Melton, Victoria

Melton, Victoria
Melton is a suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria. The suburb is located west of Melbourne's Central Business District on the city's western rural-urban fringe. It is the administrative centre of the City of Melton local government area. As of the 2021 Australian census, the suburb has a population of 7,953.
The suburb was originally a country town known as the Melton Township then officially became a satellite city of Melbourne in 1974. Along with the rest of the City of Melton, it forms a part of Greater Melbourne and counts as part of its population statistic. In 2023, the Melton Urban Area was abolished and amalgamated into the Melbourne Urban Area.
Like the overall local government area, Melton was named after Melton Mowbray in the United Kingdom.
History
Pre-settlement history
The land to the east of the Werribee River was the traditional home of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people, and to the west, the traditional home of the Wadawurrung. Mount Cottrell is jointly managed by Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung.
19th and 20th centuries
Melton was first settled by squatters establishing sheep runs in the area in the 1830s and a small settlement benefited from traffic passing through it on the way to the Ballarat gold fields during the Victorian Gold Rush. The post office opened on 1 March 1856.
The population of Melton remained stable at around 1,000 - 1,500 until the mid 1950s, rising to 1800 in 1962 and doubling to 3600 in 1968. The first of the larger residential estates was Delphic Realty's Melton Views Estate in 1964.
The area was declared a satellite city in 1974 and a green belt existed between it and the urban area of Melbourne until the late 1990s.
21st century
The overall City of Melton is forecast to grow in population by over 250,000 by 2051. Most of this growth is predicted to happen in the surrounding suburbs, particularly in Aintree, Caroline Springs, and Brookfield, with the suburb of Melton itself only predicted to grow 2% by 2051.
The overall City of Melton urban area was merged with Melbourne's "significant urban area" in 2023, leading to misinformed headlines claiming that Melbourne's population overtook Sydney's. However, Greater Sydney still has significantly more population than Greater Melbourne.
According to census data, the suburb of Melton has had a relatively stable population since being recognised as a separate suburb on the 2006 census, where it had a population of 7,305. The population grew to 7,593 by 2011, then to 8,069 by 2016. The population lowered to 7,953 at the 2021 census.
Geography
Melton is located on mostly flat, largely featureless, former volcanic plains.
To the south-east of Melton is Mount Cottrell, a blast-shield volcano, and to the north-east of the suburb is Mount Kororoit. Mount Cottrell produced some of the largest lava flows in the western Victoria. These two volcanoes are some of the easternmost volcanoes on the Victorian Volcanic Plain which extends to the South Australian border.
Arts and culture
Each year the Djerriwarrh Festival is held in the city in November. The festival includes a street parade down High Street, two-day market stalls, and the Lions Club Carnival, held in the Police Paddock on High Street.
The Melton Library and Learning Hub was the first library in Australia to be awarded a 5 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. It has a theatre, recording studio, wall space for exhibitions and runs several public events.
When the town was first established, the east end of High Street was the centre of town containing the police station, post office, court house, grocery stores, blacksmith, and pubs. High Street remains the main activity centre, with the surrounding streets forming the Melton Town Centre and the Central Walk Shopping Centre.
Melton has a botanic garden.
Golfers play at the course of the Melton Valley Golf Club on Melton Valley Drive.
Governance
Melton is the administrative centre for the City of Melton.
Its state electorate is the electoral district of Melton, and its federal electorate is the division of Hawke, currently held by Sam Rae. Since the electoral division's inception in 1992, Melton has elected only Labor members. Hawke was won by Labor at its first election in 2022.
Media
Melton receives the digital television stations as Melbourne. It is also within the broadcast range of all commercial radio stations from Melbourne, and is an end point for digital radio broadcasts in metropolitan Melbourne. Broadcast signals diminish towards the west.
Melton shares one local newspaper with the neighbouring Shire of Moorabool, the Melton & Moorabool Star Weekly.
Melton has one local radio station, 979fm, and can receive Apple FM broadcasting from nearby Bacchus Marsh.
