Road districts of Victoria

Road districts were established in the colony of Victoria, Australia, pursuant to legislation passed in 1853 and were an early form of local government in Victoria. The districts were outside towns, which were instead incorporated either as municipalities or boroughs. The road districts were created between 1853 and 1871.

Road districts were established after public meetings to discuss boundaries etc. followed by a petition to the governor. Upon the proclamation of a district a public meeting was held to elect officers of the Road Board, which was responsible for the building and maintenance of local roads and bridges, financing them with rates levied on landowners.

From 1862 many road districts became shires, pursuant to the District Councils Bill 1862, with additional responsibilities related to pounds, slaughtering licences, thistles, dogs, licensed publicans, brewer's and spirit merchants' licences and commons. They were also permitted to borrow money for permanent works.

Road districts included:

Name	Date proclaimed	Notes	Succeeded by (original LGAs)	Date
Barrabool	1853		Shire of Barrabool	1865
Portarlington	1853		Shire of Bellarine	1865
Belfast	1854		Shire of Belfast	1863
Boroondara	1854		Shire of Boroondara	1871
Epping	1854		Shire of Darebin	1870
Hawthorne	1854		Hawthorn municipal district	1860
Warrnambool	1854		Shire of Warrnambool	1863
Alberton	1855		Shire of Alberton	1864
Lower Leigh	1855
Bacchus Marsh	1856		Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley Road District	1862
Connewarre	1856	Amalgamated with South Barwon Borough	Shire of South Barwon	1874
Gardiner	1856		Shire of Gardiner	1871
Portland	1856		Shire of Portland	1863
Templestowe	1856		Shire of Bulleen	1875
Upper Yarra	1856
Ballarat	1857		Shire of Ballarat	1863
Broadmeadows	1857		Shire of Broadmeadows	1871
Caulfield	1857		Shire of Caulfield	1871
Dandenong	1857		Shire of Dandenong	1873
Dundas	1857		Shire of Dundas	1863
Eltham	1857		Shire of Eltham	1871
Great Brighton	1858
Hampden and Heytesbury	1857	named from the counties	Shire of Hampden	1863
Nunawading	1857		Shire of Nunawading	1872
South Barwon	1857		Borough of South Barwon	1863
Willowmavin	1857
Buninyong	1858		Shire of Buninyong	1864
Colac	1859		Shire of Colac	1864
Creswick	1858		Shire of Creswick	1863
Flinders	1868		Shire of Flinders & Kangerong	1874
Oakleigh and Mulgrave	1858		Shire of Oakleigh	1871
Woodstock	1858		Shire of Darebin	1870
Greensborough	1859	United with...	Shire of Heidelberg	1875
Pentridge	1859		Coburg Road District	1869
Upper Plenty	1859
Amherst and Clunes	1860		Shire of Talbot	1865
Braybrook	1860		Shire of Braybrook	1871
Campaspe	1860		Shire of Huntly	1866
Cranbourne	1860		Shire of Cranbourne	1868
Fryers	1860		Mount Alexander United Shire	1871
Gisborne	1860		Shire of Gisborne	1871
Glenlyon	1860		Shire of Glenlyon	1865
Heidelberg	1860		Shire of Heidelberg	1871
Lexton	1860		Shire of Lexton	1864
Metcalfe	1860		Shire of Metcalfe	1865
Mortlake	1860		Shire of Mortlake	1864
Mount Eliza	1860		Shire of Mornington	1871
Mount Rouse	1860		Shire of Mount Rouse	1864
Newstead	1860		Shire of Newstead	1865
Tullaroop	1860		Shire of Tullaroop	1865
Winchelsea	1860		Shire of Winchelsea	1864
Yandoit and Franklin	1860		Shire of Mount Franklin	1871
Carngham	1861		Carngham and Beaufort Road District	1863
Strathfieldsaye	1861		Shire of Strathfieldsaye	1866
Marong	1861		Shire of Marong	1864
Corio	1861
Ararat	1861		Shire of Ararat	1864
Avoca	1861		Shire of Avoca	1864
Bet Bet	1861		Shire of Bet Bet	1864
Huntly	1861		Shire of Huntly	1866
Grenville	1861		Shire of Grenville	1864
Leigh	1861		Shire of Leigh	1864
Ripon	1861		Shire of Ripon	1863
Shelford	1861
Stawell	1861		Shire of Stawell	1864
St Arnaud	1861		Shire of St Arnaud	1864
Woady Yallock	1861
Woodend, Newham and Rochford	1861		Shire of Newham	1871
Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley	1862
Ballan	1862		Shire of Ballan	1864
Bannockburn	1862		Shire of Bannockburn	1864
Berwick	1862		Shire of Berwick	1868
Bulla	1862		Shire of Bulla	1866
Campbell's Creek	1862		Mount Alexander United Shire	1871
Chiltern	1862		Shire of Chiltern	1874
Horsham	1862
Kangerong	1862		Shire of Flinders & Kangerong	1874
Kingower and Wedderburne	1862
Korong	1862		Shire of Korong	1864
Kowree	1862		Shire of Kowree	1872
Melton	1862		Shire of Melton	1871
Moorabbin	1862		Shire of Moorabbin	1871
Oxley	1862		Shire of Oxley	1865
Romsey	1862		Shire of Romsey	1871
Rutherglen	1862		Shire of Rutherglen	1871
Swan Hill	1862		Shire of Swan Hill	1871
Whittlesea	1862		Shire of Whittlesea	1874
Wyndham	1862		Shire of Wyndham	1864
Yackandandah	1862		Shire of Yackandandah	1864
Baringhup	1863		Shire of Maldon
Bungaree	1863		Shire of Bungaree	1871
Carngham and Beaufort	1863	previously Carngham
Donnybrook, Wallan Wallan and Bylands	1863		Shire of Merriang
Glenelg	1863		Shire of Glenelg	1864
Keilor	1863		Shire of Keilor	1871
Maldon	1863		Shire of Maldon	1864
Malvern	1863		Shire of Malvern	1878
McIvor	1863		Shire of McIvor	1864
North Ovens	1863		Shire of North Ovens	1867
Pyalong	1863		Shire of Pyalong	1871
Seymour	1863		Shire of Seymour	1871
Waranga	1863		Shire of Waranga	1865
Avon	1864		Shire of Avon	1865
East Loddon	1864		Shire of East Loddon	1871
Echuca	1864		Shire of Echuca	1871
Kyneton	1864	Amalgamation of Kyneton Borough and Lauriston & Edgecombe, Tylden & Trentham and Carlsruhe RDs	Shire of Kyneton	1865
Bairnsdale	1867		Shire of Bairnsdale	1868
Alexandra	1868		Shire of Alexandra	1869
Benalla	1868		Shire of Benalla	1869
Goulburn	1868		Shire of Goulburn	1871
Broadford	1869		Shire of Broadford	1875
Coburg	1869	renaming of Pentridge	Shire of Coburg	1875
Howqua	1869		Shire of Howqua	1875
Rosedale	1869		Shire of Rosedale	1871
Towong	1869		Shire of Towong	1874
Yea	1869		Shire of Yea	1873
Phillip Island	1871		Shire of Phillip Island and Woolamai	1874
Morang			Shire of Darebin	1870
Lauriston and Edgecombe			Kyneton Road District	1864
Tylden and Trentham			Kyneton Road District	1864
Carlsruhe			Kyneton Road District	1864
Bylands and Glenburnie
Carisbrook
Heathcote
Indented Heads
Indigo
Lancefield
Meredith
North Harrow
Wooragee