120-636: Red Stitch Actors Theatre is an ensemble theatre company based in Melbourne , Australia. Established in 2001 and with its first season in 2002, Red Stitch has presented over 100 contemporary plays. These include works from international playwrights such as Edward Albee , Annie Baker , Jez Butterworth , Martin Crimp , Amy Herzog , Sarah Kane , Neil LaBute and Simon Stephens , and more recently Australian playwrights such as Melissa Bubnic, Tom Holloway and Joanna Murray-Smith . Red Stitch's 80-seat theatre
240-505: A Hansom Cab (1886), the fastest-selling crime novel of the era, is set in Melbourne, as is Australia's best-selling book of poetry, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915) by C. J. Dennis . Contemporary Melbourne authors who have set novels in the city include Peter Carey , Helen Garner and Gerald Murnane . Melbourne has Australia's widest range of bookstores, as well as the nation's largest publishing sector. The city also hosts
360-673: A campaign to revive the economy with an aggressive development campaign of public works coupled with the promotion of the city as a tourist destination with a focus on major events and sports tourism. During this period the Australian Grand Prix moved to Melbourne from Adelaide . Major projects included the construction of a new facility for the Melbourne Museum , Federation Square , the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre , Crown Casino and
480-502: A contributing factor to the Australian economic depression of the 1890s and the Australian banking crisis of 1893 . The effects of the depression on the city were profound, with virtually no significant construction until the late 1890s. At the time of Australia's federation on 1 January 1901 Melbourne became the seat of government of the federated Commonwealth of Australia . The first federal parliament convened on 9 May 1901 in
600-650: A human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP , making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia. A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP . Archaeological sites in Tasmania and on the Bass Strait Islands have been dated to between 20,000 – 35,000 years ago, when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing Aboriginal people to move across
720-703: A kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil was responsible for the formation of the bay, or the bay was flooded when the Yarra river was created (Yarra Creation Story ). The Woiwurrung tribes would have been aware of the Europeans, through the close relationship to the Boon wurrung people of the coast who came into contact with the Baudin expedition on the French ship Naturaliste during 1801, and then
840-463: A major renewal of the CBD and St Kilda Road which significantly modernised the city. New fire regulations and redevelopment saw most of the taller pre-war CBD buildings either demolished or partially retained through a policy of facadism . Many of the larger suburban mansions from the boom era were also either demolished or subdivided. To counter the trend towards low-density suburban residential growth,
960-629: A pastoral estate in Bulleen , now the Heide Museum of Modern Art . The city is also home to the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art , as well as numerous independent galleries and artist-run spaces. In the 2000s, street art proliferated in Melbourne , with Banksy saying its graffiti scene "leads the world", and "laneway galleries" becoming major tourist sites; Hosier Lane for example attracts more Instagram hashtags than some of
1080-727: A prominent example of the latter style in the CBD. The 1926 Nicholas Building is the city's grandest example of the Chicago School style, while the influence of Art Deco is apparent in the Manchester Unity Building , completed in 1932. The city also features the Shrine of Remembrance , which was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war. Residential architecture
1200-456: A rapid clearing trend to sunny and relatively calm weather and the temperature rising back to what it was before the shower. This can occur in the space of minutes and can be repeated many times a day, giving Melbourne a reputation for having "four seasons in one day", a phrase that is part of local popular culture . The lowest temperature on record is −2.8 °C (27.0 °F), on 21 July 1869. The highest temperature recorded in Melbourne city
1320-701: A smallpox epidemic had swept through the tribes around Port Philip before 1803 reducing the population. Broome puts forward that two epidemics of smallpox almost annihilated the Kulin tribes by perhaps killing half each time in the 1790s and again around 1830. The Wurundjeri incorporated these epidemics in their oral tradition as the Mindi , a rainbow serpent from the Northwest sent to destroy or afflict any people for bad deeds, hissing and spreading white particles from its mouth from which disease could be inhaled. Any plague
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#17327944950871440-432: Is Flinders Street station and its main regional rail and road coach terminus is Southern Cross station . It also has Australia's most extensive freeway network and the largest urban tram network in the world . Aboriginal Australians have lived in the Melbourne area for at least 40,000 years. When European colonisers arrived in the 19th century, at least 20,000 Kulin people from three distinct language groups –
1560-645: Is a converted church hall on Chapel Street , St Kilda East opposite the Astor Theatre . The company was based until 2003 in an industrial building in Inkerman Street, St Kilda. Red Stitch occasionally plays seasons at Arts Centre Melbourne 's Fairfax Studio and tours to other cities across Australia. Its 2023 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is scheduled to transfer to Melbourne's Comedy Theatre in June 2024. In 2019, Red Stitch revamped
1680-599: Is at once both the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language. These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. The two moiety totems of the Woiwurrung people are Bunjil the Eaglehawk and Waang the Crow. William Thomas witnessed Woiwurrung people playing
1800-627: Is becoming unaffordable for some. Public housing is managed and provided by the Victorian Government's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing , and operates within the framework of the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, by which both federal and state governments provide funding for housing. Melbourne is experiencing high population growth, generating high demand for housing. This housing boom has increased house prices and rents, as well as
