Melbourne

Melbourne (pronounced either or In the varieties of English where the phoneme is realised phonetically as before . This so-called 'salary-celery' merger is a feature of English spoken in Victoria, as compared with the other states of Australia.) is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.7 million (2006 estimate).Australian Bureau of Statistics â€" Population Projections (see Section 5.13) Melbourne is the southernmost city in the world to have a population of over one million people.

Melbourne has twice shared top position 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, once in 2002,Melbourne and Vancouver are the world's best cities to live in Economist Intelligence Unit (2002). and again in 2004. The US's Utne Reader puts it thus: "Add a long tradition of civic pride, communities of new immigrants from around the world, and the best food in Australia, and you have a recipe for what many claim is the hippest city in the Southern Hemisphere" (Nov/Dec 2001).

Melbourne is home to Australia's three largest corporations, Telstra, BHP Billiton and the National Australia Bank. It is also home to the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the majority of companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Melbourne, often referred to as the sporting capital of Australia, hosts many major Australian sporting events including: the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival (including the 'race that stops the nation', the Melbourne Cup), the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the AFL Grand Final. Melbourne hosted the first Olympic Games in the southern hemisphere in 1956, as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne has undergone a major urban 'revival', such that it is sometimes classed as being in a second tier of "world cities"; the GaWC study group in the UK ranks Melbourne, on the basis of relative availability of specialised "advanced services," as a minor (or Gamma) "world city" comparable with cities such as Montreal, Osaka, and Prague. Melbourne has one of the highest numbers of international students studying in its universities, after London, New York City, and Paris.

A person from Melbourne is referred to as a Melburnian.The variant spelling 'Melbournian' is sometimes found but is considered grammatically incorrect. Right Words: A Guide to English Usage in Australia. Stephen Murray-Smith. 2nd ed. Ringwood, Vic. Viking, 1989

Melbourne's Yarra River is popular area for walking, jogging, cycling and relaxing on the banks with a picnic

History

Melbourne Landing, 1840; watercolour by W. Liardet (1840)

The city was named after the British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose home was near the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne in Derbyshire derives its name from the Old English for "mill stream" (mylla burne).

The European settlement at Melbourne was founded in 1835 by settlers coming from Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land), where they had difficulty finding available land.

The area was already inhabited by the Kulin people, then indigenous to the area. A transaction was negotiated for 600,000 acres of land from eight Wurundjeri representatives; this was later annulled by the New South Wales government (then governing all of eastern mainland Australia), who compensated the settlers in exchange. Ultimately, settlement continued regardless [1].

It was the capital first of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and then of the separate colony of Victoria. With the discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s, leading to the Victorian gold rush, Melbourne quickly grew as a port and service centre.

The Windsor Hotel, one of the few surviving grand buildings from the 1880s boom

Later it became Australia's leading manufacturing centre. During the 1880s, Melbourne was the second largest city in the British Empire, and came to be known as "Marvellous Melbourne". Victorian architecture abounds in Melbourne and today the city is home to the largest number of surviving Victorian era buildings of any city in the world other than London.

Melbourne was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927. It became the national capital at Australia's Federation on 1 January 1901. The first Federal parliament was opened on 9 May of that year in the Royal Exhibition Building. The seat of government and the national capital remained in Melbourne until 1927 when it moved to the new capital city of Canberra.

Melbourne continued to expand steadily throughout the first half of the 20th century. It became the Allied Pacific Headquarters for a time from 1942 to 1944 as General Douglas MacArthur established Australia as a launch base for Pacific operations. During World War II Melbourne industries flourished and expanded with war time production. This set Melbourne on a course for significant post war expansion, particularly with the post-World War II influx of immigrants and the prestige of hosting the Olympic Games in 1956.

Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, intersection of Swanston Street and Flinders Street, 1927.

Even after the national capital moved to Canberra, Melbourne remained Australia's business and finance capital until the 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to Sydney. Melbourne also developed as a centre of the arts.

