MELBOURNE, Australia, the capital of the state of Victoria, and the largest city of Australasia, situated around Hobson's Bay, at the northern extremity of Port Phillip, 40 miles north of its entrance from the ocean between Points Lonsdale and Nepean. The city and its numerous suburbs occupy an extensive undulat ing area, with the Yarra River, a stream of no great size, winding through it. The central and most important business part of the city is on the north bank of the Yarra, two miles by a direct railway line from the river's outlet in Hobson's Bay, but nine miles by the meandering water route. The city is built on a rectangular plan with fine wide streets lined with handsome and substantial public buildings and residences Numerous lines of railway connect with the interior and the extensive suburban districts. which include such important places as Coiling wood, North Melbourne, Fitzroy, Carlton, Brunswick, South Melbourne, Richmond, Prah ran, Saint Kilda, Port Melbourne, etc. The city is well lighted, and paved, and is abundantly supplied with water, but the drainage, although much has been done toward its improvement, is still defective. Street railways traverse all the principal city and suburban thoroughfares.
The public buildings of Melbourne are note worthy. The Houses of Parliament form a re markable pile with a splendid west facade. Gov ernment House is a palatial building conspicuous from every part of the city, with a tower 145 feet high. Other public buildings .include the law courts, forming an extensive square, the post-office, the custom-house the treasury, the land and mining offices, the mint, the free library with some 300,000 volumes; the university, with an admirable museum belonging to it and a splendid hall (the Wilson Hall) in the Gothic style; the Ormond Presbyterian College; the town hall, with a large assembly room contain ing a splendid organ ; the exchange, observatory. meteorological station, and atherraum. The ecclesiastical buildings include an Anglican Cathedral, a Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Scots church, with a fine steeple. There are several "sky-scraper)) office and store buildings; many banks and business premises are attract ive; and the Exhibition building deserves notice. At the head of the educational instite tions is Melbourne University (about 930 male. 320 female students annually), with which are affiliated the three denominational colleges, Trin ity ( Episcopal ) , Ormond ( Presbyterian ) , and Queen's (Methodist). Charitable and benevo
lent institutions are numerous. There are eral eral parks and other grounds for public recrea tion, and among these the Botanic Garden deserves special notice on account of its eaten: (100 acres), its beauty, and the value of its col lection of trees and plants. The beautiful Fitz roy Gardens also deserve special mention. Mel bourne is the see of a Roman Cath9lic Arai episcopate and of an Anglican bishopric_ The United States is represented by a consul-general The chief industrial products of Melbourne are leather, furniture. clothing, flout, ales, cigars. ironware, woolen, etc. The shipping trade is large both in exports and imports, the chief of the former being wool and gold, of the latter manufactured goods. Most imports are sub ject to a heavy duty. Vessels of 36 feet draught can ascend the Yarra. Its navigation has been much improved, and the Coode canal shortens the passage. The largest vessels are accommodated at Port Melbourne and Wil liamstown, with depths of about 30 feet. both on Hobson's Bay; Port Phillip Bay af fords unlimited anchorage for the largest ves sels. The tonnage of vessels entered 1915-16 was 5,290,318. Pop. of Melbourne, including the suburban municipalities, 684,000, nearly half the population of the state.
The first settlements on the site of Mel bourne were made in 1835, and a year or two after it received its present name, being so called after Lord Melbourne, who was then British prime minister. It was incorporated in 1842 and became a bishop's See in 1849. In 1851 it became capital of Victoria (then estab lished as a separate colony), and received an immense impetus from the discovery of gold fields.
A centennial exhibition was held in 1888 in celebration of the founding (in 1788) of the Australian colonies. A great conflict between labor and capital took place in 1890, and a strike by the labor-unionists took place on a very extensive scale both in Victoria and New South Wales. In 1892-93 Melbourne suffered severely from commercial depression, financial crises and banking disasters. The first Parlia ment of the Commonwealth of Australia was opened in the Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York (after ward George V). Consult 'Victoria and its Metropolis, Past and Present' (1889); Gordon and Gotch, 'Australian Handbook' (1900