Indigenous people Aboriginal Australians have lived in the Melbourne area for at least 40,000 years. When
British colonists arrived in the 19th century, up to 20,000
Kulin people from three distinct language groups – the
Wurundjeri,
Bunurong and
Wathaurong – resided in the area. It was an important meeting place for the clans of the
Kulin nation alliance and a vital source of food and water. In June 2021, the boundaries between the land of two of the
traditional owner groups, the Wurundjeri and Bunurong, were agreed after being drawn up by the
Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council. The borderline runs across the city from west to east, with
the CBD,
Richmond and
Hawthorn included in Wurundjeri land, and
Albert Park,
St Kilda and
Caulfield on Bunurong land. However, this change in boundaries is still disputed by people on both sides of the dispute including N'arweet
Carolyn Briggs. Some sources indicate the name
Narrm refers to the area where Melbourne city is built,
British colonisation The first
British settlement in
Victoria, then part of the
penal colony of
New South Wales, was established by Colonel
David Collins in October 1803, at
Sullivan Bay, near present-day
Sorrento. The following year, due to a perceived lack of resources, these settlers relocated to
Van Diemen's Land (present-day
Tasmania) and founded the city of
Hobart. It would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. 's
treaty with a group of
Wurundjeri elders. In May and June 1835,
John Batman, a leading member of the
Port Phillip Association in Van Diemen's Land, explored the Melbourne area, and later claimed to have
negotiated a purchase of with eight Wurundjeri elders. However, the nature of the treaty has been heavily disputed, as none of the parties spoke the same language, and the elders likely perceived it as part of the gift exchanges which had taken place over the previous few days amounting to a
tanderrum ceremony which allows temporary access to and use of the land. Batman selected a site on the northern bank of the
Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village" before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In August 1835, another group of Vandemonian settlers arrived in the area and established a settlement at the site of the current
Melbourne Immigration Museum. Batman and his group arrived the following month and the two groups ultimately agreed to share the settlement, initially known by the native name of Dootigala. Batman's Treaty with the Aboriginal elders was annulled by
Richard Bourke, the
Governor of New South Wales (who at the time governed all of eastern mainland Australia), with compensation paid to members of the association. In 1836, Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the
Port Phillip District of
New South Wales, and commissioned the first plan for its urban layout, the
Hoddle Grid, in 1837. Previously known under various informal names, the settlement was named Melbourne on 10 April 1837 by Bourke after the
British Prime Minister,
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose
seat was
Melbourne Hall in the
market town of
Melbourne, Derbyshire. That year, the settlement's
general post office officially opened with that name. Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were largely dispossessed of their land by British colonists. In 1840, the Superintendent of the
Port Phillip District,
Charles La Trobe issued a directive to banish Aboriginals from the immediate vicinity of Melbourne. This was enforced later that same year by the mass-arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of Indigenous people during the
Lettsom raid. However, Aboriginal people still managed to continue living near the settlement and by January 1844 there were said to be 675 residing in squalid camps around Melbourne. The British Colonial Office had appointed five
Aboriginal Protectors for the Aboriginal people of Victoria, in 1839, but their work was nullified by a land policy that favoured
squatters who took possession of Aboriginal lands. By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences then issued in Victoria and became a powerful political and economic force in Victoria for generations to come.
Letters patent of
Queen Victoria, issued on 25 June 1847, declared Melbourne a city. On 1 July 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from
New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital.
