Ascot Vale is an inner-city suburb in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, north of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the

City of Moonee Valley The City of Moonee Valley is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, on Wurundjeri, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country. It comprises th ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Ascot Vale recorded a population of 15,197 at the 2021 census. Ascot Vale is bounded in the west by the

Maribyrnong River The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria. Course The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near Mount Macedon within ...

, in the north by Maribyrnong and Ormond Roads, in the east by the Moonee Ponds Creek, and in the south by Lyons Road, Epsom Road to the railway line thence generally north-east to Moonee Ponds Creek.

History

Ascot Vale West Post Office opened on 1 January 1888 and was renamed Ascot Vale around 1893. An Ascot Vale East office was open from 1914 until 1979. The Temperance Township Estate in Ascot Vale, bounded by Union, Maribyrnong and Epsom Roads, was established with a caveat on each title preventing the distilling, brewing, or the serving of alcoholic beverages, but hotels were soon built at the outside corners of the settlement.

Population

In the , there were 15,197 people in Ascot Vale. 67.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Vietnam 2.6%, England 2.3%, Italy 2.0%, China 1.6% and New Zealand 1.5%. 69.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 3.1%, Vietnamese 3.1%, Greek 2.1%, Cantonese 1.9% and Arabic 1.6%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 41.5% and Catholic 27.0%.

Landmarks

A major landmark in the suburb is the

Royal Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne Showgrounds is located in the inner north-western suburb of Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia, next door to Flemington Racecourse. The largest and most flexible indoor/outdoor venue space in Melbourne the Showgrounds is the home of the ...

, which has special events such as the annual

Royal Melbourne Show The Melbourne Royal Show (known until 2022 as the Royal Melbourne Show) is an agricultural show held at Melbourne Showgrounds every September. It is organised by Melbourne Royal (formally the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria) and has bee ...

. The Showgrounds are adjacent to the

Flemington Racecourse Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200-metre horse race. The race ...

which is in neighbouring Flemington.

Education

Ascot Vale has the Ascot Vale Special School, Ascot Vale Primary School, Ascot Vale West Primary School, St Mary's Catholic Primary School Ascot Vale and the arts program of Western Autistic School.

Sport

Golfers play at the course of the Riverside Golf Club on Newsom Street. Ascot Vale is the home of the

Melbourne Aces The Melbourne Aces are a professional baseball team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that competed in the Australian Baseball League. Their home field is the Melbourne Ballpark in Altona. History On 20 August 2010 it was announced ...

, of the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it s ...

, who play home games at the Melbourne Showgrounds. The suburb is also home to the Essendon Hockey Club which was established in 2017 encompassing Essendon Hockey Club (Men), Essendon Ladies Hockey Club (Women) and Essendon Hockey Juniors.

Notable people

* Touk Miller, AFL player *

Reilly O'Brien Reilly O'Brien (born 20 August 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A Malcolm Blight Medal winner in 2020 AFL season, 2020, he is currently Adelaide's first-cho ...

, AFL player * Luke Ryan, AFL player

Public transport

Ascot Vale railway station is located off Station Avenue on its east side and on The Crescent on its west side. It is on the Craigieburn railway line, part of the Melbourne suburban rail system. Trains take 10 minutes to get to the

City Loop The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a piece of rapid transit, underground commuter rail infrastructure in the Melbourne central business district, central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Vict ...

from Ascot Vale. Tram route 57 runs along Epsom Road, Union Road and Maribyrnong Road between West Maribyrnong and Flinders Street Station at Melbourne CBD, tram route 59 runs along

Mount Alexander Road Mount Alexander Road (and its northern section as Bulla Road) is a major road in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, connecting the northern edges of the city district to just south of Essendon Airport. It was named after its original destina ...

between Airport West and Flinders Street Station, and tram route 82 runs along Maribyrnong Road between

Moonee Ponds Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley Local government ar ...

and Footscray.

References

{{City of Moonee Valley suburbs Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Moonee Valley