MELTON Melton is the first of three town’s encounted on the Melbourne to Ballarat drive. In a by-gone era these were nuisance towns for the Ballarat commuters. They are all now by-passed. Melton is now a dormitory suburb of Melbourne but does still has its own identity. The area was declared a satellite city in 1974 and a green belt existed between it and the urban area of Melbourne until the late 1990s. It is named after Melton Mowbray in the United Kingdom. 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 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 metropolitan conurbation. There is evidence of heritage preservation. The old United Church is a contrast to the drab new offer. The Catholic Church is a traditional design. The Anglican is awful. The Hotels are now all modern. The Golden Fleece recently rebuilt after a fire. The Melton War Memorial is a mix of the very old (WW1) and the modern (Vietnam and post). Melton claims to be the Harness Capitol of Australia so a look at the symbol determines a photograph at least.