Everything about Melbourne Australia totally explained
Melbourne is the second
most populous city in
Australia, with a
metropolitan area population of approximately 3.8 million (2007 estimate).
Melbourne is a major centre of
commerce,
industry and cultural activity.
The city is often referred to as Australia's 'sporting and cultural capital'
and it's home to many of the nation's most significant cultural and sporting events and institutions.
It has been recognised as a
gamma world city by the
Loughborough University group's 1999 inventory.
Melbourne is notable for its mix of
Victorian and
contemporary architecture, its extensive
tram network and Victorian
parks and gardens, as well as its diverse,
multicultural society. It was the host city of the
1956 Summer Olympics and the
2006 Commonwealth Games.
Melbourne was founded by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first
European settlement of Australia, as a
pastoral settlement situated around the
Yarra River. However, if current trends continue, Melbourne will again become the most populous city in Australia by 2028.
Melbourne served as the federal seat of government from the time of the new nation's
federation in 1901, until Federal
Parliament moved to the purpose-built capital,
Canberra, in 1927.
History
The area of the
Yarra River and
Port Phillip that's now Melbourne was originally inhabited by the
Wurundjeri people of the
Kulin nation. It is believed that the area was occupied by
indigenous Australians for at least 40,000 years.
In May and June 1835, the area that's now central and northern Melbourne was explored by
John Batman, a leading member of the
Port Phillip Association, who negotiated a transaction for 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) of land from eight Wurundjeri chiefs. Although this meant the settlers were now trespassing on Crown land, the government reluctantly accepted the settlers'
fait accompli and allowed the town (known at first by various names, including 'Bearbrass'
The state of Victoria was established as a separate colony in 1851 with Melbourne as its capital. With the discovery of
gold in Victoria in the 1850s, leading to the
Victorian gold rush, Melbourne grew rapidly, providing the majority of
service industries and serving as the major port for the region. The city became a major finance centre, home to several banks and to Australia's first
stock exchange (founded in 1861). During the 1880s Melbourne was one of the largest cities in the
British Empire, and reputedly the richest city in the world. This period saw the construction of many high-rise Victorian buildings,
Coffee Palaces,
terrace housing, grand boulevards and gardens throughout the city. Examples of this
Victorian architecture still abound in Melbourne. Journalist
George Augustus Henry Sala, during an 1885 visit, coined the phrase 'Marvellous Melbourne' to describe the booming city, which stuck long into the
twentieth century.
The brash
boosterism which typified Melbourne during this time came to a halt in 1891 when a world
economic depression hit the city's economy, sending the finance and property industries into chaos. The effects of the depression on the city were profound, although it did continue to grow slowly during the early twentieth century.
At the time of Australia's
Federation on
1 January 1901, Melbourne was specified as the temporary
seat of government and remained the
national capital until 1927, when the Federal
parliament was moved to the
planned city of
Canberra. The first Federal parliament was convened on
9 May 1901 in the
Royal Exhibition Building.
Melbourne was the Allied Pacific Headquarters from 1942 to 1944 as General
Douglas MacArthur established Australia as a launch base for Pacific operations. During
World War II, Melbourne industries thrived on wartime production and the city became Australia's leading manufacturing centre. After the war, Melbourne expanded rapidly, with its growth boosted by an influx of
immigrants and the prestige of hosting the
Olympic Games in 1956. Australia's mining boom between 1969 and 1970 proved beneficial to Melbourne, with the headquarters of many of the major companies (
BHP and
Rio Tinto, among others) based in the city.
Nauru's booming mineral economy fuelled several ambitious investments in Melbourne such as
Nauru House. Melbourne remained Australia's business and finance capital until the late 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to
Sydney.
