Lara Secondary College

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.

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.

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.

Serendip Sanctuary is a 250 ha (620 acres) protected area in Victoria, Australia, near the You Yangs and the town of Lara, some 22 km (14 mi) north of Geelong and 60 km (37 mi) south-west of Melbourne. Originally used for farming and other purposes, it was purchased in 1959 by the State Government of Victoria for wildlife research and the captive management and breeding of species threatened in Victoria, such as the brolga, magpie goose, Australian bustard, and bush stone-curlew. The sanctuary contains many different types of wetland and is home to many plant species as well, such as river red gums, tall spikerush, and tussock grass. Serendip now focuses more on environmental education about the flora and fauna of the wetlands and open grassy woodlands of the Volcanic Western Plains of Victoria. It was opened to the public in 1991 and is now managed by Parks Victoria.

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.

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.

Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Established in 1855 under the auspices of the Church of England, Geelong Grammar School has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,500 students from Pre-school to Year 12, including 800 boarders from Years 5 to 12.In 2009, The Australian declared Geelong Grammar to be the "most expensive school in the nation", charging a fee of almost $29,000 for a Year 12 student. This remains true in 2024, with annual fees coming in at just under $50,000 for day students and $85,000 for boarding students.In 2017, a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that Geelong Grammar had failed to act on reports of widespread child sexual abuse. Five former staff members at Geelong Grammar School have been convicted of extensive child sex offenses committed while teaching at Geelong Grammar. The Royal Commission found that consecutive principals and administration had failed to report allegation and protect students.

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.

Limeburners Bay, one of numerous bays in Port Phillip, lies in the southwest and adjoins Corio Bay, which abuts Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria, Australia. The bay was named after lime kilns, located on the east side of Corio Bay, used to burn limestone for making cement. In the 1820s, explorers Hume and Hovell ended their journey in the area of Limeburners Bay before returning to Sydney. It is a tide-dominated estuary that runs off Hovells Creek. The area is popular for recreational fishing and hiking and birdwatching. Geelong Grammar School overlooks the bay. Limeburners Bay is home to many endangered species. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance. The site is part of the Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for wetland and waterbirds as well as for orange-bellied parrots.

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.

Corio railway station is located on the Warrnambool line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Geelong suburb of Corio, and it opened on 15 September 1890 as Cowie's Creek. It was renamed Cowie on 9 May 1904, and renamed Corio on 1 December 1913.A siding just north of the School Road level crossing was opened in April 1912, and a tramway was constructed from there to the new Corio site of Geelong Grammar School, to facilitate the carting of building materials. At the end of 1913, the station was moved 400 metres down the line, in conjunction with the establishment of a crossing loop on the single track. The relocation of Geelong Grammar School to its new site on 8 January 1914 helped to further increase the station's importance. A station-master's residence was constructed, and a station-master and assistant station-master were appointed.In the early 1950s, Corio's role was boosted by the construction of the Shell Geelong refinery, with its associated sidings, immediately adjacent to the station. In February 1959, the line from North Geelong to Corio was duplicated. When duplication was extended to Lara on 9 September 1981, a new island platform and station building were provided.In 1964, flashing light signals were provided at the School Road level crossing, located nearby in the up direction of the station, with boom barriers provided later on in 1981.On 4 January 2001, Corio was de-staffed.The Western standard gauge line to Adelaide runs immediately west of the station. Although located in Corio, the station is situated about a kilometre from the nearest residential developments in the area.