Footscray is a suburb 5 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Footscray had a population of 11,401.

Footscray is characterised by a very diverse, multicultural central shopping area, which reflects the successive waves of immigration experienced by Melbourne, and by Footscray in particular. Once a centre for Italian and former Yugoslavian migrants, it is now a hub for Vietnamese, and increasingly, East African immigrants in Melbourne.

Footscray is named after Foots Cray, a locality in south-east London on the River Cray.

Footscray is part of The City of Maribyrnong and was built largely on the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation.

For thousands of years, Footscray was the meeting place of the lands of the Yalukit-willan, the Marin-balluk and the Wurundjeri. Koories stalked game, collected food and fished along the river junction, estuaries, swamps and lagoons. Within Melbourne's western region, the Marin-balug and Kurung-jand-balug clans of the Woiwurrung cultural group, and the Yalukit willam clan of the Boonwurrung cultural group shared the luscious resources around the Maribyrnong Valley.

Marsha Thomson, born 21 December 1955 in Melbourne, is an Australian politician, is a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the division of Footscray.

Thomson was an economic research officer, ministerial adviser, Implementation Manager with V/Line and Executive Officer of Youth Policy Development Council before being elected to the Legislative Council for Melbourne North Province in September 1999. She was Minister for Consumer Affairs 1999-2002 and Minister for Small Business 1999-2005. She has been Minister for Information and Communication Technology since February 2002 and Minister for Consumer Affairs since January 2005.

Due to the Upper House reforms, her former electorate of Melbourne North Province was abolished. As a result of Bruce Mildenhall's retirement from politics, Thomson ran for and won Mildenhall's electorate of Footscray for the 2006 State Election. She was Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts until the 2010 state election.