Serendip Sanctuary

Pirra Homestead, in Windermere Road, Lara, Victoria, was built in the mid-1860s by George Fairbairn (senior), one of Australia's most prosperous pastoralists and a pioneer of Australia's frozen meat export trade, who established the property as a premier sheep stud. The homestead was originally called 'Woodlands', but by 1880 the name of the property had changed to 'Windermere'.In the first decade of the twentieth century, the property was sold to the Victorian Government for closer settlement, but the homestead and 637 acres (258 hectares) were taken over by the Lara Inebriates' Institution. After the Inebriates' Institution closed in 1930, the property was sold to James McDonald in 1938, who turned it into a mixed farm. In 1946, he leased the former Inebriates' dormitory building to the States Tobacco Company. After the Tobacco Company folded in 1948, the property was sold to Oscar and Edna Mendelsohn. The Tobacco Company workers were employed by the clothing manufacturer Pelaco, which operated a factory in the former Inebriates' dormitory. The Mendelsohns renamed the property 'Serendip' and established a commercial almond orchard. The water reservoir was proclaimed a sanctuary for the protection of the local bird life. Oscar Mendelsohn was also appointed as an assistant inspector of the government Fisheries and Game Department. In 1959, the Mendelsohns sold to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife who assumed control of the 600 acres (240 hectares) surrounding the wildlife sanctuary. The immediate homestead, reduced to 37 acres (15 hectares), was taken over by the Victorian Government Social Welfare Department, and the two-storey mansion house and nearby buildings became the Pirra Girls' Home in 1961. 'Pirra' is an aboriginal word for moon, being a symbol of happiness. Pirra accommodated female wards of the state aged from 10 – 14 years who had come under State wardship for being "in moral danger" or for "lapsing or (being) likely to lapse into a life of vice and crime". The Girls' Home closed in 1983 and Pirra was leased to Rex Keogh and Geoff Dombrain. It became an accommodation and community establishment for the lessees and invited artists. In 1996, the property, then reduced to 6.665 hectares (16.469 acres), was sold to Rex Keogh, who continued running it as a home for artists, and as community‐based accommodation for a limited number of disabled persons. In 2006 the property was sold to the Bisinella family who undertook a $2 million+ restoration of the homestead.

Lara Secondary College is a public co-educational secondary school located in Lara, Australia, which shares fences with a local primary school Lara Primary School. Lara secondary college accommodates approximately 900 students from years 7–12. The school officially opened, taking just year 7 students, on the current site in 2003. As of 2008 Lara Secondary College was a complete secondary school having grades from year 7 to 12 attending. At the beginning of the 2012 school year, all of the renovations had been completed and a new more modernistic building had been built for the year 7 and 8 students.

Lara is a town in Victoria, 18 km north-east of the Geelong CBD, inland from the Princes Freeway to Melbourne. Its population at the 2021 census was 19,014.

Lara railway station is located on the Warrnambool line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Lara, and it opened on 1 November 1856 as Duck Ponds. It was renamed Lara on 30 June 1875.When Lara station opened, it was the temporary terminus of the Geelong – Melbourne line. The present station building was constructed in the 1920s,: 152  and the existing single platform on the east side of the line was converted into an island platform in June 1981, when the line from Lara to Little River was duplicated. In September of that year, the line to Corio was duplicated.In 1973, a signal panel was provided at the station, and in 1981, it relocated into the station building. It was abolished in January 2006. No.2 road (loop siding) was also extended in 1973, providing a crossing loop. The loop siding is generally used by trains serving the Avalon Airshow, which terminate at Lara. In 1962, flashing light signals were provided at the McClelland Avenue level crossing, located nearby in the down direction of the station, with boom barriers provided later on in 1981.In 1993, No.2 siding was abolished, along with a dwarf signal. In 1999, the station waiting room received an upgrade, including the installation of glass sliding doors.The Western standard gauge line to Adelaide runs immediately west of the station.

Avalon Raceway is a dirt track racing venue located in Lara, Victoria, Australia. The track is based on a clay sand mix, is oval shaped and is 390 metres (430 yards) in length.

Elcho Park is a soccer facility located on Gibbons Road in Lara, Victoria, a northern suburb of Geelong. It is owned privately by the Australian Croatian Soccer Association Geelong. The tenants of the facility are National Premier Leagues Victoria side North Geelong Warriors FC and Geelong Regional Football Association based club Elcho Park Cardinals FC. North Geelong Warriors played their first season out of Elcho Park in 1986. The first competitive league game at the venue was a 3–3 draw between North Geelong and Essendon City on 29 March 1986. The main grandstand, which is situated between the clubrooms and the pitch, seats about 200 people. The total capacity of the facility is much larger, with an abundance of standing room all around the main pitch. Added to the main pitch, there is also a second pitch and over 100 parking spaces inside the facility. Both of the pitches are grass surfaces. In 2015, it was announced that the facility would be receiving $283,000 in council and state funding to upgrade the change rooms. It was the first time the privately owned facility had been granted public funds.

The You Yangs are a series of granite ridges that rise up to 319 m (1,047 ft) above the flat and low-lying Werribee Plain in southern Victoria, Australia, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) due west of the rural town of Little River, 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Melbourne CBD and 22 km (14 mi) north of Geelong. The main ridge runs roughly north-south for about 9 km (5.6 mi), with a lower extension running for about 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west. Much of the southern parts of the ranges are protected by the You Yangs Regional Park. The You Yangs sits about halfway between the Brisbane Ranges to the west and the nearest coast of the Corio Bay to the southeast. Although only 319 m at its highest (Flinders Peak, at the southern end), it dominates the surrounding landscape and are clearly identifiable from nearby Geelong, Melbourne and beyond. The You Yangs are home to a geoglyph of Bunjil, a Dreamtime creator deity to some of the Indigenous people of Victoria, depicted as an wedge-tailed eagle. The geoglyph was constructed by the Australian artist Andrew Rogers in recognition of the local Indigenous Wathaurong people. Unveiled in March 2006, the geoglyph has a wing span of 100 metres and 1500 tonnes of rock was used in its construction.

Geelong Greyhound Racing Club or The Beckley Centre is a greyhound racing venue located at Beckley Park, Broderick Road, Corio, Geelong, Victoria. The Beckley Centre is operated by the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club (GGRC) and regulated by Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV). It hosts the Geelong Cup and has race distances over 400, 460, 520, 596 and 680 metres. Racing is conducted on Tuesday and Friday and occasional Saturdays.The venue is unusual in greyhound racing due to tha fact that it has an inside and an outside track. The inside track is a more of a circular shape as opposed to the standard oval track on the outside.

The Australian International Airshow, also called the Avalon Airshow, is a large air show held biennially at Avalon Airport, between Melbourne and Geelong in Victoria. The event has a strong focus on military aviation, featuring aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force, United States Navy and the United States Air Force. Representatives from other air arms have also appeared at the airshow on many occasions, including aircraft from the Royal Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force and many others. It has been said by air show organisers to be the largest air show in the southern hemisphere.The airshow has periodically attracted anti-war protests.