Melbourne
ranks second among Australian cities in
this list. It 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. Melbourne's
Yarra River is popular area for walking,
jogging, cycling and relaxing on the banks
with a picnic. Melbourne Landing, 1840;
watercolour by W. Liardet (1840)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 (although many people argue that
they are still the true owners of the
area, though this is not recognised by
law).
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.
|
|
