Melbourne

This article is about the Australian metropolitan area. For other uses, see Melbourne (disambiguation).

Melbourne
Victoria
Melbourne skyline
Melbourne skyline and Kings Domain
Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station
Shrine of Remembrance
Shrine of Remembrance
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Royal Exhibition Building
Royal Exhibition Building
Melbourne CBD and Princes Bridge
Melbourne CBD and Princes Bridge
Map of Melbourne, Australia, printable and editable
Map of Melbourne (printable and editable)
Melbourne is located in Australia
Melbourne
Melbourne
Coordinates37°48′51″S 144°57′47″E / 37.81417°S 144.96306°E / -37.81417; 144.96306
Population5,207,145 (2023)[1] (2nd)
 • Density521.079/km2 (1,349.59/sq mi)
Established30 August 1835; 189 years ago (1835-08-30)
Elevation31 m (102 ft)
Area9,993 km2 (3,858.3 sq mi)(GCCSA)[2]
Time zoneAEST (UTC+10)
 • Summer (DST)AEDT (UTC+11)
Location
LGA(s)31 municipalities across Greater Melbourne
CountyBourke, Evelyn, Grant, Mornington
State electorate(s)55 electoral districts and regions
Federal division(s)23 divisions
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
20.2 °C
68 °F		 9.7 °C
49 °F		 515.5 mm
20.3 in
Localities around Melbourne:
Loddon Mallee Hume Hume
Grampians Melbourne Gippsland
Barwon South West Port Phillip Bay Gippsland
Greater Melbourne Region
Greater Melbourne Region

Melbourne (/ˈmɛlbərn/ MEL-bərn,[note 1] locally [ˈmæɫbən] ⓘ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: Narrm or Naarm[9][10]) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia, after Sydney.[1] Its name generally refers to a 9,993 km2 (3,858 sq mi) metropolitan area also known as Greater Melbourne,[11] comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities,[12] 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 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);[1] inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".[note 2]

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.[15][16] Of 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).[15] It was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837, and named after the then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.[15] Declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847, it became the capital of the newly separated Colony of Victoria in 1851.[17] 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 the world's largest and wealthiest metropolises.[18][19] 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.[20]

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 the 2024 Global Financial Centres Index.[21] 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 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.[22]

Melbourne Airport is the second-busiest airport in Australia and the Port of Melbourne is the nation's busiest seaport.[23][24] Its main metropolitan rail terminus 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.[25]

  1. ^ a b c "Greater Melbourne". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  2. ^ "2016 Census of Population and Housing: General Community Profile". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2017. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MELBOURNE and CANBERRA". Geoscience Australia. March 2004. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MELBOURNE and ADELAIDE". Geoscience Australia. March 2004. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MELBOURNE and SYDNEY". Geoscience Australia. March 2004.
  6. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MELBOURNE and BRISBANE". Geoscience Australia. March 2004. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MELBOURNE and PERTH". Geoscience Australia. March 2004. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  8. ^ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180; Butler, S., ed. (2013). "Melbourne". Macquarie Dictionary (6th ed.). Sydney: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-18-7642-966-9.
  9. ^ Clark, Ian D. (2002). Dictionary of Aboriginal placenames of Melbourne and Central Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Aboriginal Corp. for Languages. p. 62. ISBN 0957936052.
  10. ^ Nicholson, Mandy; Jones, David (2020). "Wurundjeri-al Narrm-u (Wurundjeri's Melbourne): Aboriginal living heritage in Australia's urban landscapes". The Routledge Handbook on Historic Urban Landscapes in the Asia-Pacific. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429486470-30. ISBN 978-0-429-48647-0. S2CID 213567108. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  11. ^ "2016 Census of Population and Housing". Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Victorian Local Government Directory" (PDF). Department of Planning and Community Development, Government of Victoria. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  13. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series, iii, s.v. "Melburnian Archived 26 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine".
  14. ^ Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2005). Or less commonly Melbournites. Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-876429-14-3.
  15. ^ a b c "History of the City of Melbourne" (PDF). City of Melbourne. November 1997. pp. 8–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference merrimerri was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference MilesLewis25 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference RobertCervero320 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Davidson, Jim (2 August 2014). "Rise and fall of British empire viewed through its cities". The Australian. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  20. ^ "Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act" (PDF). Department of the Attorney-General, Government of Australia. p. 45 (Section 125). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  21. ^ "GFCI 35 Rank". Long Finance. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  22. ^ Stephanie Chalkley-Rhoden (16 August 2017). "World's most liveable city: Melbourne takes top spot for seventh year running". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  23. ^ "Melbourne Airport – Flight Information, Shopping & Parking". www.melbourneairport.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Government outlines vision for Port of Melbourne Freight Hub" (Press release). 2006. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
  25. ^ "Investing in Transport Chapter 3 – East/West, Section 3.1.2 – Tram Network" (PDF). Department of Transport, Government of Victoria. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2009.


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