Melbourne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Melbourne Victoria |
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 Top: City of Melbourne skyline and Southbank, Middle left: Federation Square, Middle right: Flinders Street Station, Bottom: Melbourne Cricket Ground. |
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| Population: | 3,806,092 [1] (2nd) | ||||||
| • Density: | 1566/km² (4,055.9/sq mi) (2006)[2] | ||||||
| Established: | 30 August 1835 | ||||||
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: | ||||||
| Area: | 8806 km² (3,400.0 sq mi) | ||||||
| Time zone:
• Summer (DST) |
AEST (UTC+10) | ||||||
| Location: | |||||||
| LGA: | 31 Municipalities across Greater Melbourne | ||||||
| County: | Bourke | ||||||
| State District: | 54 electoral districts and regions | ||||||
| Federal Division: | 23 Divisions | ||||||
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Melbourne (pronounced /ˈmelbən/) is the more common name for the geographic region and statistical division of the Greater Melbourne[3] metropolitan area. It is the second most populous city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million (2007 estimate) and serves as the state capital of Victoria.[1] It is located on the lower reaches of the Yarra River and on the northern and eastern shorelines of Port Phillip on an area of land that formed part of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung nations' territories for at least 31,000 years.
Melbourne was founded by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first European settlement of Australia, as a pastoral settlement situated around the Yarra River.[4] Transformed rapidly into a major metropolis by the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, 'Marvellous Melbourne' became Australia's largest and most important city and, by 1865, was the second largest city in the British Empire,[5] and the tenth largest in the world for a short time at the turn of the 20th century. Such rapid growth from nothing was unprecedented. However, Melbourne's growth slowed during the early 20th century and was overtaken by Sydney's.[6]
Today, Melbourne is a major centre of commerce, industry and cultural activity. It is consistently ranked one of the most liveable cities in the world.[7][8][9]
The city is recognised as Australia's 'sporting and cultural capital'[10] and it is home to many of the nation's most significant cultural and sporting events and institutions. It has been recognised as a gamma world city by the Loughborough University group's 1999 inventory.[11] Melbourne is notable for its mix of Victorian and contemporary architecture, its extensive tram network and Victorian parks and gardens, as well as its diverse, multicultural society.[12] Melbourne has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. It was the location of the 1981 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting[13] and the 2006 G20 summit.[14]
Melbourne served as the seat of the federal government from the time of the new nation's federation in 1901, until Federal Parliament moved to the purpose-built capital, Canberra, in 1927.[15] Melbourne's demonym is Melburnian.
Contents |
[edit] History
- See also: Timeline of Melbourne history
- See also: History of Victoria
.
[edit] Early history and foundation
Prior to European settlement, the land now occupied by Melbourne was used by indigenous Australians, of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung nations, for at least 31,000 years.[16][17] The area was an important meeting place for clans and territories of the Kulin nation alliance as well as a vital source of food and water.[18] [4] The first European settlement in Victoria was established in 1803 on Sullivan Bay, near present-day Sorrento, but this settlement was abandoned due to a perceived lack of resources. It would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted.[19]
In May and June 1835, the area that is now central and northern Melbourne was explored by John Batman, a leading member of the Port Phillip Association, who negotiated a transaction for 600,000 acres (2,400 km2; 940 sq mi) of land from eight Wurundjeri elders.[18][4] He selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village", and returned to Launceston in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land). However, by the time a settlement party from the Association arrived to establish the new village, a separate group led by John Pascoe Fawkner had already arrived aboard the Enterprize and established a settlement at the same location, on 30 August 1835. The two groups ultimately agreed to share the settlement.
Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines was annulled by the New South Wales government (then governing all of eastern mainland Australia), which compensated the Association.[4] Although this meant the settlers were now trespassing on Crown land, the government reluctantly accepted the settlers' fait accompli and allowed the town (known at first by various names, including 'Bearbrass'[4]) to remain.
