The town is in the Shire of Strathbogie local government area, 174 kilometres (108 mi) northeast of the state capital, Melbourne on the Hume Highway.

Until 1980, the Sydney Road/Hume Highway ran through Violet Town, and much early history is centred on this road, now called High Street.

Some existing houses and cottages in High Street, previously used as tea rooms or coaching inns, date from the 1880s.

[6] Near the town was the site of the Southern Aurora train crash in 1969 that caused the deaths of nine people.

[7] On 12 November 2003 the Victorian State Government announced plans to locate a toxic waste dump in the district, and threatened to acquire local farming properties.

During World War II, Violet Town was the location of RAAF No.13 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), commissioned in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944.

Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000) [11] The town's streets are tree-lined and uncongested by traffic.

The town has public reserves, with a bowling green, football and cricket oval, tennis courts and a caravan park near Honeysuckle Creek.

Violet Town holds a Community Market on the 2nd Saturday of every month at the Recreation Reserve in Tulip Street - it has been going since 1978 and features local producers.

The town has a range of local businesses including agricultural store, cafes, hotel, chemist, hairdresser, supermarket and petrol station, and is surrounded by rural land used mainly for cropping and cattle and sheep grazing, although some horse studs are present.

[14] Some features of the area include the Honeysuckle Creek Walking Track,[15] Shadforth Reserve with community forest (originally a racecourse), the community built Violet Town Swimming Pool and the local Peranbin primary school.