City of Melton, Victoria State (Australia)

Melton is an urban area within metropolitan Melbourne, Australia located 35 km west from the capital's central business district. It is the administrative centre of the City of Melton local government area and its most populous centre. At June 2015 Melton had an estimated urban population of 59,500. Melton is considered part of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area and is included in the capital's population statistical division.

Melton began as a small town before being declared a satellite city in 1974, separated from Melbourne's urban area by a green wedge. Since the 1990s it has experienced rapid suburban growth into surrounding greenfield land and has become a commuter town in the Melbourne-Ballarat growth corridor. Changes to Melbourne's urban growth boundary passed by the state government in 2010 effectively relinquish its satellite city status as it is planned to become part of Melbourne's future conurbation.

It is named after Melton Mowbray in the United Kingdom.

History

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 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.

Geography

Melton is located on flat, largely featureless, former volcanic plains.

To the south-east of Melton Township is Mount Cottrell, a blast-shield volcano, and to the north-east of the township is Mount Kororoit. These two volcanoes are some of the easternmost volcanoes on the Victorian Volcanic Plain which extends to the South Australian border.

City and suburbs

Melton consists of six suburban areas forming a single urban area with the locality of Melton at its centre. In the south of Melton are the suburbs of Melton South and Brookfield. In the north are Kurunjang and Toolern Vale while in the west is the suburb of Melton West.

High Street is the main activity centre, however the urban area lacks a true central business district, with retail, business and civic facilities largely decentralised across the urban area.

Additional shopping centres can be found in Melton South at the railway station, and in Melton West (Woodgrove Shopping Centre). Woodgrove Shopping Centre expanded in 2013 and now is the areas largest shopping venue, consisting of a Coles, Woolworths, Big W, 24-hour Kmart, Reading Cinemas and approximately 160 specialty stores.

Arts and culture

Many live performances are held at the Melton Civic Centre, on High Street, and also at the Tabcorp Park racing complex, on Ferris Road, Melton South.

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.

Sport

Melton is the home of the harness racing complex Tabcorp Park, and is the base for Harness Racing Victoria. The 2009 Australasian Breeders Crown was the first major race meeting held at the venue in August 2009.

Melton is also home to the Victorian Blokart Association at McPherson Park, about 7 km north of the CBD.

The Melton Basketball Association is the City's largest sporting club with over 1,000 members. Along with local junior and senior competitions, The 'Thoroughbreds' also have representative teams competing statewide.

The City of Melton boasts two Hockey Victoria Hockey Clubs. Formed in 2016 Caroline Springs Hockey Club are a new community sporting club catering for the growth areas of the City of Melton's Eastern corridor, currently training at The Bridge Road Sports Precinct. Achieving it's first on field success in the HV Sixers competition, both the CSHC men's and women's teams won the inaugural tournaments. These successes are in addition to the award of the Hockey Victoria Coach of the Year 2016 nomination for women's coach Ron Shadbolt. Caroline Springs Hockey Club enters teams into the Juniors and Seniors pennant and Metro competitions.

The Melton Mustangs Hockey Club currently enters Seniors, Masters and Juniors in the Victorian state leagues. The Masters team have achieved most recent success in 2013/14 when gaining back to back Pennants, whilst the Women's section have just finished in their highest league position in their 40-year history. The club is currently based at Heathdale Christian College (Centenary Avenue), although the club is moving to the Bridge Road complex (Near to TABCORP Park) in 2016 following successful funding. The Club celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2016.

Melton Shire Council also operates the Melton Waves Leisure Centre, the only Leisure Centre in Melbourne’s west with extensive aquatic facilities with a total of 7 pools, including a hot tub, wave pool and pools suitable for toddlers and pools dedicated for lap swimming and hydrotherapy, in addition to a Gym and fitness classes for all.

Governance

Melton is the administrative centre for the City of Melton. The City of Melton's Coburn Ward covers the central Melton area.

Its state government electorate is the Electoral district of Melton and the Federal government electorate is the Division of Lalor, the seat of Joanne Ryan both considered safe Australian Labor Party seats.