Flemington is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 4 km north-west of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government areas are the Cities of Melbourne and Moonee Valley. At the 2011 Census, Flemington had a population of 7,528.The Melbourne Cup Thoroughbred horse race has been held at Flemington Racecourse since 1861.Flemington is located between the Maribyrnong River and the Moonee Ponds Creek and includes the locality of Newmarket, in which the main commercial area Racecourse Road is located.The suburb was named by settler James Watson after Flemington Estate in Scotland. Another version of the origin of the name relates to Robert Fleming, a Brunswick (Victoria) resident who had owned land beside the Saltwater River and operated a butchery there.HistoryIn 1839, James Watson came to Port Phillip to purchase land for himself and English and Scottish investors. He named the area Flemington after Flemington Estate in Scotland where his wife's father was a manager, which was in turn named because of Flemish settlement in the area.Flemington and neighbouring Kensington consist primarily of weatherboard cottages mixed with attached brick single-storey and some double-storey terrace houses. Most of the homes are in Victorian or Boom style with some Edwardian and Federation style homes. Some sections originally contained factories and industry.