- Melbourne
- Melbourne is Australia's second largest city and the state capital of Victoria. Founded by John Batman
and John Pascoe Fawkner in 1835, and named Melbourne after the British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who lived in the
village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne was declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847.
Melbourne has three times shared top position in a survey by The Economist of the World's Most Liveable Cities on the basis of its cultural
attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions such as crime rates and health care, in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Melbourne is Australia's gastronomic, sporting and cultural capital.
Melbourne is the most European of all Australian cities: landscaped gardens and parks in the English style provide green
spaces near the centre, and beneath the skyscrapers of the Central Business District (CBD), is an understorey of Victorian-era facades ranged
along tree-lined boulevards.
Melbourne is Australia's top city for eating out. Sydney may be more stylish and Adelaide cheaper, but Melbourne has the best food and the
widest choice - and almost all of it is exceptionally good value.
Melbourne lies 405km from Canberra, 469km from Adelaide, 893km from Sydney, 1,041km from Brisbane, 1,549km from Ayers Rock, 2,176km from Cairns,
2,473km from Darwin, 3,468km from Perth using highways and main roads.
- Geography
- Victoria is the smallest mainland state of Australia. Its area of 227,600 sq km makes up only 3% of the continent's
land mass. It is roughly equivalent in size to Great Britain. It is 780km wide and has a 1,680km long coastline. Mount Bogong is the highest mountain
in Victoria at 1,986m.
- Climate
- Melbourne lies in the temperate zone and has for seasons: Spring 20/9 degrees centigrade (Sep-Nov),
Summer 25/14 degrees centigrade (Dec-Feb), Autumn 20/11 degrees centigrade (Mar-May) and Winter 14/7 degrees centigrade (Jun-Aug).
The weather is extremely changeable, it is said that you can experience all four seasons in one day! Melbourne experiences cold, wet and windy weather
in autumn and winter, although temperatures rarely fall below 5 degrees centigrade. Mountainous regions have snow in winter, when temperatures remain
below freezing for long periods. Melbourne has low rainfall of around 660mm, half that of Sydney and Brisbane, and this is evenly spread
throughout the year (June and July are the wettest months). The city has mild autumns (the most pleasant season) and hot summers, when temperatures
average 25 degrees centigrade and occasionally soar to 40 degrees centigrade.
- Population
- The population of Victoria in June 2006 was 5.1 million, with 3.7 million of those living in
Melbourne. Victoria has the second largest state population size, with New South Wales having 6.8 million residents. The second largest town in Victoria, 75 km from Melbourne, is Geelong with a population of 132,000. 20,000 Koories (Aborigines from SE
Australia) and Torres Strait Islanders live in Victoria, more than half in Melbourne. The population of Australia was 20.6 million in June 2006.
- Time Difference
- Victoria is in the Eastern Standard Time (EST) time zone, which is GMT+10. New South Wales, ACT,
Tasmania and Queensland are also in this time zone.
The clocks advance by one hour in summer for daylight saving (at 2am on the last Sunday in October and the last Sunday in March) in Victoria, New South
Wales, ACT and South Australia. In Tasmania it starts a month earlier and ends a month later. Queensland, Northern Territory and WA do not observe
daylight saving!
- Government
- Victoria's premier Steve Bracks of the Labour Party was in office from 1999, and was re-elected in
2002 & 2006. On 27 July 2007 Steve Bracks resigned and John Brumby was elected Victoria's new Premier on 30th July 2007. Australian citizens must
vote in Commonwealth elections or face a fine.
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