1920-562: Is home to more skyscrapers than any other Australian city , the tallest being Australia 108 , situated in Southbank. Melbourne's newest planned skyscraper, Southbank By Beulah (also known as "Green Spine"), has recently been approved for construction and will be the tallest structure in Australia by 2025. The CBD and surrounds also contain many significant historic buildings such as the Royal Exhibition Building ,
2040-561: Is known for its music, theatre and arts scenes, as well as its diverse range of cultural events and festivals, including the Melbourne International Arts Festival , Melbourne Fringe Festival and Moomba , Australia's largest free community festival. For much of the 2010s, Melbourne topped The Economist Intelligence Unit 's list of the world's most liveable cities , partly due to its cultural attributes. State Library Victoria , founded in 1854,
2160-437: Is largely protected from the ocean, resulting in greater temperature variation across seasons. Melbourne's urban area is approximately 2,704 km , the largest in Australia and the 33rd largest in the world. The Hoddle Grid , a grid of streets measuring approximately 1 by 1 ⁄ 2 mi (1.61 by 0.80 km), forms the nucleus of Melbourne's central business district (CBD). The grid's southern edge fronts onto
2280-605: Is most awfully on the increase though it cannot be detected—their argument has some reason 'No good pickaninnys now no country'". On the instructions of Charles La Trobe a Native Police Corps was established and underwritten by the government in 1842 in the hope of civilising the Aboriginal men. It was based at Narre Warren , but later moved to Merri Creek and continued in operation until disbanded in January 1853. As senior Wurundjeri elder, Billibellary 's cooperation for
2400-693: Is not defined by a single architectural style, but rather an eclectic mix of large McMansion -style houses (particularly in areas of urban sprawl), apartment buildings, condominiums, and townhouses which generally characterise the medium-density inner-city neighbourhoods. Freestanding dwellings with relatively large gardens are perhaps the most common type of housing outside inner city Melbourne. Victorian terrace housing, townhouses and historic Italianate , Tudor revival and Neo-Georgian mansions are all common in inner-city neighbourhoods such as Carlton, Fitzroy and further into suburban enclaves like Toorak . Often referred to as Australia's cultural capital, Melbourne
2520-565: Is noted for its street art , live music and theatre scenes. It hosts major annual sporting events, such as the Australian Grand Prix and the Australian Open , and also hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics . Melbourne ranked as the world's most livable city for much of the 2010s. Melbourne Airport is the second-busiest airport in Australia and the Port of Melbourne is the nation's busiest seaport. Its main metropolitan rail terminus
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#17327944950872640-484: Is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and the state of Victoria is known as the garden state . There is an abundance of parks and gardens in Melbourne , many close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways and tree-lined avenues. Melbourne's parks are often considered the best public parks in all of Australia's major cities. There are also many parks in
2760-543: Is one of the world's oldest free public libraries and, as of 2018, the fourth most-visited library globally. During the 19th-century boom period, Melbourne-based authors and poets Marcus Clarke , Adam Lindsay Gordon and Rolf Boldrewood produced classic visions of colonial life, and many visiting writers recorded literary responses to the city: for Henry Kendall , it was a "wild bleak Bohemia", while Henry Kingsley stated that, in its rapid growth, Melbourne "surpasses all human experience". Fergus Hume 's The Mystery of
2880-530: Is perceived as part of their duty of hospitality. In 1840, conflict erupted at the Battle of Yering , near present-day Yarra Glen, in which Border Police under the direction of Commissioner of Lands, Captain Henry Gisborne captured Wurundjeri leader Jaga Jaga, eliciting a violent confrontation involving 50 Wurundjeri clansmen where shots were exchanged. As early as 1843 Billibellary requested land for
3000-459: Is supposed to be brought on by the Mindye or some of its little ones. I have no doubt that, in generations gone by, there has been an awful plague of cholera or black fever, and that the wind at the time, or some other appearance from the north-west has given rise to this strange being. On 6 June 1835 John Batman met with eight elders of the Woiwurrung people including Bebejan and Billibellary ,
3120-504: Is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria , and the second-most populous city in Australia, after Sydney . Its name generally refers to a 9,993 km (3,858 sq mi) metropolitan area also known as Greater Melbourne , comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities , although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area . The metropolis occupies much of
3240-538: The Australian Dream . This, coupled with the popularity of the private automobile after 1945, led to the auto-centric urban structure now present today in the middle and outer suburbs. Much of metropolitan Melbourne is accordingly characterised by low-density sprawl, whilst its inner-city areas feature predominantly medium-density, transit-oriented urban forms. The city centre, Docklands, St. Kilda Road and Southbank areas feature high-density forms. Melbourne
3360-454: The CityLink tollway . Other strategies included the privatisation of some of Melbourne's services, including power and public transport, and a reduction in funding to public services such as health, education and public transport infrastructure. Since the mid-1990s, Melbourne has maintained significant population and employment growth. There has been substantial international investment in
3480-562: The Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung to the north. Before colonisation , they lived predominantly as aquaculturists , swidden agriculturists (growing grasslands by fire-stick farming to create fenceless herbivore grazing, garden-farming murnong yam roots and various tuber lilies as major forms of starch and carbohydrates ), and hunters and gatherers . Seasonal changes in the weather, availability of foods and other factors would determine where campsites were located, many near