In 1836, Governor Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, and commissioned the first plan for the Hoddle Grid in 1837.[20] Later that year, the settlement was named Melbourne after the British prime minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne was declared a city by letters patent of Queen Victoria, issued on 25 June 1847.[21] The Port Phillip District became a separate colony of Victoria in 1851 with Melbourne as its capital.
[edit] Victorian gold rush
The discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s led to the Victorian gold rush, and the rapid growth of the city, which provided most service industries and served as the major port for the region. During the optimistic 1850s and 1860s, the construction of many of Melbourne's institutional buildings began, including Parliament House, the Treasury Buildings, the State Library, Supreme Court, University, General Post Office, and Government House, as well as St Paul's and St Patrick's cathedrals. The city's inner suburbs were planned, to be linked by boulevards and gardens. Melbourne had become a major finance centre, home to several banks and to Australia's first stock exchange in 1861.[22]
By the 1880s, Melbourne's boom was peaking. The city had become one of the largest in the British Empire, and reputedly the richest in the world.[23] During this prosperous decade, Melbourne hosted five international exhibitions in the large purpose-built Exhibition Building. During an 1885 visit, English journalist George Augustus Henry Sala coined the phrase "Marvellous Melbourne", which stuck long into the twentieth century. Growing building activity culminated in the "Land Boom" which in 1888 reached a peak of speculative development fuelled by optimism and escalating property prices. As a result of the boom, high-rise offices, commercial buildings, coffee palaces, terrace housing and palatial mansions proliferated in the city.[24] Subsequent development (assisted by council fire regulations) has seen most of the taller CBD buildings and larger mansions from this era demolished, though Victorian architecture still abounds in Melbourne. This period also saw the expansion of a major radial rail-based transport network.[25]
The brash boosterism which typified Melbourne during this time came to a halt in 1891 when the start of a severe depression hit the city's economy, sending the local finance and property industries into chaos[24][26] during which 16 small banks and building societies collapsed and 133 limited companies went into liquidation. The Melbourne financial crisis helped trigger the Australian economic depression of 1890s and the Australian banking crisis of 1893. The effects of the depression on the city were profound, although it did continue to grow slowly during the early twentieth century.[27][28]
[edit] Federation of Australia
At the time of Australia's federation on 1 January 1901, Melbourne was specified as the temporary seat of government. The first federal parliament was convened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building. In 1927, federal parliament was moved to the planned city of Canberra, however the governor-general remained at Government House until 1930 and many major national institutions remained in Melbourne well into the twentieth century.[29] Melbourne hosted the Allied Pacific Headquarters from 1942 to 1944 as General Douglas MacArthur established Australia as a launch base for Pacific operations[citation needed]. During World War II, Melbourne industries thrived on wartime production and the city became Australia's leading manufacturing centre[citation needed].
[edit] Post-war period
After the war, Melbourne expanded rapidly, its growth boosted by an influx of immigrants and the prestige of hosting the Olympic Games in 1956. The post-war period saw a major urban renewal of the CBD and St Kilda Road which significantly modernised the city.[30] As residential growth trended towards low-density suburban development, the government began a series of controversial "slum reclamation" public housing projects in the inner city which resulted in demolition of many neighbourhoods and a proliferation of high-rise housing-commission towers.[31] In later years, increasing motor traffic led to major freeway development, causing the city to sprawl outwards. Under premier Henry Bolte, road projects including the Eastern Freeway, Monash Freeway, Tullamarine Freeway and the remodelling of St Kilda Junction changed the face of the city.
