Location
Newtown adjoins Geelong city and is bordered by the Barwon River to the west and south, Aberdeen Street in the north and La Trobe Terrace in the east. It also includes a residential pocket between Autumn and Aberdeen streets above Minerva Road.

Description
The Barwon River runs around Newtown and several large reserves that contain playing fields, sporting clubs, wetlands and a bicycle/walking track are beside it. There are hundreds of beautiful Victorian and Edwardian houses, and several historic mansions, including Barwon Grange, west of the river. Newtown neighbours the established Queens Park golf course in the west and Kardinia Park to the east. The suburb boasts some of the city's finest schools - The Geelong College, Sacred Heart College and St Joseph's College - and several excellent shopping centres. Many of the smaller and simpler homes to the north of the suburb were renovated in the 1980s and 1990s. Newtown has a mixed population that ranges from wealthy and established areas through to multicultural Pakington Street.

History
The first land sale in what was known as New Town was in 1839 and views over the river and the city attracted some of Geelong's wealthier citizens. In 1840, Captain Lawler bought land in a street that now bears the name of his steamer, Aphrasia. Most of the first allotments were large. In the 1850s, subdivisions began to reduce the number of 25 acre estates in New Town. Throughout the late 1800s, most building activity occurred around Noble, Pakington and Fyans streets. There were 30 to 40 houses built every year during the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1950s, subdivisions filled up much of the rest of the suburb.

The population of Newtown and Chilwell peaked at 12,290 in 1966, before prices began to rise. The Hermitage (built in 1859/60) and the National Trust building, The Heights (1855), with its German influences, are superb historic mansions. Barwon Grange (1856), beside the river, is also open to the public and another reminder of Newtown's wealthy beginnings.