3600-594: The Empire of Japan , and the government requisitioned the Melbourne Cricket Ground for military use. In the immediate years after World War II , Melbourne expanded rapidly, its growth boosted by post-war immigration to Australia , primarily from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean . While the "Paris End" of Collins Street began Melbourne's boutique shopping and open air cafe cultures,
3720-602: The Heidelberg School of impressionists, named after a suburb where they camped to paint en plein air in the 1880s. The Australian tonalists followed in the 1910s, some of whom founded Montsalvat in Eltham , Australia's oldest surviving art colony. Mid-century Melbourne became a stronghold of figurative modernism through the paintings of the Antipodeans and Angry Penguins ; the latter group often met at
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3840-617: The Melbourne Bounce genre and the Melbourne Shuffle dance style, both of which emerged from the city's underground rave scene. Established in 1861, the National Gallery of Victoria is Australia's oldest and largest art museum, and houses its collection across two sites: NGV International in Southbank and NGV Australia at Federation Square. Several art movements originated in Melbourne, most famously
3960-544: The Melbourne Town Hall and Parliament House . 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 southeast, the demographic centre being located at Camberwell . 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
4080-426: The Melbourne Town Hall , St Patrick's cathedral, though many remained incomplete for decades. The layout of the inner suburbs on a largely one-mile grid pattern, cut through by wide radial boulevards and parklands surrounding the central city, was largely established in the 1850s and 1860s. These areas rapidly filled with the ubiquitous terrace houses, as well as with detached houses and grand mansions, while some of
4200-793: The Melbourne Writers Festival and the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards . In 2008, it became the second UNESCO City of Literature . Melbourne is home to many theatres , eight of which are concentrated in the East End Theatre District , including the Victorian era Athenaeum , Her Majesty's and Princess theatres, as well as the Forum and the Regent . Other heritage-listed theatres include
4320-463: The Otway and Macedon Ranges , which block much of the rainfall arriving from the north and west. Port Phillip is often warmer than the surrounding oceans or the land mass, particularly in spring and autumn; this can set up a "bay effect", similar to the " lake effect " seen in colder climates, where showers are intensified leeward of the bay. Relatively narrow streams of heavy showers can often affect
4440-483: The Royal Exhibition Building , subsequently moving to the Victorian Parliament House, where it sat until it moved to Canberra in 1927. The Governor-General of Australia resided at Government House in Melbourne until 1930, and many major national institutions remained in Melbourne well into the twentieth century. During World War II the city hosted American military forces who were fighting
4560-852: The Selwyn fault , which transects Mount Martha and Cranbourne . The western portion of the metropolitan area lies within the Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands vegetation community, and the southeast falls in the Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland zone. Melbourne extends northward through the undulating bushland valleys of the Yarra Valley 's tributaries— Moonee Ponds Creek (toward Melbourne Airport ), Merri Creek , Darebin Creek and Plenty River . The city reaches southeast through Dandenong to
4680-802: The Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance. The Woiwurrung people's territory in Central Victoria extended from north of the Great Dividing Range , east to Mount Baw Baw , south to Mordialloc Creek and to Mount Macedon , Sunbury and Gisborne in the west. Their lands bordered the Gunai /Kurnai people to the east in Gippsland , the Boon wurrung people to the south on the Mornington Peninsula , and
4800-597: The World Heritage -listed Royal Exhibition Building (1880), the General Post Office (1867), Hotel Windsor (1884) and the Block Arcade (1891). Comparatively little remains of Melbourne's pre-gold rush architecture; St James Old Cathedral (1839) and St Francis' Church (1845) are among the few examples left in the CBD. Many of the CBD's Victorian boom-time landmarks were also demolished in
4920-625: The Wurundjeri , Bunurong and Wathaurong – resided in the area. It was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and a vital source of food and water. In June 2021, the boundaries between the land of two of the traditional owner groups, the Wurundjeri and Bunurong, were agreed after being drawn up by the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council . The borderline runs across
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5040-505: The Yarra River . More recent office, commercial and public developments in the adjoining districts of Southbank and Docklands have made these areas into extensions of the CBD in all but name. A byproduct of the CBD's layout is its network of lanes and arcades , such as Block Arcade and Royal Arcade . Melbourne's CBD has become Australia's most densely populated area, with approximately 19,500 residents per square kilometre, and
5160-552: The market town of Melbourne , Derbyshire . That year, the settlement's general post office officially opened with that name. Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were largely dispossessed of their land by British colonists. In 1840, the Superintendent of the Port Phillip District , Charles La Trobe issued a directive to banish Aborigines from the immediate vicinity of Melbourne. This
5280-536: The traditional owners of the lands around the Yarra River. The meeting took place on the bank of a small stream, likely to be the Merri Creek and treaty documents were signed along with exchanges of goods by both sides. For a purchase price including tomahawks, knives, scissors, flannel jackets, red shirts and a yearly tribute of similar items, Batman obtained about 200,000 hectares (2,000 km ) around
5400-767: The 2010s the State Government of Victoria initiated a number of major infrastructure projects designed to reduce congestion in Melbourne and encourage economic growth, including the Metro Tunnel , the West Gate Tunnel , the Level Crossing Removal Project and the Suburban Rail Loop . New urban renewal zones were initiated in inner-city areas like Fisherman's Bend and Arden , while suburban growth continued on
