VICTO'RIA. A State of Australia, oeeupying the southeastern portion of the emninent. It is triangular in shape, with the apex pending eastward, and is bounded on the northeast by New South Wales, on the south by the Tasman Sea, Bass Strait, and the Indian Oman, and on the west by South Australia. It is the smallest of the continental States. having an area of 87.841 square miles. only 210 square miles less than that of Great Britain.
Victoria is Ira versed from west to east by an irregular range of mountains. an extension of the “rent Dividing Range. It sends out numer ous brunching which make the whole sur face of the State very diversified. except the null limes] ern portion, which lwboig,.; to the Great Plains. The mountains are low in the west, but rise toward the east into the rugged and romantic Australian Alps, whose highest peak in Vic toria, Mount llogong has an altitude 01 6505 feet. The coast is fined with broken ranges of hills, and is irregular, with granitic headlands and land-locked bays, such as Port Phillip, the harbor of Melbourne. The rivers are short and of no importance for navigation. Those on the northern watershed anc tributaries of the .Mur ray, which forms most of the boundary on the side of New South Wales. Most 1110 rivers are torrential in the wet season, while many are al most dry for the rest of the year.
The climate is cooler and more agreeable than that of the States to the north, though the maxi mum temperature in summer may be above 100'. In the lowlands the temperature is seldom below 32°, and the annual mean at, Melbourne is 55'. The rainfall is very irregular. At Slelbourne the average is about 20 inches, but may vary in different years between 15 and 50 inches, and droughts are liable to occur. The rainfall is heavier in the east and on the mountains, hut on the northwestern plains it is not over 14 inches a year. These plaim; are very dry and tree less, covered with a scanty scrub vegetation. In other sections there are grassy slopes or open, parklike forests, becoming dense on the moim tains. The eucalyptus tree roaches an extraordi
nary height. the flora and fauna of the State are not distinctive. See Flora and Fauna, under AUSTRALIA.
The mountain system consists of greatly de nuded Lower Paleozoic strata, chiefly Silurian, with numerous extensive intrusions of granite. In the southwest there is a large basaltic plain, with recent volcanic outflows and numer ous extinct craters and cones. Tertiary deposits cover the surface of some coast districts and of the northwestern plains. The mountains and drift deposits are rich in minerals, of which gold is the most important..
About two-thirds of the enormous gold produc tion of Australia has been obtained in Victoria. From 1S51 to 1901 the value of the gold pro duced in the State aggregated 1260.492.551. The value of the output in 1001 was £3,106,433, but for several years it has averaged somewhat in excess of that amount.
General fanning is more extensively followed in Victoria than in any other Australian State, the rainfall there being more propitious for crop growing. The area under crops has about doubled since 1880. There were 3,924,598 acres under cultivation in 1901. Nearly half of this area (2,017.321 acres) was in wheat. The principal other cereals raised in the same year were oats, 363,000 acres. and barley, 59,000 acres. Hay crops, consisting chiefly of wheat and oats, cut green. covered an area of 502,000 acres. and 38.000 acres were devoted to potatoes. Much at tention is given to fruits, partieularly grapes. 2R, 59'2 acres being devoted to vines in 1902. Stock raising is more extensively carried on in connec tion with cropping than in any other Australian State. In 1901 there were 10.539,746 sheep, 1,602.957 head of cattle, and 392,529 horses. The quality of the sheep has improved greatly since 1860. has made narked progress since 1890, and the dairy produce now receives more favorable recognition in the English market.