Bacchus Marsh is an urban centre and
suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located
approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) west of
the state capital Melbourne and 14 kilometres
(9 mi) west of Melton at a near equidistance to
the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and
Geelong. The formerly small town was
reclassed as a Significant Urban Area by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2011 and
officially became part of the Melbourne
metropolitan area. The urban area sprawls to
the north and south of the Western Freeway
with a total population of 14,913 people. The
central locality (suburb) by the same name is
home to 5,760 people and contains the central
business district. Bacchus Marsh is the largest
urban area in the local government area of
Shire of Moorabool.
Traditionally a market garden area, producing
a large amount of the region's fruits and
vegetables in recent decades Bacchus Marsh
has transformed into the main commuter town
on the Melbourne-Ballarat corridor with its
affordable starter homes proving popular.