5520-462: The 2024 Global Financial Centres Index . The city's eclectic architecture blends Victorian era structures, such as the World Heritage -listed Royal Exhibition Building , with one of the world's tallest skylines . Additional landmarks include the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the National Gallery of Victoria . Noted for its cultural heritage , the city gave rise to Australian rules football , Australian impressionism and Australian cinema , and
5640-473: The 27 years following the foundation of Melbourne, the population of Woiworung and Boon wurrung language groups was reduced from 207 to 28 people. Many people were killed by diseases, including venereal disease, introduced by the Europeans. The birth rate also drastically declined for Woiwurrung and Boon wurrung with only five births between 1838 and 1848, while there were 52 deaths for the same period. William Thomas remarked in 1844 that "Infanticide I am persuaded
5760-517: The Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP , when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels. Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago. Oral history and creation stories from the Wathaurong , Woiwurrung and Boon wurrung languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once
5880-608: The Bay was filled with teatree scrub where boorrimul (emu) and marram (kangaroo) were hunted. The first British settlement in Victoria , then part of the penal colony of New South Wales , was established by Colonel David Collins in October 1803, at Sullivan Bay , near present-day Sorrento . The following year, due to a perceived lack of resources, these settlers relocated to Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania ) and founded
6000-473: The Birrarung and its tributaries. Each of the various Woiwurrung tribes had its own distinct territory and the boundaries were usually determined by waterways. The clans included: The term Wurundjeri has become one of the common terms used today for descendants of all the Woiwurrung tribes, as they were forced together for the survival of their ethnic group. Their totems are Bundjil the eagle, and Waang
6120-414: The Birrarung, by other clans, was sometimes restricted depending on the state of the resource in question. For example; if a river or creek had been fished regularly throughout the fishing season and fish supplies were down, fishing was limited or stopped entirely by the clan who owned that resource until fish were given a chance to recover. During this time other resources were utilised for food. This ensured
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#17327944950876240-509: The British settlement at Sullivan Bay in 1803, near modern-day Sorrento, Victoria . William Buckley , a convict, escaped from this abortive settlement and lived for more than 30 years with the Wathaurong people before approaching John Batman's party in 1835. He told George Langhorne in 1836: I frequently entertained them (the Wada wurrung), when sitting around the campfires, with accounts of
6360-489: The Colony of Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital. The discovery of gold in Victoria in mid-1851 sparked a gold rush , and Melbourne, the colony's major port, experienced rapid growth. Within months, the city's population had nearly doubled from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. Exponential growth ensued, and by 1865 Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city. An influx of intercolonial and international migrants, particularly from Europe and China, saw
6480-661: The Cromwell Road Theatre in South Yarra as a flexible space seating up to 120, to be a second venue for the company. Red Stitch productions have won numerous Melbourne Green Room Awards including Best Production - Theatre Companies for Harvest by Richard Bean in 2007 and Iphigenia in Splott by Gary Owen in 2022. Its production of Red Sky Morning by Tom Holloway was nominated for the national Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production in 2011. Melbourne Melbourne ( / ˈ m ɛ l b ər n / MEL -bərn , locally [ˈmæɫbən] ; Boonwurrung / Woiwurrung : Narrm or Naarm )
6600-465: The English People, Houses, Ships – great guns etc. to which accounts they would listen with great attention – and express much astonishment. The Boon wurrung people, living primarily along the Port Philip and Western Port coast, were also subjected to raids on their camps by sealers from at least 1809 to as late as 1833, which were frequently violent with men being killed and the women being abducted and enslaved by sealers for sexual partners and taken to
6720-421: The Islands in Bass Strait where the sealers had their camps. This would have impacted the economic and social ties binding the Woiwurrung and Boon wurrung peoples. James Fleming, one of the party of Charles Grimes in HMS Cumberland who explored the Maribyrnong River and the Yarra River as far as Dights Falls in February 1803 reported smallpox scars on several Aboriginal people he met, indicating that
6840-413: The Melbourne CBD in the back-beaches of Rye , Sorrento and Portsea . Melbourne has a temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ), with warm summers and cool winters. Melbourne is well known for its changeable weather conditions , mainly due to it being located on the boundary of hot inland areas and the cool southern ocean. This temperature differential is most pronounced in
6960-543: The Wurundjeri to settle. In August 1850 it is likely that the Woiwurrung requested land at Bulleen , but William Thomas , a Protector of Aborigines in Victoria, rejected their request as being too close to white settlement. In 1852 the Woiworrung gained 782 hectares along the Yarra at Warrandyte , while the Boon wurrung were allocated 340 hectares at Mordialloc Creek. These reserves were never staffed by whites and were not permanent camps, but acted as distribution depots where rations and blankets were distributed, with
7080-412: The Yarra River and Corio Bay. The total value of the goods has been estimated at about £100 in the value of the day. In return the Woiwurrung offered woven baskets of examples of their weaponry and two Possum-skin cloaks , a highly treasured item. After the treaty signing, a celebration took place with the Parramatta Aborigines with Batman's party dancing a corroboree . The treaty was significant as it
7200-470: The area and established a settlement at the site of the current Melbourne Immigration Museum . Batman and his group arrived the following month and the two groups ultimately agreed to share the settlement, initially known by the native name of Dootigala. Batman's Treaty with the Aboriginal elders was annulled by Richard Bourke , the Governor of New South Wales (who at the time governed all of eastern mainland Australia), with compensation paid to members of