Transport
Road
Melton has been identified by the Department of Transport as one of the most car-dependent communities in Greater Melbourne. The Western Highway is the main road transport link from Melton to Melbourne. The Melton Highway links Melton to the Calder Highway - and thus the Melbourne Airport - via nearby suburb Taylors Lakes.
Several bus services are operated across Melton by Transit Systems Victoria, with the Melton Bus Interchange being located on Palmerston Street. The following bus routes are operated via the Melton Bus Interchange:
towards Melton station via Brookfield
towards Melton station via Micasa Rise (Harkness), and towards Micasa Rise
towards Sunshine station via Caroline Springs, and towards Woodgrove Shopping Centre
towards Melton station via Melton West
towards Melton station via Kurunjang, and towards Kurunjang
Rail
Rail passengers use the Melton railway station located in neighbouring suburb Melton South. The Melton railway line forms part of the Ballarat V/Line rail service, with trains running once every 20 minutes during peak times, once every 40 minutes the rest of the day, and once an hour on weekends.
The service is known for being overcrowded. Funding was committed in the 2023 Victorian State Budget to upgrade the platforms at Melton station, along with the rest of the stations on the Melton line, to allow for larger nine-carriage V/Line VLocity trains to run. Seven level crossings along the Melton line are planned to be removed by 2028 as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project. As part of these removals, Melton station is planned to be rebuilt.
Electrification of Melton's rail line was recommended in Public Transport Victoria's 2013 Network Development Plan, and planned to be delivered as part of the Western Rail Plan. These plans initially included quadruplication of the Melton line to separate the Ballarat V/Line service from the future Melton Metro service. In 2023 it was reported that, while electrification to Melton is still planned for the future, track quadruplication is no longer part of the Western Rail Plan.
Air
The Melton Airfield, located in neighbouring suburb Toolern Vale, provides general aviation.
Education
Melton itself contains two primary schools - the public Melton Primary School located on Unitt Street, and the independent St. Dominic's Catholic Primary School located on Church Street. Melton Secondary College is in the neighbouring suburb of Melton West.
Primary schools in surrounding suburbs
Wedge Park Primary School – Cambrian Way, Melton West
St. Catherine of Siena Primary School – Bulmans Road, Melton West
St. Anthony of Padua Primary School – Wilson Road, Melton South
Melton South Primary School – Station Road, Melton South
Melton West Primary School – West Melton Drive, Melton West
Coburn Primary School – Richards Road, Melton South
Exford Primary School – Exford Road, Exford
Kurunjang Primary School – Kurunjang Drive, Kurunjang
Toolern Vale and District Primary School – Creamery Road, Toolern Vale
Arnold's Creek Primary School – Claret Ash Boulevard, Harkness
Secondary schools in surrounding suburbs
Kurunjang Secondary College – Kurunjang Drive, Kurunjang
Melton Secondary College – High Street, Melton West
Saint Francis Catholic College – Bulmans Road, Melton West
Staughton College – Wilson Road, Melton South
Melton Christian College – Brooklyn Road, Brookfield
Heathdale Christian College - Melton Campus – Centenary Avenue, Kurunjang
Specialist school
Melton Specialist School – Coburns Road, Melton West
Notable people
Main page: :Category:People from Melton, Victoria
Paul Curtis - footballer, 2003 - .
Matt Goggin - footballer, 1936 - 1972
Vanessa O'Hanlon - television presenter,
Brent Owens - chef, 1989 - .
Dan Repacholi - olympic athlete, politician, 1982 -
Henry Caselli Richards - professor, geologist, teacher, 1884 – 1947
John F. Shelton - footballer, 1903 -1983.
Alf Smith (Australian footballer) - footballer, 1867 – 1936.
Loudy Wiggins (nee Tourky) - olympic athlete, diver, 1979 -
Simon Wiggins - footballer, 1982 -
Notes
References
External links
City of Melton official website
History of Melton
Suburbs of Melbourne
Suburbs of the City of Melton