Victoria's Regions
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Regional Victoria offers a diverse and dynamic business environment, thriving industries and skilled professionals.
Victoria’s regions offer well-developed infrastructure, reliable low-cost telecommunications, easy access to raw materials, a high-quality local workforce and a superb rural lifestyle.
Regional Victoria is a competitive location for operations including food processing, component manufacturing, data processing and information technology. Victoria's agricultural strengths include wheat and other cereal crops, dairy and beef cattle, wool, vegetables, citrus fruit and grapes.
Significant mining activities are undertaken across the State, including oil and gas production, brown coal and gold mining. Many international companies in these sectors have chosen to locate in major regional centres.
Regional Victoria comprises five distinct and unique regions.
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South East Victoria (Gippsland) stretches from Melbourne’s wine region of the Yarra Valley through to the grazing country of the Latrobe Valley, to the magnificent Gippsland Lakes and Ninety Mile Beach. It includes the regional centres of Traralgon, Bairnsdale and Sale. Economic strengths include timber processing, paper product manufacturing, agriculture, horticulture, fishing and tourism. The La Trobe Valley is the source of the majority of Victoria’s electricity, with large reserves of brown coal. The region is one of Australia’s strongest dairy industries due to rich soil and dependable rainfall.
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North East Victoria (Hume) includes the regional centres Wangaratta, Shepparton, Benalla and Wodonga. The region is the northern gateway to Victoria’s famous High Country and Alpine resorts. Industries include dairy processing, wine production, food processing, manufacturing and technology. The Goulburn Valley, one of Australia’s major fruit and dairy production regions, exports to countries all over the world. The regional airport at Albury-Wodonga has direct links to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
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South West Victoria (Barwon) includes the regional cities of Geelong, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Colac and Portland. The coastline stretches from Geelong’s Corio Bay, along the Great Ocean Road towards South Australia. The region’s economic strengths include agriculture, forestry, horticulture, sustainable energy, automotive, aluminium smelting and tourism. Warrnambool is the centre of one of Victoria’s major dairy farming areas. The region also contains excellent access to quality education and research and development facilities.
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Western Victoria (Grampians) includes the central highlands and the wheat belt of the Wimmera region. The region includes the cities of Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham. Western Victoria features highly successful agribusiness ventures and manufacturers of high-tech machinery components. Wheat production in the lands surrounding Horsham contribute more than $600 million annually to the Victorian economy. Ballarat has a well-established technology park with IBM as a key anchor company employing in excess of 800 people in their IT services centre.
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North West Victoria (Loddon Mallee) is a region of contrasts; the vibrant cities of Mildura, Swan Hill and Bendigo anchor the region and are surrounded by the lively smaller towns of Echuca and Castlemaine. Mildura is surrounded by an irrigated agricultural zone that produces wine, dried fruits, citrus fruits, olives and vegetables. It is home to some of the largest processing and packaging plants in the world. Bendigo is the geographical centre of Victoria and the key city in the region, with an economy built on gold and sustained by manufacturing, business services and tourism.
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