7320-418: The association. In 1836, Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales , and commissioned the first plan for its urban layout, the Hoddle Grid , in 1837. Known briefly as Batmania, the settlement was named Melbourne on 10 April 1837 by Bourke after the British Prime Minister , William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne , whose seat was Melbourne Hall in
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#17327944950877440-499: The availability of all types of housing. Subdivision regularly occurs in the outer areas of Melbourne, with numerous developers offering house and land packages. However, since the release of Melbourne 2030 in 2002, planning policies have encouraged medium-density and high-density development in existing areas with good access to public transport and other services. As a result of this, Melbourne's middle and outer-ring suburbs have seen significant brownfields redevelopment. On
7560-544: The avant-garde picture palace The Capitol and St Kilda's Palais Theatre , Australia's largest seated theatre with a capacity of 3,000 people. The Arts Precinct in Southbank is home to Arts Centre Melbourne (which includes the State Theatre and Hamer Hall ), as well as the Melbourne Recital Centre , Malthouse Theatre and Southbank Theatre , home of the Melbourne Theatre Company , Australia's oldest professional theatre company. The Australian Ballet , Opera Australia and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are also based in
7680-436: The back of the 1850s gold rush and 1880s land boom, Melbourne became renowned as one of the world's great Victorian-era cities, a reputation that persists due to its diverse range of Victorian architecture . High concentrations of well-preserved Victorian-era buildings can be found in the inner suburbs, such as Carlton , East Melbourne and South Melbourne . Outstanding examples of Melbourne's built Victorian heritage include
7800-433: The best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise. The game was a favourite of the Woiwurrung clans and two teams were sometimes based on the traditional totemic moieties of Bunjil (eagle) and Waang (crow) of the Kulin people. Robert Brough-Smyth saw
7920-434: The blocks. The Aboriginal population continued to decline, with an estimated 80% total decrease by 1863, due primarily to introduced diseases (particularly smallpox ), frontier violence and dispossession of their lands. The 1880s saw extraordinary growth: consumer confidence, easy access to credit, and steep increases in land prices led to an enormous amount of construction. During this "land boom", Melbourne reputedly became
8040-451: The ceremony of Tanderrum – freedom of the bush – would be performed. This allowed safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts. The Wurundjeri people were part of the Woiwurrung language group; each clan spoke a slight variation of the Woiwurrung language. Some basic terms include; The Woiwurrung people shared
8160-551: The city centre was seen by many as stale—the dreary domain of office workers—something expressed by John Brack in his famous painting Collins St., 5 pm (1955). Up until the 21st century, Melbourne was considered Australia's "industrial heartland". Height limits in the CBD were lifted in 1958, after the construction of ICI House , transforming the city's skyline with the introduction of skyscrapers. Suburban expansion then intensified, served by new indoor malls beginning with Chadstone Shopping Centre . The post-war period also saw
8280-399: The city from west to east, with the CBD , Richmond and Hawthorn included in Wurundjeri land, and Albert Park , St Kilda and Caulfield on Bunurong land. However, this change in boundaries is still disputed by people on both sides of the dispute including N'arweet Carolyn Briggs . The name Narrm is commonly used by the broader Aboriginal community to refer to the city, stemming from
8400-411: The city of Hobart . It would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. In May and June 1835, John Batman , a leading member of the Port Phillip Association in Van Diemen's Land, explored the Melbourne area, and later claimed to have negotiated a purchase of 2,400 km (600,000 acres) with eight Wurundjeri elders. However, the nature of the treaty has been heavily disputed, as none of
8520-430: The city's industries and property market. Major inner-city urban renewal has occurred in areas such as Southbank , Port Melbourne , Melbourne Docklands and South Wharf . Melbourne sustained the highest population increase and economic growth rate of any Australian capital city from 2001 to 2004. From 2006, the growth of the city extended into "green wedges" and beyond the city's urban growth boundary . Predictions of
8640-660: The city's population reaching 5 million people pushed the state government to review the growth boundary in 2008 as part of its Melbourne @ Five Million strategy. In 2009, Melbourne was less affected by the Great Recession in comparison to other Australian cities. At this time, more new jobs were created in Melbourne than any other Australian city—almost as many as the next two fastest growing cities, Brisbane and Perth, combined, and Melbourne's property market remained highly priced, resulting in historically high property prices and widespread rent increases. Beginning in
8760-537: The city's traditional destinations, like the Melbourne Zoo . Melbourne's many public artworks range from the Burke and Wills monument (1865) to the abstract sculpture Vault (1978), the latter a popular reference point amongst Melbourne designers. Woiwurrung The Woiwurrung , also spelt Woi-wurrung, Woi Wurrung , Woiwurrong , Woiworung , and Wuywurung , are an Aboriginal Australian people of
8880-441: The city. Nauru 's then booming economy resulted in several ambitious investments in Melbourne, such as Nauru House . Melbourne remained Australia's main business and financial centre until the late 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to Sydney. Melbourne experienced an economic downturn between 1989 and 1992, following the collapse of several local financial institutions. In 1992, the newly elected Kennett government began
9000-532: The city. The establishment of the Melbourne Hydraulic Power Company in 1886 led to the availability of high-pressure piped water, allowing for the installation of hydraulically powered elevators , which led to the construction of the first high-rise buildings in the city. The period also saw the huge expansion of a significant radial rail-based transport network throughout the city and suburbs. Melbourne's land-boom peaked in 1888,
