AUSTRALIA - MELBOURNE

LIFE ON EARTH IS A PRECIOUS THING TO MARVEL AT AND PROTECT

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The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the central city area of Melbourne. It has an area of 36 square kilometres. In 2001, it had a population of 46,000. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "It gathers strength as it goes."

The current Lord Mayor is John So. The Melbourne City Council (MCC) holds office in Melbourne Town Hall.

The Coat of arms of the City of Melbourne

PORT MELBOURNE

Port Melbourne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is positioned on the shore of Hobsons Bay, on the east bank of the mouth of the Yarra River. The area to the north of the Westgate Freeway is in the City of Melbourne. The area to the south is in the City of Port Phillip.

History

The area known as Port Melbourne was first settled in 1839 by Wilbraham Liardet, who established a hotel, jetty, and mail service. It was initially known as Liardets Beach, though soon took on the official name of Sandridge, and finally Port Melbourne in 1884. The area came into prominence during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s. With an increasing amount of ships looking to berth, Sandridge became a thriving transport hub. To alleviate the high costs of shipping goods via small vessels up the Yarra River to Melbourne, Australia's first railway line was built in 1854, connecting Sandridge to Melbourne. This became known as the Port Melbourne Line, and was eventually converted to tram route #109. The disused Sandridge Bridge takes its name from this historic railway line.

As a transport hub, Port Melbourne had numerous hotels. Early industries included a sugar refinery, soap and candle works, chemical works, rice and flour mills, gasworks, a distillery and a boot factory.

Gentrification

Today, Port Melbourne still serves as a transport hub for passenger and cargo vessels. The area where Port Melbourne originally developed, around Station Pier and the currently derelict Princes Pier, has now been redeveloped with construction of apartment complexes, and goes by the name of Beacon Cove. Many luxury liners, naval vessels and ferries arrive at Station Pier including the daily ferry service to Tasmania. Cargo traffic takes place further west, near the mouth of the Yarra River, principally at Webb Dock. The main shopping strip is along Bay Street, which features numerous cafes, bars and restaurants. Port Melbourne is also home to one end of the West Gate Bridge, the main gateway between east and west Melbourne over the Yarra River.

The flag of the City of Melbourne

Houses in Port Melbourne range from colonial single-fronted wooden worker's cottages to new apartments and housing developments, and Port Melbourne has undergone a major demographic shift in the past twenty years, from one of the cheapest and poorest suburbs in the city to one of the most expensive and wealthiest. Port Melbourne now blends significant amounts of wealthy people with those who live in the numerous Public housing developements, and other 'old port' locals; large numbers of immigrants who arrived at Station Pier and settled, primarily those of Greek background, and new immigrants from Africa and Asia.

The Port Colts and the Boroughs are the local Australian rules football sides.  On May 1, 2002, infamous Melbourne criminal and underworld figure Victor Peirce was gunned down in Bay St, Port Melbourne. The crime remains unsolved.

Suburbs

Carlton

Carlton North 

East Melbourne

Flemington

Jolimont

Kensington

Melbourne

Docklands

North Melbourne

Port Melbourne

Parkville

Southbank

South Yarra

Railway stations

Flagstaff

Flinders Street

Jolimont

Melbourne Central

North Melbourne

Parliament

Richmond

Royal Park

Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street)

Schools

Mac.Robertson Girls' High School

Melbourne High School

Melbourne Girls' Grammar School

Melbourne Grammar School

St. Aloysius' College

St. Joseph's College

AUSTRALIA GEOGRAPHY:

REFERENCE:

1. Gillespie, R. (2002). Dating the first Australians. Radiocarbon 44:455-472

2. Smith, L. (1980), The Aboriginal Population of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra

3. Tatz, C. (1999). Genocide in Australia, AIATSIS Research Discussion Papers No 8, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra

4. Windschuttle, K. (2001). The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, The New Criterion Vol. 20, No. 1, September 20.

5. Sheehan, P. (2002). Our history, not rewritten but put right, The Sydney Morning Herald, November 25.

6. Bean, C. Ed. (1941). Volume I - The Story of Anzac: the first phase, First World War Official Histories 11th Edition.

7. Australian Electoral Commission (2000). 1999 Referendum Reports and Statistics

8. Parliamentary Library (1997). The Reserve Powers of the Governor-General

9. Australian Government. (2005). Budget 2005-2006

10. Department of the Environment and Heritage. About Biodiversity

11. Macfarlane, I. J. (1998). Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century. Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, October

12. Parham, D. (2002). Microeconomic reforms and the revival in Australia’s growth in productivity and living standards. Conference of Economists, Adelaide, 1 October

13. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Labour Force Australia. Cat#6202

14.  Australian Bureau of Statistics. Year Book Australia 2005

15. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (03). Advancing the National Interest, Appenidix 1

16. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population Growth - Australia’s Population Growth

17. Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affiars. (2005). The Evolution of Australia's Multicultural Policy
    Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001 Census, A Snapshot of Australia

18. Parliament of Australia, Senate (2005). Inquiry into Australian Expatriates

19. Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affiars. (1995). Pluralist Nations: Pluralist Language Policies?

20.  NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance, National Church Life Survey, Media release, 28 February 2004

21. Australian Film Commission. What are Australians Watching?, Free-to-Air, 1999-2004 TV

LINKS:

Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society

Official website

That's Me!bourne

Metlink local public transport map

Tram People: Video Documentary

Wikitravel guide to Australia

Australian Government Entry Portal

Commonwealth Government Online

Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)

DFAT: Country Information

Satellite images of Australia (Google Maps)

National Library of Australia

National Museum of Australia

Official Australia Tourism Website

Bureau of Meteorology

Official website of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games

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