL Premiership.
2008 - Deakin University opened their Medical School –
offering the first rural and regional training
program in Victoria.
2008 - Indian IT company Satyam Computer Services
attracted to Geelong, potentially creating 2000
jobs.
2008 - Westfield completed $150M redevelopment of
Bay City Plaza shopping complex.
1959 - Regional Library opened.
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Source: Walter AL, Chronological Table of Historical Events of Geelong and District 1802-1938 (1939); Houghton, Norman, Geelong – A Short History (2003)