9120-459: The country lost was refused. Coranderrk was closed in 1924, and its occupants barring five, who refused to leave Country were again moved to Lake Tyers in Gippsland . Communities consisted of six or more (depending on the extent of the territory) land-owning groups called clans that spoke a related language and were connected through cultural and mutual interests, totems, trading initiatives and marriage ties. Access to land and resources, such as
9240-564: The countryside from the late 1850s. Construction started on further major public buildings in the 1860s and 1870s, such as the Supreme Court , Government House , and the Queen Victoria Market . The central city filled up with shops and offices, workshops, and warehouses. Large banks and hotels faced the main streets, with fine townhouses in the east end of Collins Street, contrasting with tiny cottages down laneways within
9360-478: The crow. Wurundjeri is a common recent name for people who have lived in the Woiwurrung area for up to 40,000 years, according to Gary Presland . They lived by fishing, hunting and gathering, and made a good living from the rich food sources of Port Phillip both before and after its flooding about 7,000–10,000 years ago, and the surrounding grasslands. At the Keilor Archaeological Site
9480-660: The decades after World War II, including the Federal Coffee Palace (1888) and the APA Building (1889), one of the tallest early skyscrapers upon completion. Heritage listings and heritage overlays have since been introduced in an effort to prevent further losses of the city's historic fabric. In line with the city's expansion during the early 20th century, suburbs such as Hawthorn and Camberwell are defined largely by Federation and Edwardian architectural styles. The City Baths , built in 1903, are
9600-471: The eastern fringe at Gembrook . Melbourne receives 48.6 clear days annually. Dewpoint temperatures in the summer range from 9.5 to 11.7 °C (49.1 to 53.1 °F). Melbourne is also prone to isolated convective showers forming when a cold pool crosses the state, especially if there is considerable daytime heating. These showers are often heavy and can include hail, squalls, and significant drops in temperature, but they often pass through very quickly with
9720-472: The establishment of slums, including Chinatown and a temporary "tent city" on the southern banks of the Yarra. In the aftermath of the 1854 Eureka Rebellion , mass public support for the plight of the miners resulted in major political changes to the colony, including improvements in working conditions across mining, agriculture, manufacturing and other local industries. At least twenty nationalities took part in
9840-575: The five peoples of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land encompassing Melbourne are the Boonwurrung , Woiwurrung and the Wurundjeri peoples. In 1803, a short-lived British penal settlement was established at Port Phillip, then part of the Colony of New South Wales . Melbourne was founded in 1835 with the arrival of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania ). It
9960-465: The game of Marn grook in 1841, according to Robert Brough-Smyth , in The Aborigines of Victoria (1878): The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have
10080-517: The game played at Coranderrk Mission Station, where ngurungaeta William Barak discouraged the playing of imported games like cricket and encouraged the traditional native game of marn grook. There is some debate about whether the game influenced or was the origin of Australian Rules Football . As late as 1862 the Woiwurrung Aboriginal people were "often seen in their possum skin coats, armed with spears, and retreating mainly to
10200-547: The government began a series of controversial public housing projects in the inner city by the Housing Commission of Victoria , which resulted in the demolition of many neighbourhoods and a proliferation of high-rise towers. In later years, with the rapid rise of motor vehicle ownership, the investment in freeway and highway developments greatly accelerated the outward suburban sprawl and declining inner-city population. The Bolte government sought to rapidly accelerate
10320-557: The growth corridor of Pakenham towards West Gippsland . In the west, it extends along the Maribyrnong River and its tributaries north towards Sunbury . Melbourne's major bayside beaches are in the various suburbs along the shores of Port Phillip Bay, in areas like Port Melbourne , Albert Park , St Kilda , Elwood , Brighton , Sandringham , Mentone , Frankston , Altona , Williamstown and Werribee South. The nearest surf beaches are 85 km (53 mi) south of
10440-457: The intention being to keep the tribes away from the growing settlement of Melbourne. The Aboriginal Protection Board revoked these two reserves in 1862 and 1863, considering them then too close to Melbourne. The Woiwurrung and Boon Wurrong people bore the brunt of the effects of British settlement in the Foundation of Melbourne from 1835 onwards, with the population declining rapidly. In
10560-508: The land, and individuals could only acquire it through distribution by the Crown. Derrimut , an arweet of the Boon wurrung informed the early European settlers in October 1835 of an impending attack by "up-country people". The colonists armed themselves, and the attack was averted. Benbow from the Boon wurrung and Billibellary , from the Wurundjeri, also acted to protect the colonists in what
10680-580: The late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Little Band scene and St Kilda 's Crystal Ballroom scene, which gave rise to Dead Can Dance and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds . More recent independent acts from Melbourne to achieve global recognition include The Avalanches , Gotye and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard . Melbourne is also regarded as a centre of EDM , and lends its name to
10800-662: The major roads developed as shopping streets. Melbourne quickly became a major finance centre, home to several banks, the Royal Mint , and (in 1861) Australia's first stock exchange . In 1855, the Melbourne Cricket Club secured possession of its now famous ground, the MCG . Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified Australian football in 1859, and in 1861, the first Melbourne Cup race