Melbourne experienced the worst of Victoria's economic slump between 1989 to 1992. In 1992 the newly elected
Kennett Coalition government began a campaign to revive the economy with an aggressive development campaign of
public works and major events centred on Melbourne and the promotion of the city as a
tourist destination. Major projects included the
Melbourne Museum,
Federation Square, the
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre,
Crown Casino and
CityLink tollway. Other strategies included the privatisation of some of Melbourne's services including power and public transport, and a reduction in funding to public services such as health and education.
Since 1997 Melbourne has maintained significant population and employment growth. There has been substantial international investment in the city's industries and
property market, and 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 capital city.
Geography
Melbourne is located in the south-eastern part of
mainland Australia. Geologically, it's 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. The city's suburbs extend along the
Yarra Valley toward the
Yarra and
Dandenong Ranges to the east, down towards the
Mornington Peninsula and the city of
Frankston, along the
Maribyrnong River and its tributaries north towards the foothills of the
Macedon Ranges, and along the flat volcanic plain country towards
Werribee and
Geelong to the south-west.
Melbourne is typical of
Australian capital cities in that after the turn of the century, it expanded with the underlying notion of a 'quarter acre home and
garden' for every family, often referred to locally as the
Australian Dream. Much of
metropolitan Melbourne is accordingly characterised by low density sprawl. The provision of an extensive
railway and
tram service in the earlier years of development encouraged this low density development, mostly in radial lines along the
transport corridors.
The original city (known today as the
central business district or CBD) is laid out in the 1 mile (1.6 km) by half mile (0.8 km)
Hoddle Grid, its southern edge fronting onto the Yarra. The city centre is well known for its historic and attractive lanes and arcades which contain a variety of shops and cafes. The CBD and surrounds contain many historic buildings such as the
Royal Exhibition Building, the
Melbourne Town Hall and
Parliament House.
Melbourne is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and the state of Victoria was once known as
the garden state. There is an abundance of
parks and gardens in Melbourne, many 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 municipalities of
Stonnington,
Boroondara and
Port Phillip, south east of the CBD.
Climate
Melbourne has a moderate
oceanic climate (
Köppen climate classification Cfb). and is notorious for its changeable weather conditions. This is due in part to the city's flat topography, its situation on
Port Phillip Bay, and the presence of the
Dandenong Ranges to the east, a combination that creates weather systems that often circle the bay. The phrase
"four seasons in one day" is part of
popular culture and observed by many visitors to the city.
Melbourne is colder than most other Australian capital cities in the winter. The lowest maximum on record is 4.4 degrees
Celsius, on
July 4,
1901. However,
snowfalls are extremely rare: the most recent occurrence of sleet in the CBD was on
July 25,
1986 and the most recent snowfalls in the Dandenongs were on August 10, 2005, November 15, 2006 and December 25th 2006 There hasn't been a major snowfall in Melbourne since 1951, when moderate cover was recorded in both the CBD and suburbs. More commonly, Melbourne experiences
frosts and
fog in winter.
During the spring, Melbourne commonly enjoys extended periods of mild weather and clear skies. Melbourne is also known to have extremely hot, and dry summers, with maximum temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. The hottest temperature on record was 45.6 degrees Celsius on
13 January 1939 during a four-day nationwide
heat wave. On 8 February 1983, the city was enveloped by a massive
dust storm, which turned day to night.
Other daily elements>
| |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Yearly |
| Mean number of rain days | 8.3 |
7.4 |
9.3 |
11.5 |
14.0 |
14.2 |
15.1 |
15.6 |
14.8 |
14.3 |
11.8 |
10.5 |
146.7
|
| Mean number of clear days | 6.3 |
6.3 |
5.7 |
4.4 |
3.0 |
2.5 |
2.7 |
2.9 |
3.4 |
3.6 |
3.5 |
4.4 |
48.5
|
| Mean number of cloudy days | 11.2 |
9.7 |
13.4 |
14.9 |
18.0 |
16.8 |
17.2 |
16.8 |
15.7 |
16.4 |
15.1 |
14.2 |
179.5
|
Source: Bureau of Meteorology |
Culture
Melbourne is widely known as the Australian cultural and sport capital. It has thrice 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, in 2002, 2004 and 2005. However, in recent years rising property prices have led to Melbourne being named one of the least affordable cities in the world.
