The Shire of Colac Otway is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state.

[2] The Shire is governed and administered by the Colac Otway Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Colac, it also has a service centre located in Apollo Bay.

Cape Otway was originally named by Lieutenant James Grant who was the commander of the vessel, the Lady Nelson.

[4] He named it after Captain William Otway who was one of the commissioners of the Transport Board, on 7 December 1800.

[4] The Colac district is the traditional land for the Gulidjan people and was known as “Kolak” or “Kolakgnat” which means ‘belonging to sand’.