Melbourne is Australia's second largest city and the
capital of the state of Victoria, also know as the Garden State
for its many parks, the state is home to over 3 million people
or 26 per cent of Australia's population.
Melbourne is known for its gardens, parks, Victorian
buildings, culture and museums, its multicultural population,
great shopping and thriving cafe scene.
Although Melbourne does not have such world famous
landmarks as Sydney with its bridge and Operahouse, Melbourne
has a similar layout as it is also built around a harbour, Port
Philip Bay, with the Yarra river further dividing the city in
two halves.
The centre of the city, also known as the Central Business
District or CBD, sits on the north bank of the river.
The city is named after Lord Melbourne who
was the British Prime Minister at the time the city was established.
Melbourne skyline seen from the Yarra river
Melbourne started out in 1835 as a large plot of
land bought from local Aborigines of the Dutigalla tribe in exchange
for flour, tools and clothing by John Batman ( no relation to
the lifesaver in the movies).
This was the second attempt at settlement, it had
been abandoned by the first settlers who had arrived in 1803 and
then departed to Tasmania after staying for less than one year.
By 1851 the population had already increased to
80 000 people and six million sheep were grazing the surrounding
country, and the place that had so far been considered part of
New South Wales, was now officially declared as the British colony
Victoria. It became the largest and richest settlement in Australia
as a result of its proximity to the vast goldfields of Ballarat
and Bendigo and a large number of gracious homes and commercial
buildings were built that can stil be admired today. In 2004 the
Royal Exhibitions Buildings and Carlton Gardens were placed under
World Heritage listing in recognicition of European settlement
as part of Australia's cultura heritage.
The discovery of gold in November 1851 made the
town boom and by 1854 the colony's population had grown from 80
000 to 300 000, in 1856 more than 86 tonnes of gold was mined.
This established Melbourne as Australia's main financial centre.
It was a very prosperous city until the Great Depression in the
late 1880s.
It is easy to find your way around Melbourne as
the city is laid out in a grid system but if you're driving watch
out for the trams. The centre of the city is the Bourke Street
Mall which is situated between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street,
running in a north south direction, Bourke Street and Collins
Street are the main roads running west to east.
Melbourne is a very cosmopolitan city and has the
largest Italian community outside Italy and the third largest
Greek community outside Greece so you can be assured you can find
a decent cup of coffee here ( which can be near impossible in
some of the more remote parts of Australia).
Melbourne is famous for the annual Melbourne
Cup horse race and changing the slogan on cars numberplates
from 'Garden State' to 'Victoria-on-the-move' and on the move
they were, thousands bailed out every year to start a new life
in sunny Queensland, later an improving economy changed this trend.
While having a bit of a reputation for not always real glorious
weather with many Australians, Melbourne retained its position
as the best city in the world to call home in the London based
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)'s survey in 2002.
In 2005 it still ranked nr. 2, and in the latest 2010 results
it still had a number 3 position out of 130 cities surveyed worldwide!
Also, despite Sydney being the home of the annual Gay Mardi Gras,
the gay.com website declared Melbourne the No. 2 place to visit
on a list of top 10 international destinations beause of the city's
bars, theatres, cuisine, parks, skyline and gay-friendly attitude.
There is a wide variety of
tours available to explore all of Melbourne's attractions.....
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