History of Melbourne

[1] At the time of European settlement the population of Indigenous inhabitants of what is now Victoria was estimated to be under 20,000,[2] drawn from three peoples: the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung (Bunurong) and Wathaurong.

[6][7] 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.

[9] In 1802, John Murray in the Lady Nelson entered Port Phillip to conduct early mappings and exploration of the region,[10] and he was followed shortly after by Matthew Flinders.

Later in 1803 the British Governor of New South Wales, Captain Philip Gidley King, fearful that the French might try to occupy the Bass Strait area, sent Colonel David Collins with a party of 300 convicts to establish a settlement at Port Phillip.

In 1824 Hamilton Hume and William Hovell came overland from New South Wales, failing to find Western Port, their destination, but instead reaching Corio Bay, where they found good grazing land.

But it was another ten years before Edward Henty, a Tasmanian grazier, established an illegal sheep-run on crown land at Portland, in what is now western Victoria, in 1834.

Batman returned to Launceston in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) and began plans to mount a large expedition to establish a settlement on the Yarra.

In September 1836, Governor Richard Bourke established the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, though the borders had still not been determined, with the settlement as its administrative centre.

Lonsdale arrived at Port Phillip with his wife Martha, 7-month-old daughter Alice and his one assigned servant, on board HMS Rattlesnake, commanded by Hobson.

On 1 October 1836 Lonsdale was formally rowed up the Yarra River and was met by John Batman and Dr Thompson and other assembled settlers.

[21] In December 1842 Charles Dowling arrived in Melbourne and would soon be a merchant concentrating on 'the settlers' trade', providing merchandise for the squatters and buying their produce which he would ship to England.

He bought a weatherboard building on the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane, and set up a business as a classer and packer of wool for sale in England.

In 1843 there was a panic which was attributed to an influx of British capital being used for land speculations, with the money being deposited in banks at interest, lent to squatters, and its sudden withdrawal for the purpose of remitting to London in payment for immigration and other demands.

The first sale of Crown lands in St Kilda took place on 7 December 1842, and the wealthy began building houses by the seashore, and a port developed at Williamstown.

[29][30] Simon Wonga made moves to reclaim land for Kulin people to settle on in 1859, but they were not successful until 1863 when the surviving members of the Wurundjeri and other Woiwurrung speakers were given 'permissive occupancy' of Coranderrk Station, near Healesville and forcibly resettled.

[5] In July 1851 the successful agitation of the Port Phillip settlers led to the establishment of Victoria as a separate colony, and La Trobe became its first Lieutenant-Governor.

There arose a huge wave of social unrest urging the opening of the lands in rural Victoria for small yeoman farming.

[citation needed] The accelerated population growth and the enormous wealth of the goldfields fuelled a boom which lasted for forty years, and ushered in the era known as "marvellous Melbourne."

Wealthy new suburbs like South Yarra, Toorak, Kew and Malvern grew up, while the working classes settled in Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy.

The influx of educated gold seekers from England led to rapid growth of schools, churches, learned societies, libraries and art galleries.

Immigration dried up, emigration to the goldfields of Western Australia and South Africa increased, and the high birthrate of the mid 19th century fell sharply and the city's growth continued, but very slowly.

Melbourne nevertheless remained the centre of the Commonwealth Public Service, the Australian Defence Forces, and as the location of the High Court of Australia for some time afterwards.

During World War II, although Canberra was officially the capital, most of the military and civilian administration was centred in Melbourne, and the city's economy benefited from wartime full employment and the influx of American service personnel (including General Douglas MacArthur, who briefly made his headquarters in Collins St before relocating to Brisbane).

Unlike prewar immigration, which had been mostly from the British Isles, the postwar program brought an influx of Europeans, at first mostly refugees from eastern and central Europe.

The end of the White Australia Policy brought the first significant Asian migration to Melbourne since the gold rushes, with large numbers of people from Vietnam, Cambodia and China arriving.

Increasing urban sprawl spread from Werribee in the south-west to Healesville in the north-east and encompassing much of the Mornington Peninsula and Dandenong Ranges to the south and east.

In the early years of the 21st century, Melbourne entered a new period of high economic and population growth under the more cautious Labor government of Steve Bracks, which restored public expenditure on health and education.

The city's Central Business District experienced a major resurgence in the 2000s, aided by a large increase in inner-city apartment living, the opening of new public spaces such as Federation Square and the new Southern Cross railway station, a determined marketing campaign by Lord Mayor John So's City Council and continuing development of the Southbank and Docklands precincts.

In 2009 the Victorian Government announced plans to extend the city's urban growth boundary, potentially rezoning green wedges and agricultural land for housing development.

[42] Despite lack of a progressive economy, general lack of government funding for public services such as public transport, and continued unsustainable urban growth, the city has seen sustained growth in its cultural institutions such as art, music, literature, performance, etc., as many contributors to and patrons of the arts relocate to Melbourne amongst excellent independent community support structures such as press and radio and a thriving cultural community.