Australia's financial and mining booms between 1969 and 1970 resulted in establishment of the headquarters of many major companies (BHP and Rio Tinto, among others) in the city. Nauru's then booming economy fuelled several ambitious investments in Melbourne, such as Nauru House. Melbourne remained Australia's business and financial capital until the late 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to Sydney.[32]
As the centre of Australia's "rust belt", Melbourne experienced the worst of Victoria's economic slump between 1989 to 1992, following the collapse of several of its financial institutions. In 1992 the newly elected Kennett Coalition government began a campaign to revive the economy with an aggressive development campaign of public works centred on Melbourne and the promotion of the city as a tourist destination with a focus on major events and sports tourism, attracting the Australian Grand Prix to the city. Major projects included the Melbourne Museum, Federation Square, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Crown Casino and CityLink tollway. Other strategies included the privatisation of some of Melbourne's services, including power and public transport, but also a reduction in funding to public services such as health and education.[33]
[edit] Contemporary Melbourne
Since 1997, Melbourne has maintained significant population and employment growth. There has been substantial international investment in the city's industries and property market. Major inner-city urban renewal has occurred in areas such as Southbank, Port Melbourne, Melbourne Docklands and, more recently, South Wharf.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Melbourne sustained the highest population increase and economic growth rate of any Australian capital city in the three years ended June 2004.[34]
[edit] Geography
[edit] Topography
Melbourne is located in the south-eastern part of mainland Australia, within the state of Victoria[35][36]. Geologically, it is built on the confluence of Quaternary lava flows to the west, Silurian mudstones to the east,[37] and Holocene sand accumulation to the southeast along Port Phillip.
Melbourne extends along the Yarra through the Yarra Valley[38] toward the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Ranges to the east. It extends northward through the undulating bushland valleys of the Yarra's tributaries - Moonee Ponds Creek (toward Tullamarine Airport), Merri Creek and Plenty River to the outer suburban growth corridors of Craigieburn and Whittlesea. The city sprawls south-east through Dandenong to the growth corridor of Pakenham, Victoria towards West Gippsland. The suburbs sprawl southward through the Dandenong Creek valley, Mornington Peninsula and the city of Frankston taking in the peaks of Olivers Hill, Mount Martha and Arthurs Seat, extending along the shores of Port Phillip[39][40] as a single conurbation to reach the exclusive suburb of Portsea and Point Nepean. In the west, it extends along the Maribyrnong River and its tributaries north towards the foothills of the Macedon Ranges, and along the flat volcanic plain country towards Melton in the west, Werribee at the foothills of the You Yangs volcanic peaks and Geelong as part of the greater metropolitan area to the south-west.
Melbourne's major bayside beaches are located in the south-eastern suburbs along the shores of Port Phillip Bay, in areas like Port Melbourne, Albert Park, St Kilda, Elwood, Brighton, Sandringham, Mentone and Frankston although there are beaches in the western suburbs of Altona and Williamstown. The nearest surf beaches are located 85 kilometres (53 mi) south-east of the Melbourne CBD in the back-beaches of Rye, Sorrento and Portsea.[41][42]
[edit] Environment
Like many urban environments, Melbourne faces some significant environmental issues. Melbourne has one of the highest urban footprints in the world due to its low density housing, suburban sprawl, and car dependence due to minimal public transport outside of the inner city.[43] Much of the vegetation within the city are non-native species, most of European origin, and in many cases plays host to invasive species and noxious weeds.[44] Significant introduced urban pests include the Common Myna,[45] Rock Pigeon,[46] Common Starling, Brown Rat, European Wasp,[47] and Red Fox[48]. Many outlying suburbs, particularly those in the Yarra Valley and the hills to the north-east and east, have gone for extended periods without regenerative fires leading to a lack of saplings and undergrowth in urbanised native bushland, the Department of Sustainability and Environment partially addresses this problem by regularly burning off.[49][50] National parks nearby to the urban area include the Mornington Peninsula National Park, Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park and Point Nepean National Park in the south east, Organ Pipes National Park to the north and Dandenong Ranges National Park to the east. There are also a number of significant state parks just outside Melbourne.[51][52]