The city celebrates a wide variety of annual cultural events, performing arts and architecture. Melbourne is also considered to be Australia's live music capital with a large proportion of successful Australian artists emerging from the Melbourne live music scene. Melbourne has become popular for its street art (see
Melbourne street art) with the
lonely planet guides listing it as a major attraction. The city is also admired as one of the great cities of the Victorian Age (1837-1901) and a vigorous city life intersects with an impressive range of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century buildings.
In recent years, the city has claimed the SportsBusiness title "World's Ultimate Sports City".. It is considered the spiritual home of Australian
cricket and
Australian rules football - the most popular sports in Australia. Nine teams (Not including Geelong) from the
Australian Football League are based in Melbourne and its surrounding suburbs. The first ever official
cricket Test match in Australia was played at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877. The city is also home to a
Rugby League and
Soccer team, the
Melbourne Storm, who play in the
NRL competition,
Melbourne Victory who play in the
A-league,
netball team
Melbourne Vixens who play in the trans-Tasman trophy
ANZ Championship and
basketball team
Melbourne Tigers who play in the
National Basketball League.
Economy
Twilight]]
Melbourne is home to Australia's busiest
seaport and much of Australia's
automotive industry, which include
Ford and
Toyota manufacturing facilities, and the
engine manufacturing facility of
Holden. It is home to many other
manufacturing industries, along with being a major business and financial centre. In mid-November 2006, the city was host to the
G20 summit, amid violent protests. International freight is an important industry. The
city's port, Australia's largest, handles more than $75 billion in trade every year and 39% of the nation's container trade.
Melbourne is also a major technology hub, with an
ICT industry that employs over 60,000 people (one third of Australia's ICT workforce), has a turnover of $19.8 billion and export revenues of $615 million.
Melbourne retains a significant presence of being a financial centre for Asia-Pacific. Two of the
big four banks,
NAB and
ANZ, are headquartered in Melbourne. The city has carved out a niche as Australia’s leading centre for
superannuation (pension) funds, with 40 per cent of the total, and 65 per cent of
industry super-funds. Melbourne is also home to the $40 billion-dollar Federal Government
Future Fund, and could potentially be home to the world's largest company should the proposed merger between
BHP Billiton and
Rio Tinto Group be carried out.
Tourism plays an important role in Melbourne's economy, with approximately 7.6 million domestic visitors and 1.88 million international visitors in 2004. In
2008, Melbourne overtook
Sydney as the nation's leading tourism destination.
The city is headquarters for many of Australia's largest corporations, including five of the ten largest in the country (based on revenue) (
ANZ,
BHP Billiton, the
National Australia Bank,
Rio Tinto and
Telstra); as well as such representative bodies and thinktanks as the
Business Council of Australia and the
Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Melbourne rated 34th within the top 50 financial cities as surveyed by the Mastercard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index (2007), between Barcelona and Geneva, and second only to Sydney (14th) in Australia.
Most recent major infrastructure projects, such as the redevelopment of
Southern Cross Station (formerly Spencer Street Station), have been centred around the
2006 Commonwealth Games, which were held in the city from
15 March to
26 March 2006. The centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games projects was the redevelopment of the
Melbourne Cricket Ground, the stadium used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. The project involved rebuilding the northern half of the stadium and laying a temporary athletics track at a cost of
$434 million.
Melbourne has also been attracting an increasing share of domestic and international conference markets. Construction began in February 2006 of a
$1 billion 5000-seat international convention centre, Hilton Hotel and commercial precinct adjacent to the
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre to link development along the
Yarra River with the
Southbank precinct and multi-billion dollar
Docklands redevelopment.