10920-430: The modernisation of Melbourne. Major road projects including the remodelling of St Kilda Junction , the widening of Hoddle Street and then the extensive 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan changed the face of the city into a car-dominated environment. Australia's financial and mining booms during 1969 and 1970 resulted in establishment of the headquarters of many major companies ( BHP and Rio Tinto , among others) in
11040-561: The most famous Melburnian of the Edwardian era. The Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Kings Domain hosted the largest crowd ever for a music concert in Australia when an estimated 200,000 attendees saw Melbourne band The Seekers in 1967. Airing between 1974 and 1987, Melbourne's Countdown helped launch the careers of local acts as diverse as AC/DC and Kylie Minogue . Several distinct post-punk scenes flourished in Melbourne during
11160-440: The nation's largest city in 2029–30 at just over 5.9 million, exceeding 6 million people the following year. Melbourne is in the southeastern part of mainland Australia, within the state of Victoria . Geologically, it is built on the confluence of Quaternary lava flows to the west, Silurian mudstones to the east, and Holocene sand accumulation to the southeast along Port Phillip . The southeastern suburbs are situated on
11280-446: The north and Dandenong Ranges National Park to the east. There are also a number of significant state parks just outside Melbourne. 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, 31 of which are located within the metropolitan area. Melbourne has minimal public housing and high demand for rental housing, which
11400-683: The northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula , part of West Gippsland , as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley , the Dandenong Ranges , and the Macedon Ranges . As of 2023, the population of the metropolitan area was 5.2 million (19% of the population of Australia ); inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians". The area of Melbourne has been home to Aboriginal Victorians for over 40,000 years and serves as an important meeting place for local Kulin nation clans. Of
11520-483: The parties spoke the same language, and the elders likely perceived it as part of the gift exchanges which had taken place over the previous few days amounting to a tanderrum ceremony which allows temporary, not permanent, access to and use of the land. Batman selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River , declaring that "this will be the place for a village" before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In August 1835, another group of Vandemonian settlers arrived in
11640-467: The police corps failed to stop troopers participating in tribal ceremonies, gatherings and rituals. In 1863, the surviving members of the Woiwurrung tribes and speakers were given "permissive occupancy" of Coranderrk Station, near Healesville and forcibly resettled. Despite numerous petitions, letters, and delegations to the Colonial and Federal Government, the grant of this land in compensation for
11760-563: The precinct. Many of Melbourne's theatres join the Melbourne Town Hall in hosting the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival , one of the world's three largest comedy festivals. Melbourne has been called "the live music capital of the world"; one study found it has more music venues per capita than any other world city sampled, with 17.5 million patron visits to 553 venues in 2016. Australia's first global music star, opera singer Nellie Melba , took her stage name from her hometown. Composer Percy Grainger followed her in becoming
11880-456: The proposal was important for its success, and after deliberation he backed the initiative and even proposed himself for enlistment, but resigned after about a year when he found that it was to be used to capture and even kill other natives. He did his best from then to undermine the Corps and as a result many native troopers deserted and few remained longer than three or four years. Participation in
12000-637: The rebellion, giving some indication of immigration flows at the time. With the wealth brought in from the gold rush and the subsequent need for public buildings, a program of grand civic construction soon began. The 1850s and 1860s saw the commencement of Parliament House , the Treasury Building , the Old Melbourne Gaol , Victoria Barracks , the State Library , University of Melbourne , General Post Office , Customs House ,
12120-523: The region of southern Victoria and on to the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania by at least 35,000 years ago. During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP , the area now known as Port Phillip would have been dry land, and the Yarra and Werribee river would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and
12240-667: The richest city in the world, and the second-largest (after London) in the British Empire . The decade began with the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880, held in the large purpose-built Exhibition Building . A telephone exchange was established that year, and the foundations of St Paul's were laid. In 1881, electric light was installed in the Eastern Market , and a generating station capable of supplying 2,000 incandescent lamps
12360-536: The same belief system as other Kulin nation territories, based on a creative epoch known as the Dreamtime which stretches back into a remote era in history when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the land, creating and naming as they went. Indigenous Australia's oral tradition and religious values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this Dreamtime. The Dreaming
12480-399: The same places (usually the eastern suburbs) for an extended period, while the rest of Melbourne and surrounds stays dry. Overall, the area around Melbourne is, owing to its rain shadow, nonetheless significantly drier than average for southern Victoria. Within the city and surrounds, rainfall varies widely, from around 425 mm (17 in) at Little River to 1,250 mm (49 in) on
12600-416: The spring and summer months and can cause strong cold fronts to form. These cold fronts can be responsible for varied forms of severe weather from gales to thunderstorms and hail , large temperature drops and heavy rain. Winters, while exceptionally dry by southern Victorian standards, are nonetheless drizzly and overcast. The lack of winter rainfall is owed to Melbourne's rain shadowed location between
12720-510: The surrounding suburbs of Melbourne, such as in the municipalities of Stonnington , Boroondara and Port Phillip , southeast of the central business district. Several national parks have been designated around the urban area of Melbourne, including the Mornington Peninsula National Park , Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park and Point Nepean National Park in the southeast, Organ Pipes National Park to