Responsibility for regulating pollution falls under the jurisdiction of the EPA Victoria and several local councils. Air pollution, by world standards, is classified as being good, however summer and autumn are the worst times of year for atmospheric haze in the urban area.[53][54]
The biggest current environmental issue facing Melbourne is the Victorian government project to deepen the channel to Melbourne Ports by dredging Port Phillip Bay. It is subject to controversy and strict regulations among fears that beaches and marine wildlife could be affected by the disturbance of heavy metals and other industrial sediments.[55][42] Other major pollution problems in Melbourne include levels of bacteria including E-coli in the Yarra River and its tributaries caused by septic systems,[56] as well as up to 350,000 cigarette butts entering the storm water runoff every day.[57] Several programs are being implemented to minimise beach and river pollution.[58][42]
[edit] Climate
Melbourne has a moderate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb).[59] and is well known for its changeable weather conditions. This is due in part to the city's flat topography, its situation on Port Phillip Bay, and the presence of the Dandenong Ranges to the east, a combination that creates weather systems that often circle the bay.[60] The phrase "four seasons in one day" is part of popular culture and observed by many visitors to the city.[61]
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| temperatures in °C precipitation totals in mm source: Bureau of Meteorology[62] |
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Melbourne is colder than other mainland Australian capital cities in the winter. The lowest maximum on record is 4.4 °C (39.9 °F), on 4 July 1901.[63] However, snowfalls are extremely rare: the most recent occurrence of sleet in the CBD was on 25 July 1986 and the most recent snowfalls in the outer eastern suburbs and Mount Dandenong were on 10 August 2005,[64] 15 November 2006, 25 December 2006[65] and 10 August 2008.[66] More commonly, Melbourne experiences frosts and fog in winter.
During the spring, Melbourne commonly enjoys extended periods of mild weather and clear skies. On average, Melbourne is not as hot as more northern cities such Sydney or Brisbane in summer, but occasionally experiences hotter and drier summer days, with maximum temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) when northerly winds blow dry air from the arid Mallee region.[67]
In recorded history, Melbourne has experienced a number of highly unusual weather events and extremes of climate as well as the rare natural disaster.[68] In 1891, the great flood caused the Yarra to swell to 305 metres (1,000 ft) in width. In 1897, a great fire destroyed an entire city block between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street as well as gutting a 43-metre (140 ft) office building which was the city's tallest building of the time. In 1908, a heatwave struck Melbourne. On 2 February 1918, the Brighton tornado, an F3 class and the most intense tornado to hit a major Australian city struck the bayside suburb of Brighton. In 1934, storms caused widespread damage. On 13 January 1939 Melbourne had its hottest temperature on record, 45.6 °C (114.1 °F), during a four-day nationwide heat wave[69] in which the Black Friday bushfires destroyed townships that are now Melbourne suburbs. In 1951 it snowed in both the CBD and suburbs with moderate cover recorded.[63] In February 1972, the CBD was flooded as the natural watercourse of Elizabeth Street became a raging torrent.[70] On 8 February 1983, the city was enveloped by a massive dust storm, which turned day to night. On 16 February in 1983, Melbourne was encircled by an arc of fire as the Ash Wednesday fires encroached on the city. In 1997, Melbourne was hit by a heatwave with a minimum temperature over a 24 hour period of 28.8. Freak storms struck in December 2003, January 2004 and February 2005. On 9 December 2006 some of the thickest bushfire smoke in recorded history blanketed the city sky.[71] A heatwave struck in 2008 and bushfires threatened the suburbs.[72][60] According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2008 will be Melbourne's 12th consecutive year of below-average rainfall. This has been widely attributed to escalative effects of climate change on the drought. [73]
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Yearly | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean number of rain days | 8.3 | 7.4 | 9.3 | 11.5 | 14.0 | 14.2 | 15.1 | 15.6 | 14.8 | 14.3 | 11.8 | 10.5 | 146.7 | |
| Mean number of clear days | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.7 | 4.4 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 48.5 | |
| Mean number of cloudy days | 11.2 | 9.7 | 13.4 | 14.9 | 18.0 | 16.8 | 17.2 | 16.8 | 15.7 | 16.4 | 15.1 | 14.2 | 179.5 | |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology | ||||||||||||||
[edit] Urban structure
