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Template:Infobox Australian City Melbourne (pronounced either /ˈmel.bən/ or /ˈmæl.bən/) 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). 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, 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.

History

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 .

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.

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.

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

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

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. The Victorian Government's planning blueprint Melbourne 2030 aims to limit further sprawl in the future.

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

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' often 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.

Like Australia's other major cities, snow is virtually unknown in the vast majority of Melbourne, though light falls sometimes occur on Mount Dandenong in the outer eastern suburbs.

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

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.

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

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. 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), with the largest Jewish area being the suburbs of Caulfield and East St. Kilda. Melbourne is also home to the largest number of holocaust survivors outside of Israel. (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:

Education

Melbourne is seen as an international educational hub, with many students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China and other parts of Asia choosing to study at one of the city's many high schools and universities. Melbourne's two largest and most prestigious tertiary institutions are the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Both are members of the Group of Eight. Melbourne University is the highest ranked institution in Australia. The Times Higher Education Supplement also includes three other Melbourne-based institutions in its top 100, Monash University, La Trobe University and RMIT University. Geelong based Deakin University maintains two campuses in Melbourne and is the third largest university in Victoria. Other universities are located in Melbourne include Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria University of Technology and the St Patrick's campus of the Australian Catholic University.

Melbourne has a large and diverse range of school types. Although public education is free, 35% of students attend a private school. The most numerous private schools are Catholic, and the rest are Independent (see Public and Private Education in Australia). The most elite schools in this latter group (although some are also Catholic) are members of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) or the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria (AGSV). The main purpose of these two groups is sporting competition. Private schools tend to achieve better results on average in the VCE, the final year certificate, compared to public schools, with the exception of the two academically selective public high schools, Melbourne High School and MacRobertson Girls High School. Because of this, private school students dominate admissions in elite tertiary institutions such as Melbourne University..

Public schools in Victoria still account for the majority of students, however this number is falling. Most High schools in Melbourne are called 'Secondary Colleges', a remnant of the Kirner Labor government. There are two completely selective public schools in Melbourne (mentioned above), however many of the better public schools restrict entry to students living in their regional 'zone'. As a result, some families move suburb in order that their children are eligible to attend a public school in the 'zone'. One effect of this is to push up property prices in suburbs with quality public schools.

Culture

Sport

See also: Sport in Victoria

In a country that is often labelled as 'sports-mad', Melbourne has a reputation amongst Australians as being 'sports-mad' and is usually considered the sporting capital of Australia , and even sports capital of the world.

Melbourne is where Australian rules football originated, and it is still the most popular sport in Victoria. The city is home to nine of the sixteen teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), whose five Melbourne games per week attract an average 35,000 people per game. The AFL Grand Final, one of the biggest sporting events in Australia, is played on the last weekend in September at the world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), a massive arena that has held up to 120,000 spectators. The city also is home to nine out of thirteen teams in the professional state-wide Victorian Football League which also includes a team representing the state of Tasmania. The city also features one professional rugby league team, Melbourne Storm, and a professional football (soccer) team, the Melbourne Victory.

Cycling is a very popular sport in Melbourne, both as a spectator sport and as something locals take part in daily - see cycling in Melbourne; Beach Road combines with the Nepean Highway, stretching 90 kilometres from Port Melbourne to Sorrento, and serves as by far and away the most popular training ride in the area. Mountain bike riders also find many areas to play, starting with the Yarra River trail. Thousands of commuters also daily cycle the roads, bike lanes and bike paths. Events like the Herald Sun Tour begin and end in the Melbourne area, often with a criterium event, and there are calendars of local cycling events of varying grades all year round. Triathlon dominates the Beach Road area during summer, and up to a dozen Sunday mornings each summer see hundreds of neoprene-clad locals and professionals dive into Port Philip Bay.

Major Sports Venues

As well as the MCG, Melbourne is home to over 29 stadiums with a capacity of over 10,000 people. Some venues, such as the Albert Park Formula 1 track and Calder Raceway have large capacities but only temporary structures, whilst there are many large suburban horse racing tracks and Australian rules ovals. While many large suburban Australian rules venues, such as Waverley Park have been retired as blockbuster games have been moved to the bigger venues, some AFL clubs continue to use them as training and administration bases or used as multi-purpose venues. In 2000 construction was completed on Colonial Stadium, in the Docklands. This stadium can seat up to 56,000 people, depending of the configuration of the seating. Telstra bought the naming rights to the stadium and it is now called Telstra Dome.

The city also has large State Cycling, Hockey, Baseball/Softball and Netball centres and an Ice centre (Australian Olympic Winter Institute) is being constructed in Melbourne Docklands. A new AUD$100 million, 20,000-seat multi-purpose rectangular stadium is currently under construction in Melbourne Park.