Victorian gold rush in 1855. The discovery of gold in Victoria in mid-1851 sparked
a gold rush, and Melbourne, the colony's major port, experienced rapid growth. Within months, the city's population had nearly doubled from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. Exponential growth ensued, and by 1865, Melbourne had overtaken
Sydney as Australia's most populous city. An influx of intercolonial and international migrants, particularly from Europe and China, saw the establishment of slums, including
Chinatown and a temporary "tent city" on the southern banks of the Yarra. In the aftermath of the 1854
Eureka Rebellion, mass public support for the plight of the miners resulted in major political changes to the colony, including improvements in working conditions across mining, agriculture, manufacturing and other local industries. At least twenty nationalities took part in the rebellion, giving some indication of immigration flows at the time. With the wealth brought in from the gold rush and the subsequent need for public buildings, a program of grand civic construction soon began. The 1850s and 1860s saw the commencement of
Parliament House, the
Treasury Building, the
Old Melbourne Gaol,
Victoria Barracks, the
State Library,
University of Melbourne,
General Post Office,
Customs House, the
Melbourne Town Hall,
St Patrick's cathedral, though many remained incomplete for decades. The layout of the inner suburbs on a largely one-mile grid pattern, cut through by wide radial boulevards and parklands surrounding the central city, was largely established in the 1850s and 1860s. These areas rapidly filled with the ubiquitous terrace houses, as well as with detached houses and grand mansions, while some of the major roads developed as shopping streets. Melbourne quickly became a major finance centre, home to several banks, the
Royal Mint, and (in 1861) Australia's first
stock exchange. In 1855, the
Melbourne Cricket Club secured possession of its now famous ground, the
MCG. Members of the
Melbourne Football Club codified
Australian football in 1859, and in 1861, the first
Melbourne Cup race was held. Melbourne acquired its first public monument, the
Burke and Wills statue, in 1864. With the gold rush largely over by 1860, Melbourne continued to grow on the back of continuing gold-mining, as the major port for exporting the agricultural products of Victoria (especially wool) and with a developing manufacturing sector protected by high tariffs. An extensive radial railway network spread into the countryside from the late 1850s. Construction started on further major public buildings in the 1860s and 1870s, such as the
Supreme Court,
Government House, and the
Queen Victoria Market. The central city filled up with shops and offices, workshops, and warehouses. Large banks and hotels faced the main streets, with fine townhouses in the east end of Collins Street, contrasting with tiny cottages down laneways within the blocks. The Aboriginal population continued to decline, with an estimated 80% total decrease by 1863, due primarily to introduced diseases (particularly
smallpox Land boom and bust , demolished in 1973, was one of many notable buildings built after the discovery of gold in Victoria. The 1880s saw extraordinary growth: consumer confidence, easy access to credit, and steep increases in land prices led to an enormous amount of construction. During this "land boom", Melbourne reputedly became the richest city in the world, and the second-largest (after London) in the
British Empire. The decade began with the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880, held in the large purpose-built
Exhibition Building. A telephone exchange was established that year, and the foundations of
St Paul's were laid. In 1881, electric light was installed in the
Eastern Market, and a generating station capable of supplying 2,000 incandescent lamps was in operation by 1882. The
Melbourne cable tramway system opened in 1885 and became one of the world's most extensive systems by 1890. In 1885, visiting English journalist
George Augustus Henry Sala & Joe Harold coined the phrase "Marvellous Melbourne", which stuck long into the twentieth century and has come to refer to the opulence and energy of the 1880s, during which time large commercial buildings, grand hotels, banks,
coffee palaces,
terrace housing and palatial mansions proliferated in the city. The period also saw the huge expansion of a significant radial rail-based transport network throughout the city and suburbs. Melbourne's land-boom peaked in 1888, the year it hosted the Centennial Exhibition. The brash
boosterism that had typified Melbourne during that time ended in the early 1890s. The bubble supporting the local finance and property industries burst, resulting in a severe economic depression. Sixteen small
land banks and building societies collapsed, and 133 limited companies went into liquidation. The Melbourne financial crisis was a contributing factor to the
Australian economic depression of the 1890s and the
Australian banking crisis of 1893. The effects of the depression on the city were profound, with virtually no significant construction until the late 1890s.
Temporary capital of Australia and World War II '', the opening of the first
Parliament of Australia on 9 May 1901, painted by
Tom Roberts. At the time of Australia's
federation on 1 January 1901, Melbourne became the seat of government of the federated
Commonwealth of Australia. The first federal parliament convened on 9 May 1901 in the
Royal Exhibition Building, subsequently moving to the Victorian Parliament House, where it sat until it moved to
Canberra in 1927. The
Governor-General of Australia resided at
Government House in Melbourne until 1930, and many major national institutions remained in Melbourne well into the twentieth century. During
World War II, the city hosted American military forces who were fighting the
Empire of Japan, and the government requisitioned the
Melbourne Cricket Ground for military use.
