MELBOURNE HISTORY |
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Melbourne was founded on 10 May 1835 by a group of free settlers led by John
Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, unlike many of Australia's capital cities
which were founded as penal colonies (Adelaide is another notable exception).
With the discovery of gold in central Victoria in the 1850s, leading to the
Victorian gold rush, Melbourne quickly grew as a port to service the
necessary trade. During the 1880s, Melbourne was the second largest city in
the British Empire, and came to be known as "Marvellous Melbourne".
Melbourne today is home to the largest number of surviving Victorian Era
buildings of any city in the world other than London. |
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Melbourne became Australia's national capital at Federation on 1 January
1901. The first Federal parliament was opened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal
Exhibition Building. The seat of government and the national capital
remained in Melbourne until 9 May 1927 when the provisional Parliament House
was opened in the new capital city of Canberra.
Melbourne continued to expand steadily throughout the first half of the 20th
century, particularly with the post-World War II influx of immigrants and
the prestige of hosting the Olympic Games in 1956. This was the first time
the Olympic Games had ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere (the only
other time was when Sydney hosted the Games in 2000). Throughout the 1990s,
the Victorian state government of Premier Jeff Kennett (Liberal) began a
campaign with aggressive development of new public buildings (such as the
Crown Casino, the Melbourne Museum, and the Melbourne Exhibition and
Convention Centre) and publicising Melbourne's merits both to outsiders and
Melburnians. This has continued under the government of current Premier
Steve Bracks (Labor).
Melbourne is split into various Local Government Areas each with their own
Councils. One of these is the City of Melbourne - covering the central
business district. The City's current Lord Mayor is John So, who was
inaugurated in 2001, after the first direct election of a Lord Mayor for the
city.
Melbourne is built on the land of the Kulin nation, the original Aboriginal
inhabitants of the area. |
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