Bacchus Marsh
Bacchus Marsh | |||||||||||||
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Main St, Bacchus Marsh | |||||||||||||
Bacchus Marsh | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 37°40′30″S 144°26′20″E / 37.67500°S 144.43889°E | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Victoria | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 196.3 km2 (75.8 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Elevation | 118 m (387 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Totals | 24,717 (2021 (statistical urban area)) 7,808 (2021 (town proper)) | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 125.91/km2 (326.12/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 3340 | ||||||||||||
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Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: Pullerbopulloke) is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong.
As of the 2021 census, Bacchus Marsh has a population of 7,808, while its statistical urban area (including the suburbs Darley, Maddingley, and Hopetoun Park, among others) has a population of 24,717. Bacchus Marsh is the largest urban area in the Shire of Moorabool local government area.
Traditionally a market garden area producing a large amount of the region's fruits and vegetables, in recent decades it has transformed into the main commuter town on the Melbourne–Ballarat corridor.
It was named after the colonial settler Captain William Henry Bacchus, who saw the great value of this locality as it was situated on two rivers – the Lerderderg and Werribee.