Rockbank is a 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,

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, west of the

Melbourne central business district The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...

, located within the

City of Melton The City of Melton is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, on Melbourne's western rural–urban fringe. It covers , and as of the , Melton had a population of 178,960. It is governed by the Melton City Council. The seat of local ...

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 ...

. Rockbank recorded a population of 2,583 at the 2021 census. The land contains many large

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

rocks making it poor for cultivating crops. The rocks have been used to build walls between paddocks – characteristic of the area west of Melbourne. The rich, red volcanic soil in the area has helped build the reputation of local wineries. Rockbank is also the host to Victoria's annual

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

Festival.

History

Earlier agricultural activities in Rockbank date back to the pastoral exploits of

William Cross Yuille William Cross Yuille (28 March 1819 – 19 July 1894) was a Scottish Australian pastoralist notable as, after immigrating to Australia, as a founder of Ballarat as well as for his role in the establishment of the Victorian horse racing. Life Yu ...

on the plains. He founded the pastoral estate of Rockbank, which soon became the largest estate in the Melton district. The former Rockbank pastoral station is now known as the Deanside Woolshed. Rockbank Post Office opened on 1 January 1862 and closed on 1 July 1996. New Cambridge Common School (now Rockbank Primary School) opened on 12 October 1868 and is one of Victoria's oldest public schools. Following a proposal for eleven new suburbs by the City of Melton, the northern portion of Rockbank became the suburb of

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

in 2017.

Geography

Location

Rockbank is bounded by the Western Freeway to the north and Greigs Road to the south. The area lies east of the

satellite city A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, Subdivision (la ...

of Melton and the suburbs of Thornhill Park and Cobblebank, and west of the suburbs of Caroline Springs and Deanside, as well as the development area of Mount Atkinson.

Land features

The Kororoit Creek runs through Rockbank. Mount Cottrell is the highest land point in the vicinity.

Facilities

Education

Rockbank has a K-6 school named Rockbank Primary School. There is also a kindergarten. Multiple childcare facilities also exist in the Rockbank area.

Transportation

Rockbank railway station is on the Ararat line. The station was upgraded in August 2019 as part of the Regional Rail Revival project. Rockbank is also serviced by two bus routes and one

Night Network ''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV (TV network), ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, ...

bus route: * from Rockbank station to

* from Sunshine station to Melton via Rockbank * from Watergardens station to Melton via Rockbank (Night Network)

Sport

The town has an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

team, the Western Rams, competing in Division Two of the Western Football Netball League. They play at the Ian Cowie Recreation Reserve.

Other services

Rockbank also has a community hall and a general store.

References

Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Melton {{Melbourne-geo-stub