Melbourne - Travel Guide

Pictures of Melbourne

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria is the second largest city in Australia. Its multicultural atmosphere is set amongst Victorian-era buildings and gorgeous parkland . It has a population of just over 3 million people, and is a picturesque place with so much to offer the visitor and resident alike

Melbourne can be considered the world's largest cities in area having approximately 6110 sq.km., has many gardens and parks which occupy the third part of this area. It's hard to believe that such a fantastic location was abandoned by the first settlers who had arrived in 1803 and then departed to Tasmania after staying for less than one year. Being such a diverse place, Melbourne offers everything for the tourist from tennis and bikeriding to fishing and windsurfing.

The city was founded in 1835 by John Batman, and its name is in honor of Viscount Melbourne, William Lamb, during the British occupation of Victoria. Since then Melbourne began to grow as a city and commercial centre on the north end of Port Phillip. The first magistrate in this city was Captain William Lonsdale, who came from Sydney to stablish the order and law.

In 1847 Melbourne was declared as a city by Queen Victoria, and in 1850 with the gold discovery the city turned into the major port of Victoria region, the Melbourne's hustle and bustle was incredible then, with ships from all over the world arriving here, in 1854 the population increased in almost four times its number and the city development was obvious and more industries services were implanted, with all of this Melbourne became the main financial centre in all Australia.

Because of the gold rushes Melbourne received many migrants from many parts of the world, specially from Italy, Greece, Poland, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Vietnam, all of this contributed to make of Melbourne a very special and varied city, with traditions of many different ways, and this mixture can also be seen in the restaurants, architecture and festivals.