International Sporting Events

The city has hosted several major international sporting events. Annually, Melbourne hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments; the famous Melbourne Cup horse race; the 'Boxing Day' cricket test match held each year from 26–30 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. The Wallabies, Australia's national rugby union team, usually also play at least one Test annually at Melbourne's Telstra Dome. In 2006, the Kangaroos, Australia's national rugby league team will also be playing an international test at the Telstra Dome. Since 1999, the city has been the biennual host of the International Rules series involving Gaelic football players from the Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland. The city also hosted the 2002 and 2005 Australian Football International Cup.

Since the 1956 Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, the city has hosted numerous sporting events which rotate host cities. Melbourne co-hosted the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, including many pool matches as well as a quarter final – all of which were played at the Telstra Dome; hosted the 2002 World Masters Games; broke new ground as the first city outside the United States to host the World Police and Fire Games in 1995, and the Presidents Cup golf tournament in 1999; and was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the World Cup Polo Championship in 2001. The city has hosted FIFA World Cup qualifiers in both 1997 and 2001. Most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne. Seventy-one Commonwealth nations competed in the Games.

Current and Future Events

In 2007, Melbourne will be the host of the FINA World Aquatics Championships. Melbourne hosted the Australia vs Greece football (soccer) match on 25 May 2006 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which will be followed by two significant World Cup qualifiers in 2008 and 2009.

In July 2006, the Rugby League State of Origin, often considered the flagship event of Australian rugby league, was played at the Telstra Dome. The Rugby League State of Origin has been held several times before in Melbourne (most recently in 1997), and has attracted over 87,000 spectators at the MCG, even though Victoria is not actually one of the states involved (New South Wales and Queensland.)

In December 2006, the 100th Cricket test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground will form part of The Ashes series. It is anticipated that as many as 40,000 Britons will visit Australia for this much anticipated event.

In the 2006 budget, the Victorian government set aside a large amount of money to go towards Melbourne contributing to an Australian bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Victorian government recently won the right to host the Wallbies vs All Blacks rugby union Test in 2007 at the MCG.

Media

Melbourne has two major daily newspapers, The Age and The Herald Sun, as well as the free afternoon tabloid mX. There are three commercial television channels: the Seven, Nine and Ten networks — and three public channels: ABC, SBS, and a community television channel, Channel 31 Melbourne.

Melbourne has a wide range of radio stations and is the base for the Australia-wide DMG Radio Australia, Austereo and Southern Cross Broadcasting networks. DMG Radio Australia stations include Nova 100 & Vega fm, Austereo stations include FOX FM and Triple M. 3AW is consistently the city's highest-rating commercial radio station. Melbourne also boasts a number of community radio stations, of which the best known are SYN FM, 3RRR, 3PBS and JOY Melbourne, the world's first full time gay and lesbian radio station.

The Arts

Melbourne has a large and vibrant arts and cultural life.

Annuals arts celebrations include Moomba, the Melbourne Arts Festival, the Melbourne Fringe Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Melbourne Fashion Festival, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, the Melbourne International Animation Festival and the Gay and Lesbian Midsumma festival.

Melbourne is the home of the Australian Ballet and the second home of Opera Australia. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is highly regarded both at home and internationally.

Melbourne was strongly associated with the establishment of Australia's visual arts. The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century centred in Melbourne. It was largely the work of Melbourne-based artists, and was arguably the first distinctly Australian art movement (in the Western canon, at least). Many of its most significant works hang in the National Gallery of Victoria, which has one of Australia's top collections of visual art, particularly early Australian western-tradition art.

Melbourne is also home to the unique Australian Centre for the Moving Image dedicated to "moving images" in all its forms, from film to animation to games and television. ACMI is also a venue for the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Several professional theatre companies operate in Melbourne, of which the Melbourne Theatre Company has the most institutional support of any in Australia, and there is a wide range of smaller companies, including Malthouse and Red Stitch Actors Theatre.

Melbourne's lively rock and pop music scene has fostered many internationally renowned artists and musicians. The 1960's gave rise to many performers including Olivia Newton John, John Farnham, Graeme Bell, and 1960's folk group The Seekers. The 1970's gave rise to many acts getting their first big breaks on Melbourne's Countdown (music show) including AC/DC, and Nick Cave; whilst INXS and Crowded House are among many who emerged during the 1980's. Successful Australian bands have included Hunters & Collectors, Killing Heidi, Spiderbait, TISM and Something for Kate. In recent years, Jet, Taxiride (band), as well as female singers such as Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Vanessa Amorosi, Madison Avenue (band) and Kate Ceberano have enjoyed great international success.