Post-war period In the immediate years after
World War II, Melbourne expanded rapidly, its growth boosted by
post-war immigration to Australia, primarily from Southern
Europe and the
Mediterranean. While the "Paris End" of Collins Street began Melbourne's boutique shopping and open air
cafe cultures, the city centre was seen by many as stale—the dreary domain of office workers—something expressed by
John Brack in his famous painting
Collins St., 5 pm (1955). Up until the 21st century, Melbourne was considered Australia's "industrial heartland". (formerly ICI House), a symbol of modernity in post-war Melbourne. Height limits in the CBD were lifted in 1958, after the construction of
ICI House, transforming the city's skyline with the introduction of skyscrapers. Suburban expansion then intensified, served by new indoor malls beginning with
Chadstone Shopping Centre. The post-war period also saw a major renewal of the CBD and
St Kilda Road which significantly modernised the city. New fire regulations and redevelopment saw most of the taller pre-war CBD buildings either demolished or partially retained through a policy of
facadism. Many of the larger suburban mansions from the boom era were also either demolished or subdivided. To counter the trend towards low-density suburban residential growth, the government began a series of controversial public housing projects in the inner city by the
Housing Commission of Victoria, which resulted in the demolition of many neighbourhoods and a proliferation of high-rise towers. In later years, with the rapid rise of motor vehicle ownership, the investment in freeway and highway developments greatly accelerated the outward suburban sprawl and declining inner-city population. The
Bolte government sought to rapidly accelerate the modernisation of Melbourne. Major road projects including the remodelling of
St Kilda Junction, the widening of
Hoddle Street and then the extensive
1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan changed the face of the city into a car-dominated environment. Australia's financial and mining booms during 1969 and 1970 resulted in establishment of the headquarters of many major companies (
BHP and
Rio Tinto, among others) in the city.
Nauru's then booming economy resulted in several ambitious investments in Melbourne, such as
Nauru House. Melbourne remained Australia's main business and financial centre until the late 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to Sydney. Melbourne experienced an economic downturn between 1989 and 1992, following the collapse of several local financial institutions. In 1992, the newly elected
Kennett government began a campaign to revive the economy with an aggressive development campaign of public works coupled with the promotion of the city as a tourist destination with a focus on major events and sports tourism. During this period the
Australian Grand Prix moved to Melbourne from
Adelaide. Major projects included the construction of a new facility for the
Melbourne Museum,
Federation Square, the
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre,
Crown Casino and the
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, education and public transport infrastructure.
Contemporary Melbourne , 2023. Since the mid-1990s, Melbourne has maintained significant population and employment growth. There has been substantial international investment in the city's industries and property market. Major inner-city urban renewal has occurred in areas such as
Southbank,
Port Melbourne,
Melbourne Docklands and
South Wharf. Melbourne sustained the highest population increase and economic growth rate of any Australian capital city from 2001 to 2004. From 2006, the growth of the city extended into "green wedges" and beyond the city's
urban growth boundary. Predictions of the city's population reaching 5 million people pushed the state government to review the growth boundary in 2008 as part of its Melbourne @ Five Million strategy. In 2009, Melbourne was less affected by the
Great Recession in comparison to other Australian cities. At this time, more new jobs were created in Melbourne than any other Australian city—almost as many as the next two fastest growing cities, Brisbane and Perth, combined, and Melbourne's property market remained highly priced, resulting in historically high property prices and widespread rent increases. Beginning in the 2010s, the State Government of Victoria initiated a number of major infrastructure projects designed to reduce congestion in Melbourne and encourage economic growth, including the
Metro Tunnel, the
West Gate Tunnel, the
Level Crossing Removal Project and the
Suburban Rail Loop. New urban renewal zones were initiated in inner-city areas like
Fisherman's Bend and
Arden, while suburban growth continued on the urban periphery in Melbourne's outer west and east in suburbs like
Wyndham Vale and
Cranbourne. Middle suburbs like
Box Hill became denser as a greater proportion of Melburnians began living in apartments. A construction boom resulted in 34 new
skyscrapers being built in the central business district between 2010 and 2020. In 2020, Melbourne was classified as an Alpha city by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Out of all major Australian cities, Melbourne was the worst affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic and spent a long time under lockdown restrictions. Over the course of its six lockdowns, Melbourne experienced the longest total lockdown period of any city in the world, totalling 262 days. While this contributed to a net outflow of migration causing a slight reduction in Melbourne's population over the course of 2020 to 2022, Melbourne's population is projected to reach 6.4 million people by 2033–34. ==Geography==