12840-507: The sustained use of the resources available to them. As with most other Kulin territories, penalties such as spearings were enforced upon trespassers. Today, traditional clan locations, language groups and borders are no longer in use and descendants of Woiwurrung Tribes including the Wurundjeri tribe people live within modern day society. It is generally considered that before European settlement, six separate clans existed: When foreign people passed through or were invited onto Woiwurrung lands
12960-593: The traditional name recorded for the area on which the Melbourne city centre is built. The word is closely related to Narm-narm , being the Boonwurrung word for Port Phillip Bay . Narrm means scrub in Eastern Kulin languages which reflects the Creation Story of how the Bay was filled by the creation of the Birrarung (Yarra River). Before this, the dry Melbourne region extended out into the Bay and
13080-642: The unsold hill north of Collingwood where they camped with their dogs, played football with a possum-skin ball and fought with other Aborigines", according to researchers McFarlane and Roberts, reported on in the Herald Sun. There are a number of significant sites, in particular those found near the Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers and the Merri Creek where corroborees were held between clans and perhaps neighbouring territories to share in music and dance, exchange news and trade. Other places of significance for
13200-560: The urban periphery in Melbourne's outer west and east in suburbs like Wyndham Vale and Cranbourne . Middle suburbs like Box Hill became denser as a greater proportion of Melburnians began living in apartments. A construction boom resulted in 34 new skyscrapers being built in the central business district between 2010 and 2020. In 2020, Melbourne was classified as an Alpha city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Out of all major Australian cities, Melbourne
13320-482: The world's largest and wealthiest metropolises. After the federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne served as the interim seat of government of the new nation until Canberra became the permanent capital in 1927. Today, Melbourne is culturally diverse and, among world cities, has the 4th largest foreign born population . It is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, ranking 28th globally in
13440-473: The year it hosted the Centennial Exhibition. The brash boosterism that had typified Melbourne during that time ended in the early 1890s. The bubble supporting the local finance and property industries burst, resulting in a severe economic depression. Sixteen small land banks and building societies collapsed, and 133 limited companies went into liquidation. The Melbourne financial crisis was
13560-548: Was 46.4 °C (115.5 °F), on 7 February 2009 . While snow is occasionally seen at higher elevations in the outskirts of the city, and dustings were observed in 2020, it has not been recorded in the Central Business District since 1986. The sea temperature in Melbourne is warmer than the surrounding ocean during the summer months, and colder during the winter months. This is predominately due to Port Phillip Bay being an enclosed and shallow bay that
13680-489: Was enforced later that same year by the mass-arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of Indigenous people during the Lettsom raid . However, Aboriginal people still managed to continue living near the settlement and by January 1844 there were said to be 675 residing in squalid camps around Melbourne. The British Colonial Office had appointed five Aboriginal Protectors for the Aboriginal people of Victoria, in 1839, but their work
13800-410: Was held. Melbourne acquired its first public monument, the Burke and Wills statue, in 1864. With the gold rush largely over by 1860, Melbourne continued to grow on the back of continuing gold-mining, as the major port for exporting the agricultural products of Victoria (especially wool) and with a developing manufacturing sector protected by high tariffs. An extensive radial railway network spread into
13920-499: Was in operation by 1882. The Melbourne cable tramway system opened in 1885 and became one of the world's most extensive systems by 1890. In 1885, visiting English journalist George Augustus Henry Sala coined the phrase "Marvellous Melbourne", which stuck long into the twentieth century and has come to refer to the opulence and energy of the 1880s, during which time large commercial buildings, grand hotels, banks, coffee palaces , terrace housing and palatial mansions proliferated in
14040-490: Was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837, and named after the then- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne . Declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847, it became the capital of the newly separated Colony of Victoria in 1851. During the 1850s Victorian gold rush , the city entered a lengthy boom period that, by the late 1880s, had transformed it into Australia's, and one of
14160-588: Was nullified by a land policy that favoured squatters who took possession of Aboriginal lands. By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences then issued in Victoria and became a powerful political and economic force in Victoria for generations to come. Letters patent of Queen Victoria , issued on 25 June 1847, declared Melbourne a city. On 1 July 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales to become
14280-524: Was the first and only documented time when European settlers negotiated their presence and occupation of Aboriginal lands. The Treaty was immediately repudiated by the colonial government in Sydney. The 1835 proclamation by Governor Richard Bourke implemented the doctrine of terra nullius upon which British settlement was based, reinforcing the concept that there was no land owner before British possession and that Aboriginal people could not sell or assign
14400-476: Was the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and spent a long time under lockdown restrictions, with Melbourne experiencing six lockdowns totalling 262 days. While this contributed to a net outflow of migration causing a slight reduction in Melbourne's population over the course of 2020 to 2022, Melbourne is projected to be the fastest growing capital city in Australia from 2023–24 onwards, overtaking Sydney as
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