Moonee Valley City

Moonee Valley city is a municipality north-west of Melbourne. Its point closest to Melbourne is 4 km from Melbourne’s centre, where it adjoins North Melbourne. The furthest point is 13 km from the centre, at Keilor East. Moonee Valley city was formed on 15 December 1994, by the union of Essendon city and the parts of Keilor city which comprised Avondale Heights, Airport West, Essendon West, Keilor East and Niddrie. Its area is 44 sq km.

The municipality has the Maribyrnong River on its south and, moving clockwise, the railway line from Albion to Broadmeadows, the Moonee Ponds Creek and a short boundary between the creek and the Maribyrnong River. Whilst the creek is on the municipal boundary, it is from that and the Moonee Valley racecourse that the municipality’s name arose. A considerable part of the Moonee Ponds Creek valley is occupied by the Tullamarine Freeway.

Moonee Valley city has a northerly train line in its eastern sector together with a tramline in roughly the same direction. The tramline ends just beyond the Essendon airport at Westfield Shopping Town in Airport West at the municipality’s north-western extremity. The railway line on the western boundary is only for freight. There is also a tram line from Moonee Ponds to Footscray. In addition to Westfield Shopping Town, the Moonee Ponds shopping centre has been enlarged from the Puckle Street strip to a regional facility. It is positioned between the northerly tram and train lines and has a large interchange for bus services. There is also a Homemaker Hub shopping centre on the southern edge of Essendon airport.

Moonee Valley has substantial pre-twentieth century residential and commercial buildings in Moonee Ponds and Essendon central. Its more distant areas such as Avondale Heights and Keilor East were residentially settled during the postwar years. Their limited public transport (Airport West tram) is augmented by the Western Ring Road and the Calder and Tullamarine Freeways.

Moonee Valley city’s census populations have been:

Moonee Valley city has an increasing ethnic diversity towards its northern suburbs, mainly Italian, Greek and Vietnamese.

At the 2011 census, 42.6% of the population recorded a Catholic religious affiliation (Victoria, 26.7%). The diversity of median incomes of some of the suburbs was: Airport West 96% of Victorian median, Essendon 129%, and Moonee Valley city 112%.