The dance music scene in Melbourne is large and lively. There are dance parties happening almost every night of the year, frequently attracting some of the world's best DJs to the city. Some of the biggest nightclubs in the world are based in Melbourne, including the Melbourne Metro Nightclub (2500 capacity) and QBH (2100 capacity). The Melbourne Shuffle, a style of dance, had its birth here, and has been evolving ever since.

Melbourne in culture

Melbourne has been the setting for many novels, television dramas, and films. Fergus Hume's international best-seller Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which outsold the Sherlock Holmes stories at the time, was set in Melbourne of the Gold Rush era. Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory tells the story of Melbourne businessman John West (based on the real-life John Wren) and is set in a thinly-disguised Collingwood, a Melbourne working-class suburb. Perhaps the best-known novel internationally is Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach. In 1959, it was made into a film directed by Stanley Kramer, and starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Anthony Perkins. The film depicted the denizens of Melbourne quietly slipping off into eternity as the last victims of a global nuclear holocaust. Filmed on location in and around Melbourne (a great novelty for Melbourne at the time), it is perhaps best remembered for a comment Ava Gardner never made, describing Melbourne as 'the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world', commenting on the dreary conservatism of Melbourne in the late 1950s. The purported quote was invented by journalist Neil Jillett. Similar filming was undertaken when a 2000 television movie remake was produced.

In recent years, many more films have been made in Melbourne. Some of the more famous include Mad Max, Chopper, Romper Stomper, featuring a young Russell Crowe as a terrifying Melburnian racist skinhead; Salaam Namaste, Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy and The Castle. Melbourne has also produced many talented film and television actors including Cate Blanchett, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush and Eric Bana.

Perhaps better known to a contemporary audience is the smash-hit soap opera Neighbours, set in the fictional eastern suburb of Erinsborough, which presents a microcosm of suburban Australian life. Other contemporary television shows set in Melbourne include Stingers (a police drama), The Secret Life Of Us, Kath and Kim, Prisoner also known as Cell Block H, Halifax FP,and MDA.

Singer Paul Kelly has written several well-known songs about aspects of the city close to the heart of many Melburnians, notably "Leaps And Bounds" and "From St Kilda To King's Cross", while Skyhooks also wrote some more tongue in cheek songs about Melbourne. "Balwyn Calling", "Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)" and "Toorak Cowboy" are examples. Native band The Living End purportedly wrote the song "West End Riot" about differences between eastern and western suburbs in the city. Melbourne has produced many popular international vocalists and singers including 1900's soprano Dame Nellie Melba, who took her name from her native city.

Melbourne-born satirist Barry Humphries created his main character Dame Edna Everage as a comedic version of a suburban homemaker. Through her he has performed cutting odes to Melbourne mores and the middle class suburbs of Moonee Ponds and Highett, among others.

Carols by Candlelight, first held in 1938, is a Christmas Eve tradition that originated in Melbourne, held annually at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

See also: List of songs about Melbourne

Transport

Melbourne has an integrated public transport system. However, while it is of considerable size, some of Melbourne's outlying suburbs still face transport difficulties. It has one of the world's most extensive tram networks, one of the few tram systems in Australia. Visitors are served by a free City Circle Tram, taking in many tourist sights. There are almost 300 bus routes and a train system with more than 15 lines. Flinders Street Station is a prominent Melbourne landmark and meeting place. From the 1920s to the 1940s it was the world's busiest passenger station. The city has rail connections with several regional cities in the state, as well as interstate rail services to Sydney and Adelaide, which depart from Melbourne's other major rail terminus, Southern Cross Station.

The State Government's high investment in road infrastructure and the rapid growth of new suburbs lacking adequate public transport infrastructure has increased the dependency on private cars for transport, despite no home in Melbourne being more than 400m from a bus route. There is a major campaign that hopes to bring about government change in transport planning. Major highways feeding into the city include the Eastern Freeway, South Eastern Freeway and Westgate Freeway (which spans the spectacular Westgate Bridge). The Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest container and general cargo port and also its busiest. Melbourne Airport is the nation's second busiest. Station Pier in Port Phillip Bay handles cruise ships and the Spirit of Tasmania ferries which cross Bass Strait to Tasmania.

Melbourne has four significant airports. Melbourne International Airport located at Tullamarine is the city's main international and domestic (Virgin Blue and Qantas) gateway. Avalon Airport, located between Melbourne and Geelong, is the main hub of Jetstar, a low cost airline owned by QANTAS, and is also used as a freight and maintenance facility. Moorabbin Airport is a significant general aviation airport in the city's south east. Essendon Airport, which was once the city's main airport before the construction of Tullamarine, handles general aviation and some cargo flights, and is the base of the Victoria Police air wing and air ambulance.

