Geelong is the second largest city in the state of Victoria, Australia and is the largest regional centre in the state. Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-west of the state's capital, Melbourne. With an urban population of 160,991 people, Geelong is the fifth largest non-capital city in Australia. It is covered by the City of Greater Geelong municipality.

The urban area runs from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with the bay to the east and hills to the west. The climate is temperate, with four distinct seasons. The city is the home to car manufacturer Ford Australia and the Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats.

Geelong was named in 1837 by Governor Richard Burke, with the name derived from the local Wathaurong Aboriginal name for the region, Jillong, thought to mean 'land' or 'cliffs'. The area was first surveyed in 1838, three weeks after Melbourne, and the Post Office was open by June 1840 (the second to open in the Port Phillip District). The first woolstore was erected in this period and Geelong became the port for the wool industry of the Western District. The gold rush in Ballarat saw the population of Geelong increase to 22,000 by the mid 1850s. The city then diversified into manufacturing, rivalling Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne as wool mills, ropeworks, and paper mills were established, but the next few decades saw the population stay relatively constant until the 20th century.

Geelong was proclaimed a city in 1910, with industrial growth from this time until the 1960s establishing the city as a manufacturing centre for the state, and saw the population grow to over 100,000 by the mid 1960s. Population increases over the last decade were due to growth in service industries, as the manufacturing sector has declined. Redevelopment of the inner city has occurred since the 1990s, as well as gentrification of inner suburbs. Geelong now has a population growth rate higher than the national average, and is the 12th largest city in Australia.

In 2004, Avalon Airport was upgraded to provide for interstate passenger travel, providing a base for the low-cost airline Jetstar to service the Melbourne and Geelong urban areas. Geelong expanded towards the coast with Mount Duneed becoming a residential area and plans for a new neighborhood known as Armstrong Creek were developed by City of Greater Geelong. Construction begun on the Geelong Ring Road in 2006. The ring road is designed to replace the Princes Highway through Geelong from Corio to Waurn Ponds and will be operational in 2009.

More than $AUD500 million worth of major construction was under way in Geelong in 2007. Major projects include the $150 million Westfield Geelong expansion works, involving a flyover of Yarra Street, the city's first Big W store and an additional 70 new speciality stores; the $37 million Deakin Waterfront campus redevelopment and the $23 million Deakin Medical School; the $50 million Edgewater apartment development on the waterfront; a number of multi-million dollar office developments in the CBD; and a new $30 million aquatic centre in Waurn Ponds.

The Victorian Government announced the relocation of the Transport Accident Commission headquarters from Melbourne to Geelong in October 2006, which will create 850 jobs and an annual economic benefit of over $59 million to the Geelong region. The construction of the $80 million Brougham Street headquarters is due to be complete by late 2008. In November 2008 Ford Australia announced that its Australian designed I6 engine would be reengineered to meet the latest emissions regulations and that consequently the engine manufacturing plant would be upgraded.

On July 10, 2008 approval was given for a $100 million twin tower apartment complex of 16 and 12 floors to be built on Mercer St in the city's Western Wedge. The towers will become the tallest buildings in the city, taking the title from the Mercure Hotel.

The approval of the towers is hoped to spur on further highrise developments in Geelong as part of the councils strategic plan to densify the city. A $17 million 11 level apartment tower has also recently been proposed to be built next to the Deakin Waterfront Campus which will add to the growing number of modern apartment towers on the Waterfront with Edgewater, Peir Point, Bayside Tower and The Promenade all under construction or approved.


Geography
Geelong is located on the shores of Corio Bay, a south-western inlet bay of Port Phillip. During clear weather, the Melbourne skyline is visible from areas of Geelong when viewed across Port Phillip. The Barwon River flows through the city to the south before entering Lake Connewarre and the Barwon River estuary at Barwon Heads before going into Bass Strait.

Geologically the oldest rocks in the area date to the Cambrian period 500 million years ago, with volcanic activity occurring in the Devonian period 350 million years ago. In prehistoric times water covered much of the lowlands that are now Geelong, with the Barwon River estuary located at Belmont Common, the course of the river being changed when Mount Moriac erupted and lava was sent eastwards towards Geelong.

To the east of the city are the Bellarine Hills and the undulating plains of the Bellarine Peninsula. To the west are the sandstone derived Barrabool Hills and basalt Mount Duneed, and the volcanic plains to the north of Geelong extend to the Brisbane Ranges and the You Yangs. Soils vary from sandy loam, basalt plains and river loam to rich volcanic soils, suitable for intensive farming, grazing, forestry and vineyard plantation.

Many materials used to construct buildings were quarried from Geelong, such as bluestone from the You Yangs and sandstone from the Brisbane Ranges. A small number of brown coal deposits exist in the Geelong region, most notably at Anglesea where it has mined to fuel Alcoa's Anglesea Power Station since 1969. Limestone has also quarried for cement production at Fyansford since 1888, and Waurn Ponds since 1964.

City and suburbs
Development in Geelong started on the shores of Corio Bay in what is now the inner city. Development later spread to the south towards the Barwon River, and the hill of Newtown and Geelong West. Major development south of the river in Belmont did not start until the 1920s, stimulated by the construction of a new bridge over the river in 1926, and the extension of the Geelong tramway system in 1927. Industrial areas were traditionally located on the Corio Bay for port access, or the Barwon River for waste disposal.

In the interwar and post World War II years heavy industry continued to establish itself in the flatter northern suburbs, where today industries such as the Shell oil refinery and Ford Motor Company engine plant reside.Residential development also spread to Corio in the north, with new Housing Commission of Victoria estates built to cater for employees of the new industries. From the 1960s residential growth spread to the Highton hills in the south, followed by Grovedale in the 1970s. A number of light industrial areas were also established in Breakwater, Moolap and South Geelong.

Changing cargo handling methods at the Port of Geelong left woolstores in inner Geelong unused, redevelopment beginning in the 1980s with the expansion of Westfield Geelong towards Corio Bay, and culminating in the Waterfront Geelong development. Gentrification of former working class inner suburbs such as Geelong West, North Geelong and South Geelong has also occurred. Today the major residential growth corridors are north towards Lara, east towards Leopold, and south towards Mount Duneed.