Melton | |||||||||||||
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 Aerial view of Melton | |||||||||||||
  Melton | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:37°41′0″S144°35′0″E / 37.68333°S 144.58333°E /-37.68333; 144.58333 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Victoria | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location |
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| Established | 1862 | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 25.2 km2 (9.7 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 7,953 (2021)[2] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 315.6/km2 (817.4/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 3337 | ||||||||||||
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Melton is a suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne,Victoria. The suburb is located 37 kilometres (23 mi) west ofMelbourne's Central Business District on the city's westernrural-urban fringe. It is the administrative centre of theCity of Meltonlocal government area. As of the2021 Australian census, the suburb has a population of 7,953.[3]
Originally a country town along the Ballarat — Melbourne growth corridor, Melton was designated asatellite city of Melbourne in 1974.[4][5] Along with the rest of the City of Melton, it forms a part ofGreater Melbourne and counts as part of its population statistic. In 2023, Melbourne's significant urban area boundary was expanded to include Melton.[6]
Like the overall local government area, Melton was named afterMelton Mowbray in the United Kingdom.[7]
The land to the east of the Werribee River is 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.[8]
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 theVictorian Gold Rush. The post office opened on 1 March 1856.[9]
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.[10] The first of the larger residential estates was Delphic Realty's Melton Views Estate in 1964.[citation needed]
The area was declared a satellite city in 1974.
The overall City of Melton is forecast to grow in population by over 250,000 by 2051; however, most of this growth is predicted to happen in the surrounding suburbs, particularly inAintree,Caroline Springs, andBrookfield; the suburb of Melton itself is only predicted to grow 2% by 2051.[11]
Melbourne's significant urban area boundary was redefined to include Melton in 2023, leading to global headlines[12][13][14][15] claiming that Melbourne's population overtook Sydney's.
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,[nb 1] where it had a population of 7,305.[17] The population grew to 7,593 by 2011,[18] then to 8,069 by 2016.[19] The population lowered to 7,953 at the 2021 census.[20]
Melton is located on mostly flat, largely featureless, former volcanic plains.
To the south-east of Melton isMount 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.[21] These two volcanoes are some of the easternmost volcanoes on the Victorian Volcanic Plain which extends to the South Australian border.
Melton receives less rainfall than Melbourne due to the area's position within the Otway Rangesrain shadow.[22] The area has a profoundurban heat island effect due to its ongoing rapid suburban development. There is some concern over how continued development andclimate change will affect Melton, with particular concern focused on the loss of several threatened animal species' habitat, and an increased risk ofbushfires andextreme weather events in the near future.[23][24][25] TheMelton City Council has noted that the area is "particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change due to its moderate level of socio-economic disadvantage and large proportion of overseas-born residents", along with "significant structural barriers to participating in low-carbon lifestyles including limited local employment opportunities, lack of access to public transport, and inefficient new housing developments".[26]
Precipitation records for Melton follow.
| Climate data for Melton (1883–2018); 156m AMSL; 37.66° S, 144.57° E | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 36.8 (1.45) | 40.2 (1.58) | 38.1 (1.50) | 39.5 (1.56) | 37.5 (1.48) | 35.4 (1.39) | 34 (1.3) | 35.7 (1.41) | 45.7 (1.80) | 49.1 (1.93) | 47.8 (1.88) | 42 (1.7) | 486.6 (19.16) |
| Source: Australian Government[27] | |||||||||||||
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.[28]
The Melton Library and Learning Hub[29] 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.[30]
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.[31] High Street remains the main activity centre, with the surrounding streets forming the Melton Town Centre[32] and the Central Walk Shopping Centre.[33]
Melton has abotanic garden.[34]
Golfers play at the course of the Melton Valley Golf Club on Melton Valley Drive.[35]
Melton is the administrative centre for theCity of Melton.
Its state electorate is theelectoral district of Melton, and itsfederal electorate is thedivision of Hawke, currently held bySam 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.
Melton receives the same digital television stations as Melbourne. It is also within the broadcast range of all commercial radio stations from Melbourne, and is an end point fordigital radio broadcasts in metropolitan Melbourne. Broadcast signals diminish towards the west.[citation needed]
Melton shares one local newspaper with the neighbouringShire of Moorabool, theMelton & Moorabool Star Weekly.[36]
Melton has one local radio station,979fm, and can receiveApple FM broadcasting from nearbyBacchus Marsh.
Melton has been identified by theDepartment of Transport as one of the mostcar-dependent communities in Greater Melbourne.[37] TheWestern Highway is the main road transport link from Melton to Melbourne. TheMelton Highway links Melton to theCalder Highway — and thus to theMelbourne Airport — via nearby suburbTaylors Lakes.
Several bus services are operated across Melton byTransit Systems Victoria, with the Melton Bus Interchange being located on Palmerston Street.[38] The following bus routes are operated via the Melton Bus Interchange:
Rail passengers use theMelton railway station located in neighbouring suburbMelton South. TheMelton railway line forms part of theBallarat V/Line rail service, with trains running between Melton andSouthern Cross once every 20 minutes during peak and once every 40 minutes off-peak, including on weekends.
Melton's train service is known for being overcrowded.[44] Funding was committed in the 2023 Victorian State Budget to investigate upgrading stations along the railway line to allow for nine-carriageV/Line VLocity trains to run on the line;[45] this upgrade is currently planned to be delivered in 2027.[46]
Electrification of the line up to Melton was recommended inPublic Transport Victoria's 2013Network Development Plan, and quadruplication was included in the 2018Western Rail Plan. In 2025, a track diagram was released showing changes that will be made as part of the major upgrades planned forSunshine Station to enable greater rail capacity to the western suburbs. According to the diagram, quadruplication is planned to occur between a junction site near Caroline Springs and Sunshine; the new tracks will run into a new pair of platforms at Sunshine. The tracks at Sunshine will be reconfigured to route the future electrified Melton service through theMetro Tunnel.[47]
TheMelton Airfield, located in neighbouring suburbToolern Vale, providesgeneral aviation.
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.
Main page:Category:People from Melton, Victoria
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