Landmarks and tourist information

Melbourne attracts large numbers of tourists. The city's tourism information centre is located at Federation Square. The Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne has many attractions including Captain Cook's Cottage. Along St Kilda Road there are many cultural attractions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Shrine of Remembrance, King's Domain and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the Arts Centre, and Victoria Barracks. Southbank on the southern bank of the Yarra River attracts locals and tourists alike for its mix of dining, shopping and recreational facilities. The Crown Casino entertainment complex can also be found in the Southbank precinct. North of the Central Business District is home to the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, the University precinct and the Royal Melbourne Zoo.

There are many skyscrapers in Melbourne, the tallest being the Eureka Tower (300m above street level), followed by the Rialto Towers (251m above street level). Both buildings feature observation decks and facilities for hosting tourists.

Melbourne hosts a large number of spectator sports. Melbourne's best-known sporting events are the Australian Open, Australian F1 Grand Prix, numerous international Cricket matches, the Australian Football League Grand Final and the Spring Racing Carnival which culminates with the running of the Melbourne Cup horse race at Flemington. Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne's restaurants are numerous, and are generally of high quality and good value. Some of the best restaurants can be found in St Kilda along Fitzroy Street, South Yarra along Chapel Street, Fitzroy along Brunswick Street, Carlton along Lygon St, South Melbourne along Clarendon St, Richmond along Bridge Rd and Victoria St and Collingwood along Smith Street, as well as in the CBD and Southbank precincts. Flower Drum located in Market Lane next to Chinatown is often regarded as Melbourne's finest restaurant by The Age's Good Food Guide, as well as been ranked in the top 50 best restaurants in the world by international hospitality bible Restaurant Magazine. Buffet restaurant chains like Foodstar have also appeared in recent years serving a large number of patrons around Melbourne. As one would expect from a city its size, Melbourne has a wide variety of pubs, bars and nightclubs, which can be found all over the metropolitan area.

There is a variety of interesting things to see outside Melbourne proper but still within a day trip of Melbourne. Some of the most popular include: Phillip Island (for Little Penguins, time-trial bike racing and rock festivals), the Great Ocean Road (famous for the Twelve Apostles rock formations and whale-watching at Warrnambool), Sovereign Hill (an open air museum recreating life during the Victorian goldrush) and Hanging Rock (an atmospheric volcanic formation, made famous by the book and film, Picnic at Hanging Rock). Melbourne is also surrounded by wine-producing regions, including the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, and the Macedon area.

Sister cities

Melbourne has a number of sister cities. They are:

• Osaka, Japan (1978)
• Tianjin, China (PRC) (1980)
• Thessaloniki, Greece (1984)
• Boston, United States (1985)
• Saint Petersburg, Russia (1989)
• Milan, Italy (2004)

Notes

1. In the varieties of English where the phoneme /e/ is realised phonetically as /æ/ before /l/. This so-called 'salary-celery' merger is a feature of English spoken in Victoria, as compared with the other states of Australia.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics – Population Projections (see Section 5.13)
3. Melbourne and Vancouver are the world’s best cities to live in Economist Intelligence Unit (2002).
4. 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
5. The immigration rush, Special Broadcasting Service
6. "Melbourne Uni ranks in top 20", The Age, October 28, 2005
7. Australian Bureau of Statistics - Schools, 2005
8. Schools get VCE report cards, The Age, October 9 2002
9. Schools inequality calls for bold reform, The Age, October 17, 2003
10. History of the Port

See also

• List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne
• List of notable Melburnians
• List of Town Halls in Melbourne
• Crime in Melbourne
• List of Melbourne suburbs
• List of songs about Melbourne
• Local Government Areas of Victoria
• Timeline of Melbourne history
• Melbourne tourism
• Hook turn - driving manoeuvre that is common in the inner city area.
• Australian architectural styles
• Melway - the native street directory and general information source in Melbourne.
• World's Most Livable Cities - Melbourne has twice been ranked equal first with Vancouver.
• List of city nicknames
• Large Cities Climate Leadership Group

External links

• That's Melbourne - the official City of Melbourne guide to what's on in the City!
• WikiSatellite view of Melbourne at WikiMapia
• Template:Wikitravel
• City of Melbourne official site
• Metlink - official public transport web site
• Google Satellite Images
• Zoom Map from TerraPages
• Get on Track campaign (public transport campaign)

37°48′50″S 144°57′47″E / 37.81389°S 144.96306°E / -37.81389; 144.96306

• 1835 establishments
• Australian capital cities
• Cities in Victoria
• Coastal cities in Australia
• Host cities of the Commonwealth Games
• Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games
• Melbourne
• Metropolitan areas of Australia
• Port cities in Australia