Demographics
| Significant overseas born populations |
| Country of Birth |
Population (2006) |
| United Kingdom |
156,457 |
| Italy |
73,801 |
| Vietnam |
57,926 |
| Mainland China |
54,726 |
| New Zealand |
52,453 |
| Greece |
52,279 |
| India |
50,686 |
| Sri Lanka |
30,594 |
| Malaysia |
29,174 |
| Philippines |
24,568 |
| Germany |
21,182 |
| Malta |
18,951 |
| South Africa |
17,317 |
| Rep. Macedonia |
17,287 |
| Hong Kong |
16,917 |
| Poland |
16,439 |
| Croatia |
15,367 |
| Lebanon |
14,645 |
Today Melbourne is a diverse and
multicultural city. Almost a quarter of Victoria's population was born overseas, and the city is home to residents from 233 countries, who speak over 180 languages and dialects and follow 116 religious faiths. Melbourne has the second largest Asian population in nation, which includes the largest
Vietnamese,
Indian and
Sri Lankan communities in the country. Overall, citizens of Asian heritage represent approximately 18% of Melbournes population, compared to 7% of Australia's population.
The earliest inhabitants of the broad area that later became Melbourne were
Indigenous Australians — specifically, the Bunurong, Wurundjeri and Wathaurong peoples. Melbourne is still a centre of Aboriginal life — consisting of local groups and indigenes from other parts of Australia — with the Aboriginal community in the city numbering over 20,000 persons (0.6 per cent of the population).
The first European settlers in Melbourne were
British and
Irish. These two groups accounted for nearly all arrivals before the gold rush, and supplied the predominant number of
immigrants to the city until the
Second World War. Melbourne was transformed by the 1850s
gold rush; within months of the discovery of
gold in August 1852, the city's population had increased by nearly three-quarters, from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. Thereafter, growth was exponential and by 1865, Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city. Large numbers of
Chinese,
German and
United States nationals were to be found on the goldfields and subsequently in Melbourne. The various nationalities involved in the
Eureka Stockade revolt nearby give some indication of the migration flows in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In 2007, demographer Bernard Salt predicted that if current trends continue, Melbourne will again become the most populous city in Australia by 2028.
Postwar immigration
In the first half of the twentieth century, Melbourne saw influxes of
Italians and
Greeks.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Melbourne experienced unprecedented inflows from Mediterranean Europe, primarily
Greece and
Italy, but also
Cyprus and
Turkey. Ever larger Greek and Italian migrant numbers soon led to Melbourne being referred to as 'largest Greek city out side of Greece' and 'Little Italy'. According to the 2001 Census, there were 151,785 ethnic Greeks in the metropolitan area. Nearly half of all Greek Australians live in Melbourne. Ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese also maintain significant presences.
Melbourne enjoys comparatively high levels of migrant integration to the other capital cities. Many
ethnic groups are associated with the suburb in which they first settled –
Italians in
Carlton and
Brunswick,
Macedonians in
Thomastown,
Indians and
Sri Lankans in the
South-Eastern suburbs such as
Hampton Park and
Narre Warren,
Greeks in
Oakleigh,
Northcote and
Hughesdale,
Vietnamese in
Richmond,
Springvale and
Footscray,
Maltese in
Sunshine,
Serbs in
St Albans,
Turks in
Coburg,
Lebanese in
Broadmeadows,
Russians in
Carnegie,
Spaniards in
Fitzroy,
North Africans in
Flemington and
Sub-Saharan Africans in
Noble Park. The cities of
Dandenong,
Monash,
Casey and
Whittlesea on Melbourne's fringe are particular current migrant hotspots.
Melbourne exceeds the national average in terms of proportion of residents born overseas: 34.8 per cent compared to a national average of 23.1 per cent. In concordance with national data,
Britain is the most commonly reported country of birth, with 4.7 per cent, followed by
Italy (2.4 per cent),
Greece (1.9 per cent) and then
China (1.3 per cent). Melbourne also features substantial Vietnamese-, Indian- and Sri Lankan-born communities, in addition to recent South African and Sudanese influxes.