The original city (known today as the central business district or CBD) is laid out in the Hoddle Grid (dimensions of 1 by 0.5 miles (1.6 km × 0.80 km)), its southern edge fronting onto the Yarra. The city centre is well known for its historic and attractive lanes and arcades (the most notable of which are Block Place and Royal Arcade) which contain a variety of shops and cafes.[74] The Melbourne CBD, compared with other Australian cities has comparatively unrestrictive height limits and as the result of waves of post war development contains five of the six tallest buildings in Australia, the tallest of these being the Eureka Tower.[75] The CBD and surrounds also contain many significant historic buildings such as the Royal Exhibition Building, the Melbourne Town Hall and Parliament House.[76][77] Although the area is described as the centre, it is not actually the demographic centre of Melbourne at all, due to an urban sprawl to the south east, the demographic centre being located at Bourne St, Glen Iris.[78]
Melbourne is typical of Australian capital cities in that after the turn of the 20th century, it expanded with the underlying notion of a 'quarter acre home and garden' for every family, often referred to locally as the Australian Dream. Much of metropolitan Melbourne is accordingly characterised by low density sprawl. The provision of an extensive passenger railway and tram service in the earlier years of development encouraged this low density development, mostly in radial lines along the transport corridors.
Melbourne is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and the state of Victoria was once known as the garden state.[79][54][80] There is an abundance of parks and gardens in Melbourne,[81] many close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways and tree-lined avenues. There are also many parks in the surrounding suburbs of Melbourne, such as in the municipalities of Stonnington, Boroondara and Port Phillip, south east of the CBD.
The extensive area covered by urban Melbourne is formally divided into hundreds of suburbs (for addressing and postal purposes), and administered as local government areas.[82]
[edit] Culture
Melbourne is widely regarded as the cultural and sport capital of Australia.[83][84] It has thrice shared top position[85] in a survey by The Economist of the World's Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions such as crime rates and health care, in 2002,[86] 2004 and 2005.[87] In recent years rising property prices have led to Melbourne being named the 36th least affordable city in the world and the second least affordable in Australia.[88]
The city celebrates a wide variety of annual cultural events, performing arts and architecture. Melbourne is also considered to be Australia's live music capital with a large proportion of successful Australian artists emerging from the Melbourne live music scene. Street Art in Melbourne is becoming increasingly popular with the Lonely Planet guides listing it as a major attraction. The city is also admired as one of the great cities of the Victorian Age (1837-1901) and a vigorous city life intersects with an impressive range of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century buildings.[89]
[edit] Sport
Melbourne is a notable sporting location as the host city for the 1956 Summer Olympics games,[90] along with the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[91][92]
In recent years, the city has claimed the SportsBusiness title "World's Ultimate Sports City".[93] The city is home to the National Sports Museum, which until 2006 was located outside the members pavilion at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and reopened in 2008 in the Great Northern Stand.[94]
Australian rules football and cricket are the most popular sports in Melbourne and also the spiritual home of these two sports in Australia and both are mostly played in the same stadia in the city and its suburbs. The first ever official cricket Test match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877 and the Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest cricket ground in the world. The first Australian rules football matches were played in Melbourne in 1858 and the Australian Football League is headquartered at the Telstra Dome. Nine of its teams are based in the Melbourne metropolitan area and the five Melbourne AFL matches per week attract an average 40,000 people per game.[95] Additionally, the city annually hosts the AFL Grand Final.
The city is also home to several professional franchises in national competitions including the Melbourne Storm (rugby league),[96] who play in the NRL competition, Melbourne Victory (Association football (soccer)) who play in the A-league, netball team Melbourne Vixens who play in the trans-Tasman trophy ANZ Championship and basketball teams Melbourne Tigers and South Dragons who play in the National Basketball League.
Melbourne is home to the three major annual international annual sporting events in the Australian Open (tennis),[97] Melbourne Cup (horse racing),[98] and the Australian Grand Prix (Formula 1).[99]
[edit] Economy
