City of Melton: History
Melton was first incorporated as a district on 16 September 1862, and became a shire on 24 May 1871. Parts of the north and south ridings of the Shire of Braybrook (later City of Sunshine) were annexed to Melton as the Rockbank Riding on 24 May 1916, and this was added to in 1951. Other minor boundary adjustments with Bulla and Keilor occurred in May 1959. The Shire had a total area of 450.4 square kilometres (173.9 sq mi).
In 1994, following large-scale statewide local government reform, Melton acquired the Exford district from the City of Werribee, growing to its present size.
Since the early 1970s the Shire had undergone tremendous population growth and as of 2006, Melton was one of Victoria's fastest-growing local government areas along with neighbouring Wyndham.
After several years of community consultation to defer applying for city status until it had reached 150,000, the council nevertheless reversed the decision and city status was granted in September, 2012. The first elected Mayor under the 'City" status was Kathy Majdlik.
In the 2020 Local Government elections, Melton had its first Aboriginal Councillor elected, Cr Ashleigh Vandenberg (a Wiradjuri woman, the first Aboriginal Councillor in Melbourne's western suburbs).
The 1994 boundary between Melton and the City of Wyndham cut through the land set aside for urban development at Eynesbury. On 1 July 2026, the City of Melton's southern boundary was shifted outwards so as to unite this land in a single LGA.