After a boom in the 1980s Melbourne experienced a (largely property market and manufacturing driven) slump from 1989 to 1992, with a loss of employment and a drain of population to New South Wales and Queensland. In the 1990s, the Victorian state government of Premier Jeff Kennett (Liberal) sought to reverse this trend with the aggressive development of new public buildings, such as the Melbourne Museum, Federation Square, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (nicknamed "Jeff's Shed"), Crown Casino, capital works (most notably the City Link tollway), the (somewhat controversial) selling of state assets (the State Electricity Commission and some state schools), the pruning back of state services and the publicising of Melbourne's merits both to outsiders and Melburnians. This has continued under the government of current Premier Steve Bracks (Labor). Since 1997, Melbourne has maintained significant population and employment growth. Furthermore, there has been substantial international investment in the city's industries and property market. 2006 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that since 2000 Melbourne has sustained the highest population and economic growth rate of any Australian city.

Geography

Natural geography

Map of greater Melbourne

Melbourne is located in the south-eastern corner of mainland Australia, and is the southernmost mainland capital city. 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, its suburbs sprawling to the east, following the Yarra River out to the Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, south-east to the mouth of the bay, and following the Maribyrnong River and its tributaries west and north to flat farming country. The central business district (the original city) is laid out in the famous mile-by-half-a-mile Hoddle Grid, its southern edge fronting on to the Yarra.

Urban geography

View of the Melbourne city from a plane.

Melbourne is typical of Australian Capital Cities in that it was built with the underlying notion of a "quarter acre home and garden". As such, much of Metropolitan Melbourne is characterised by low density sprawl.

Furthermore, the provision of an extensive railway and tram service in the earlier years of development encouraged this low density development to occur in radial lines following the transport corridors. The result is today's Melbourne - one of the world's largest cities in terms of physical size or urban footprint.

Parks and gardens

Melbourne is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and the state of Victoria is officially known as "the garden state". There is an abundance of parks and gardens 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 cities of Stonnington and Booroondara, south east of the CBD.

Climate

The climate of Melbourne as measured and recorded at the Regional Office.

Melbourne has a temperate climate under the Köppen climate classification system. The city is known for having unusual weather conditions, with the phrase 'four seasons in a day' oft mentioned by locals and visitors alike. Melburnians tend to 'be prepared' with regards to the weather, for example, taking an umbrella with them even if the forecast predicts fine weather.

Climate Table

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Yearly
Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	25.8	25.8	23.8	20.2	16.6	14.0	13.4	14.9	17.2	19.6	21.8	24.1	19.8
Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	14.2	14.5	13.1	10.7	8.6	6.9	5.9	6.6	7.9	9.4	11.1	12.8	10.1
Mean total rainfall (mm)	48.2	47.0	50.6	58.2	56.6	49.8	47.9	50.3	58.7	67.4	59.3	59.1	653.2
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

Governance

The Melbourne City Council governs only the City of Melbourne, which takes in the CBD and a few adjoining inner suburbs. However the head of the Melbourne City Council, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, is frequently treated as a representative of greater Melbourne (the entire metropolitan area), particularly when interstate or overseas. The current Lord Mayor is John So.

The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into 30 municipalities, all of which are styled as cities except for five on the city's outer fringes which are styled as shires (see a list of these at Local Government Areas of Victoria). These municipalities all have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions delegated to them by the Victorian state government. These include planning, rubbish collection, beaches, parks and gardens, child-care and preschool facilities, local festivals and cultural activities, services to the elderly, supervision of public health, sanitation and similar matters. Councils levy rates from their residents to pay for these services. The councils are collectively represented by the Local Government Association of Victoria.

Melbourne's overwhelming dominance of the state of Victoria's population and economy means the Victorian state government is also effectively the city government of greater Melbourne. Most city-wide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because three quarters of Victoria's population lives in Melbourne, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of city-wide governmental bodies, which would tend to create a rival to the state government. For this reason the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, which had become a powerful semi-autonomous authority, was abolished in 1992.

Economy

The central business district of Melbourne, viewed from the Observation Deck at Rialto Towers.

Melbourne is a large commercial and industrial centre. Many of Australia's largest companies have their headquarters there, and many multinational corporations (approximately one-third of the 100 largest multinationals operating in Australia as of 2002), have their main Australian office there. The peak body representing workers in Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, is also headquartered in Melbourne.Melbourne is home to Australia's largest seaport and much of Australia's automotive industry (including the engine manufacturing facility of Holden and the Ford and Toyota manufacturing facilities), in addition to many other manufacturing industries.

