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 the 2006 Census the urban area, with the locality of Melton at its heart, had a population of 35,490. 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 experienced rapid suburban growth into surrounding greenfield land and 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.
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