Linguistically, Melbourne is one of Australia's most diverse urban centres, though according to 2001 Census data, over two-thirds of people in Melbourne speak only
English at home (68.8 per cent).
Italian is the second most common home language (4.0 per cent), with
Greek third and the
Chinese languages fourth, each with over 100,000 speakers. Of foreign-born Melburnians who spoke English exclusively, 84.2 per cent reported speaking it either 'very well' or 'well'.
Religion
The 2006 Census records show some 28.3% (1,018,113) of Melbourne residents list their religious affiliation as Catholic. The next highest response was No Religion (20.0%, 717,717), Anglican (12.1%, 433,546), Eastern Orthodox (5.9%, 212,887) and the Uniting Church (4.0%, 143,552). However the largest churches in Melbourne are generally
Assemblies of God:
CityLife Church (4,600 weekly attendance),
Planetshakers City Church (3,000) and
Faith! Christian Church (2,000). In its outskirts is a large Baptist church called
Crossway Baptist Church (4500). It is the seat of both the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.
Melbourne
Population by year |
| 1836 |
177 |
|
| 1854 |
123,000 |
(gold rush) |
| 1880 |
280,000 |
(property boom) |
| 1956 |
1,500,000 |
|
| 1981 |
2,806,000 |
|
| 1991 |
3,156,700 |
(economic slump) |
| 2001 |
3,366,542 |
|
| 2006 |
3,744,373 |
|
| 2021 |
4,500,000 |
(projected) |
| 2030 |
> 5,000,000 |
(projected) |
Melbourne
Urban area density
(people/ha) |
| 1951 |
23.4 |
| 1961 |
21.4 |
| 1971 |
18.1 |
| 1981 |
15.9 |
| 1986 |
16.05 |
| 1991 |
16.8 |
| 1996 |
17.9 |
| 1999 |
17.05 |
| 2001 |
15.9 |
Buddhists,
Muslims,
Jews and
Hindus collectively account for 7.5 per cent of the population. Four out of ten
Australian Jews call Melbourne home. The city is also residence to the largest number of
Holocaust survivors of any Australian city, indeed the highest per capita concentration outside
Israel itself.
Population growth
Although Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the Melbourne statistical division has grown by approximately 50,000 people a year since 2003. Melbourne has now attracted the largest proportion of international overseas immigrants (48,000) finding it outpacing Sydney's international migrant intake, along with having strong interstate migration from Sydney and other capitals due to more affordable housing and cost of living, which have been two recent key factors driving Melbourne's growth. . 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. It has been suggested that if population growth continues at its current rate, Melbourne could become Australia's largest city once again by 2028.
Melbourne's population density declined following the
Second World War, with the private
motor car and the lures of space and property ownership causing a suburban sprawl, mainly eastward. After much discussion both at general public and planning levels in the 1980s, the decline has reversed since the recession of the early 1990s. The city has seen increased density in the inner and western suburbs. Since the 1970s, Victorian Government planning blueprints, such as
Postcode 3000 and
Melbourne 2030, have aimed to curtail the
urban sprawl.
Government
The
Melbourne City Council governs 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 Lord Mayor is
John So, who was crowned the 2006
World Mayor.
The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into
30 local government areas. All these are designated as Cities, except for five on the city's outer fringes which have the title of Shire. The local government authorities have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions (delegated to them from the State Government of Victoria under the Local Government Act of 1989), such as
urban planning and
waste management.
Most city-wide government activities are controlled by the
Victorian state government, which governs from
Parliament House in
Spring Street. 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 citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to rival the state government. The semi-autonomous
Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was abolished in 1992 for this reason. This isn't dissimilar to other Australian states where State Governments have similar powers in greater metropolitan areas.
Education
Education is overseen statewide by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD), whose role is to 'provide policy and planning advice for the delivery of education'. It acts as advisor to two state ministers, that for Education and for Children and Early Childhood Development.
