The Wimmera in Western Victoria extends from the Grampians National Park to Lake Albacutya near Rainbow, and from the South Australian border in the west to Navarre in the east. Download an image of The Wimmera (199.78 kB).

The region’s population is about 49,000, with around one quarter of residents relying directly on agriculture for income. Covering 23,500 square kilometres, or 13% of Victoria, the region is predominantly cleared agricultural land.

The region has a diverse array of natural assets including more than 3000, or 25%, of the state’s wetlands. It also includes the Grampians and Little Desert national parks and the ‘closed catchment’ of the Wimmera River system. All support a diverse range of plants and animals.

The Wimmera also has productive agricultural soils and valuable groundwater reserves.You will also find many cultural and environmental heritage sites in the Wimmera with more than 2000 sites of Indigenous archaeological significance associated with the catchments’ reserves, waterways, floodplains and wetlands. The region is also home to about 1500 species of native plants and 420 species of native animals. 

The region includes the local government region of Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack, Northern Grampians, West Wimmera, Horsham Rural City, as well as part of Ararat, Buloke and Pyrenees shires. Most of the regions population lives in the key regional centres of Horsham and Stawell and in smaller towns such as Warracknabeal, Nhill, Dimboola and Edenhope.

There are many challenges facing land and natural resource managers. These include:

• A diverse natural environment
• Extensive broad scale agricultural land use, and
• A declining and ageing population.

Wimmera CMA works within this context to protect, improve and enhance the region’s natural resources.