Most major infrastructure projects are generally centred on the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which were held in the city from March 15 - 26, 2006. Such projects include the AUD$700 million Southern Cross Station redevelopment (formerly Spencer Street Station), including a $350 million world-class transport interchange facility with $350 million also set aside for office accommodation, residential towers and hotel and also a retail plaza. The project was set for completion in early 2006, before the start of the Games. At the centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games projects was the redevelopment project for the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the stadium set for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, rebuilding the northern half of the stadium and laying a temporary athletics track at a cost of $434 million. In November 2006, Melbourne will play host to the summit of G20 finance ministers.

In February 2006 a AUD$1 billion project was announced to build a 5000 seat international convention centre, Hilton Hotel and commercial precinct adjacent to the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre with construction to commence in May 2006 and complete in February 2009. This will provide a final linkage of development along the Yarra River, linking the Crown Casino to the multi-billion dollar Docklands redevelopment.

A view of the Yarra River at twilight, with Melbourne's central business district (left) and Southbank (right) pictured.

Demographics

Today Melbourne is one of the world's most diverse and multicultural cities. Almost a quarter of Victoria's population was born overseas and come from 233 countries, speak over 180 languages and dialects and follow 116 religious faiths. As the capital city, Melbourne has over time become a large urban centre and the home to around 80% of the state's population.

Population History

A panorama of the Melbourne skyline from the Melbourne Docklands.

A view of Melbourne Docklands from the Observation Deck at Rialto Tower.

Melbourne's population exploded during the 1850s' gold rush. From 20,000 inhabitants in 1851, an additional 15,000 arrived almost overnight with the discovery of gold in August 1852.The immigration rush, Special Broadcasting Service In the following decades of the 1870s and 1880s, Melbourne was Australia's most populous city and led to a spectacular property boom, and exuberance still in evidence in the much loved late Victorian architecture. During the 1890s a world economic depression hit Melbourne's overleveraged economy with particular savagery. Much of Melbourne's population loss during the 1890s was the result of the unemployed moving west seeking gold, or, employment in the burgeoning industries stimulated by gold. As a consequence property prices took decades to recover.

The need for a population increase and a labour force saw many British, Yugoslav, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Dutch, German, Arab and Maltese migrants arrive in 1945 after the devastation of their homelands in World War II. Large numbers from Italy and Greece arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, to become the largest groups after those from Britain and Ireland. Melbourne has one of the world's largest population of people with Greek ancestry outside of Greece and Cyprus. The 2001 Census recorded 161,000 Greeks in Melbourne of which 57,000 were born in Greece.Refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam made Melbourne their home in the 1970s and 1980s and were joined by people from India, the Philippines and Malaysia. Melbourne also boasts the largest Jewish community in Oceania, whereby more than half the total number of Jews in Australia live in Melbourne (more than 50,000). (See Judaism in Australia). The newest wave of immigrants comes from North Africa, particularly Sudan.

Although Brisbane and Perth are growing faster in percentage terms, and Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the Melbourne statistical division has grown by approximately 50,000 people a year since 2003, more than any other Australian city. Attraction of a large proportion of overseas immigrants and interstate migration from Sydney due to more affordable housing are two recent key factors. In recent years, Melton, Wyndham and Casey, part of the Melbourne statistical division, have recorded the highest growth rate of all local government areas in Australia.

Melbourne Population by Year:

* 1836: 177
* 1851: 20,000
* 1854: 300,800 (gold rush)
* 1860: 500,000
* 1895: 900,000

* 1956: 1,500,000
* 1981: 2,806,000
* 1991: 3,156,700
* 2001: 3,366,542
* 2004: 3,592,975

* 2006: 3,720,300 (2006 estimate)
* 2030: 4,500,000 (projected)

{| width="50%" valign="top" |Melbourne is a sprawling metropolis. Melbourne's population density declined following World War II, with the private motor car and the lure of house and land extending the suburbs, mainly to the east. After much discussion (both at general public and planning levels) in the 1980s the decline has actually been reversed since the early 1990s (when hit by a property market collapse that was facilitated by a recession), and the city has seen increased density in the inner and western suburbs. Since the late 1990's there has been a substantial rise in high rise apartment construction within 2 km radius of the central business district. The Victorian government's Melbourne 2030 policy has introduced an artificial urban growth boundary to further curtail the urban sprawl.