Preschool, primary and secondary
Primary and secondary assessment, curriculum development and educational research initiatives throughout Melbourne and Victoria is undertaken by the
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), which offers the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) and Achievement Improvement Monitor (AIM) certificates from years Prep through Year 10, and the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) as part of senior secondary programs (Years 11 to 12).
Many
high schools in Melbourne are called 'Secondary Colleges', a legacy of the
Kirner Labor government. There are two selective public schools in Melbourne (mentioned above), but all public schools may restrict entry to students living in their regional 'zone'.
Although non-tertiary
public education is free, 35 per cent of students attend a private primary or secondary school. The most numerous
private schools are
Catholic, and the rest are
independent (see
Public and Private Education in Australia).
Tertiary and vocational
Melbourne's two largest universities are the
University of Melbourne (also called
Melbourne University) and
Monash University, the largest university in Australia. Both are members of the
Group of Eight. Melbourne University ranked second among Australian universities in the 2006
THES international rankings. While
The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne as the 22nd best university in the world,
Monash University was ranked the 38th best university in the world.
Melbourne is home to some of the nation's oldest educational institutions, including the oldest
Law (1857),
Engineering (1860),
Medical (1862),
Dental (1897) and
Music (1891) schools, all at the University of Melbourne. The University of Melbourne is also the oldest university in Victoria and the second oldest university in Australia.
Other universities located in Melbourne include
La Trobe University,
RMIT University,
Swinburne University of Technology,
Victoria University and the St Patrick's campus of the
Australian Catholic University.
Deakin University maintains two major campuses in Melbourne and Geelong, and is the third largest university in Victoria. In recent years, the number of
international students at Melbourne's universities has risen rapidly, a result of an increasing number of places being made available to full fee paying students.
Infrastructure
Health
The
Government of Victoria's Department of Human Services oversees approximately 30 public
hospitals in the Melbourne metropolitan region, and 13 health services organisations. The major public hospitals are the
Royal Melbourne Hospital,
The Alfred Hospital and
Austin Hospital, while major private hospitals include
Epworth Hospital and
St Vincent's. The city is also home to major medical and
biotechnology research centres such as
St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, the
Burnet Institute,
Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, The
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, The
Murdoch Children's Research Institute,
Baker Heart Institute and the
Australian Synchrotron.
Transport
public transport system promoted under the
Metlink brand. Originally laid out late in the 19th century when trains and trams were the primary methods of travelling to the suburbs, the 1950s saw an increase in private vehicles and freeway construction. This trend has continued with successive governments despite relentless traffic congestion, with a resulting drop in public transport modeshare from the 1940s level of around 25 per cent to the current level of around 9 per cent. Melbourne's public transport system was
privatised in 1999.
Melbourne's tram network is the largest
tram network in the world. Melbourne's is Australia's only tram network to comprise more than a single line. Sections of the tram network are on road, others are separated or
light rail routes. Trams are not only a form of transport, but a tourist icon and cultural asset. Visitors are served by a free
City Circle Tram, as well as fleet of
restaurant trams.
A mostly-
electric train network serves Melbourne with 19 lines, all of them radiating from a loop which circles the Central Business District.
Flinders Street Station is Melbourne's busiest railway station. In 1926 it was the world's busiest passenger station. It remains a prominent Melbourne landmark and meeting place.
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.
There are almost 300
bus routes which mainly service the outer suburbs fill the gaps in the network between rail and light rail services.
Melbourne has a high dependency on private cars for transport, with 7.1 per cent of trips made by public transport.
However there has been a significant rise in patronage in the last two years mostly due to higher fuel prices. Since 2006, public transport patronage has grown by over 20%. The largest number of cars are bought in the outer suburban area, while the inner suburbs with greater access to train and tram services (Met zone 1 and 2) enjoy higher public transport patronage. Melbourne has a total of 3.6 million private vehicles using 22,320 km of road, and one of the highest lengths of road per capita.
Major highways feeding into the city include the
Eastern Freeway,
Monash Freeway and
West Gate Freeway (which spans the large
Westgate Bridge), whilst other road systems include
CityLink and the
Western Ring Road,
Calder Freeway,
Tullamarine Freeway (main airport link) and the
Hume Freeway which links Melbourne and
Sydney.
The
Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest container and general cargo port and also its busiest. In 2007, the port handled two million shipping containers in a 12 month period, making it one of the top five ports in the Southern Hemisphere.
Station Pier in
Port Phillip Bay handles
cruise ships and the
Spirit of Tasmania ferries which cross
Bass Strait to
Tasmania.
Melbourne has four airports.
Melbourne Airport located at
Tullamarine is the city's main international and domestic gateway. The airport is home base for passenger airlines
Jetstar and
Tiger Airways Australia and cargo airlines
Australian air Express and
Toll Priority and is a major hub for
Qantas and
Virgin Blue.
Avalon Airport, located between Melbourne and
Geelong, is a secondary hub of
Jetstar and may soon offer international flights to
Kuala Lumpur on
AirAsia X. It is also used as a freight and maintenance facility. This makes Melbourne the only city in
Australia to have a second commercial airport.
Moorabbin Airport is a significant
general aviation airport in the city's south east as well as handling a limited number of passenger flights.
Essendon Airport, which was once the city's main airport before the construction of the airport at Tullamarine, handles passenger flights, general aviation and some cargo flights.
Utilities
Water storage and supply for Melbourne is managed by
Melbourne Water, which is owned by the Victorian Government. The organisation is also responsible for management of sewerage and the major
water catchments in the region.
Water is mainly stored in the largest dam, the
Thomson River Dam which is capable of holding around 60% of Melbourne's water capacity, while smaller dams such as the
Upper Yarra Dam and the
Cardinia Reservoir carry secondary supplies.
Water restrictions are in place and the state government has considered
water recycling schemes for the city. In June 2007, the Bracks Government announced a $4.9 billion water plan to secure the future of water supplies in Melbourne, including the construction of a $3.1 billion
desalination plant on Victoria's south-east coast, capable of treating 150 billion litres of water per year. Other projects included in this package is a 70 km pipeline from the Goulburn area in Victoria's north to Melbourne and a new water pipeline linking Melbourne and
Geelong. These projects will be run and managed by
Melbourne Water.
Supply of
town gas to Melbourne was initially provided by private companies such as the
Melbourne Metropolitan Gas Company from the 1850s, with
gasworks being scattered throughout the suburbs. The
Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria was formed in 1951 to manage gas supply state wide, and to build a centralised gasworks at
Morwell. The discovery of
natural gas in
Bass Strait in the 1960s saw gas supplies converted to the new fuel by the 1970s. The Gas and Fuel Corporation was
privatised in the late 1990s.
The first
electricity supplies to Melbourne were also provided by
private companies, with a number of small
power stations such as those at
Spencer Street and
Richmond operating. These small operations were merged into the
State Electricity Commission of Victoria that was formed in 1921, the SECV also building the first of many
brown coal fired power stations at
Yallourn in the
Latrobe Valley. The responsibilities of the SECV were privatised between 1995 and 1999.
Numerous telecommunications companies operate in Melbourne providing terrestrial and mobile telecommunications services.
Cityscape
- Yarra’s Edge at twilight]]
Sister cities
The
City of Melbourne has six
sister cities. They are:
- Osaka, Japan, 1978
- Tianjin, China, 1980
- Thessaloniki, Greece, 1984
- Boston, United States, 1985
- Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1989
- Milan, Italy, 2004
Some other local councils in the Melbourne metropolitan area have sister city relationships; see
Local Government Areas of Victoria.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Melbourne Australia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://melbourne.totallyexplained.com">Melbourne Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
