Melbourne is the second plus big city of Australia, and the Capitale of the State of Victoria. She counted 3  689  700 inhabitants in 2006.

Geography

Melbourne is located in the south-east of Australia, at the edge of the bay of port Philipp, and its suburbs extend towards the east while skirting the Yarra river. The center town (conceived by Robert Hoddle), measurement a thousand (1 609 m) length on a half-thousand broad. This plan of streets hippodamien (cutting itself to right angle) bears the name of Hoddle Grid . Melbourne is a great industrial and commercial center, and many multinationals established their Australian seat there. It is also the largest port of the country, and factories of automotive engineering there are found (Ford, Toyota, Holden). Melbourne has several universities (University off Melbourne, Monash University, Deakin University, Victoria University off Technology, Trobe University, RMIT University), it is served by an international airport located at Tullamarine.

History

Melbourne was built on the grounds of the Wurundjeri, people indigenous native of this area.

Founded in 1835 by two groups of free colonists tasmaniens, with their heads John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner , respectively, it differs in that from many of other Australian cities which were at the origin of the penal settlements. With the discovery of Gold in the center of Victoria in 1850, Melbourne and its port became a required passage and took importance quickly. In the Years 1880, it had become the second city of the British Empire and carried the nickname of Melbourne splendid the . It thus was among the first cities of the world to be obtained a tram. It preserves this time many buildings of style victorien.

Since the creation of the Australian federation in 1901, until the construction of Canberra in 1927, Melbourne was capital of Australia, sits of the government and the Parliament.

The city continued its regular expansion during the 20th century, with the arrival of immigrants after the Second world war and the prestige brought by the behavior of the Olympic Games in 1956. It was indeed the first time that the plays took place in the southern hemisphere, (the second occasion being Sydney in 2000). Moreover, in spite of a satisfactory growth, Sydney gradually took the ascending one at the expense of Melbourne. The government Liberal party of Jeff Kennett tried to revitalize the city in the Années 1990, in particular by an aggressive policy of construction of new public buildings (whose Crown Casino , Melbourne Museum , Melbourne Exposition Center ). The government again changed majority (Steve Bracks of the workers party), but the growth continues on a correct level. One of the principal urban developments in progress is the construction of the district of the Docks, old commercial port, thus making it possible Melbourne more to open towards the ocean, with the image of its Sydney rival.

Climate


Melbourne has a remarkable oceanic climate by its abrupt changes. This is with several factors: the fact that the city is in plain, close to bay of Phillip Port, near the Dandenong chain in the east. The sentence " four seasons in a jour" fact part of the popular speech and can be checked by many visitors.

Melbourne is the coldest capital of the Australian Commonwealth with the maximum temperature lowest of 4,4 °C on July 4th, 1901. However the snowfalls are very rare; the last snowfall melted dated July 25th, 1986 and the most recent snowfall in Dandenongs of August 10th, 2005 and of November 15th, 2006. There no was snowfall with Melbourne since 1951 but the city rather frequently makes the experiment of frozen and the fog.

During spring, Melbourne benefits from long periods of blue sky and soft temperatures.

Melbourne is also famous for its hot summers - with temperatures exceeding the 40°C - and dry. The record of temperature is of 45,6 °C on January 23rd, 1939 during a heatwave 4 days.

In 2006, Melbourne knew one of its stronger periods of dryness (316 mm of rain between on May 16th, 2006 and on May 15th, 2007) with an absence of rain in September and October 2006, the two most rainy months normally for the city. The records of temperature were beaten.

Public transport

The city has a network of Métro, Tramway and buses, accessible by a common ticket that is called “Metcard”. Tariffing is based on a cutting in 2 urban areas.

For more information, to see the site of Metlink.

Tram

Melbourne is the only Australian city to have preserved its network of tram, which serves the center town and it outskirts of the city. It is in fact one of the networks most extended to the world, which gently continues to grow. The old oars painted in green and gold were a true symbol for the city, but the majority of the recent oars are covered with publicity. Old the W-class trams out of wood was gradually withdrawn from the service because of problems of braking, and do not circulate any more but on some tourist lines. Modern oars built by Alstom Transport made their appearance in 2001, and the shelters of the stops of tram started to be systematically renovated since 2002.

Suburban trains

The suburban rail network comprises 15 electrified lines which largely serve the agglomeration and the suburbs. They meet in the center town, where the stations and the lines are underground or in Viaduc. The correspondence with the regional railroads is carried out with Southern Cross Station , in the center town. The oars are in the course of restoration, but oldest do not have air-conditioning yet, which causes the dissatisfaction with the users for the summer period.

Bus

The Autobus are mainly used to connect between them the zones of suburbs not served by the subway or the tram, and to reach the urban rail network.

Sites to be visited and demonstrations

  • MCG ( Melbourne Cricket Ground ). From April at September (the winter season in Australia), one plays there Australian Football or Footy. This spectacular and convivial sport is very appreciated in this country and in particular in this State (Victoria). One can attend the various matches of the championship for a reasonable price. During the summer, there are of course several competitions of Cricket, most important being that of the Boxing Day , which is located between Christmas and the new year.

  • the Melbourne Park , which accommodates in January the Open of Australia, one of the four principal tournaments of the Grand Slam of Tennis.

  • the Melbourne Museum is located at the North-East of the center town, near the old building built for the World Fair of 1880. One can see there the skin of the famous racehorse Phar Lap , true Australian national hero of the Années 1920. In a more technical register, one also preserved at it the CSIRAC , fifth built electronic computer, and the last of his generation to being still in operating condition. The complex also shelters a cinema IMAX.

  • the library State Library off Victoria , typical with her immense room of reading in the shape of dome and a decorated turfed floor of statues.

  • the National Gallery off Victoria , recently restored, shelters collections of classic art and contemporary.

  • the Victorian Arts Centers with Southgate, where occur the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra , Melbourne Theater Company , Australian Ballet Company and Chunky Move (most famous formation of Australian contemporary dance).

  • the Crown Casino , along the Yarra river, is an enormous complex of play, a kind of miniature Las Vegas, with its restaurants, discotheques, hotels, cinemas and shops of luxury.

  • the district of the docks (Docklands), which profited from recent installations and account many restaurants of quality.

  • the Championnats of the world of swimming 2007 were held in Melbourne.

  • Melbourne accommodates the Grand Prix of Formula 1 of Australia , which is generally the first Grand Prix of the season. However, this title will be taken to him by the international circuit of Bahrain before remaking its appearance with the first cabins for the season 2007.

Celebrities

  • Tina Arena, French-speaking Australian singer (° November 1st 1967)
  • Kylie Minogue, anglophone Australian singer (° May 28th 1968)
  • Mark Viduka, Australian Footballer evolving/moving with Middlesbrough
  • Michael Balzary, bass player of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, born on October 16th, 1962. It will settle at the 4 years age to New York
  • Dominic Purcell, Australian actor American lived there being young
  • Emily Browning, Australian actor, currently living has Melbourne.
  • Eric Bana, Australian actor, born on August 9th, 1968 in Melbourne, and always lives there; played in the films " The fall of the falcon noir" (2001), " Hulk" (2003), " Troie" (2004), " Munich" (2005), " Lucky You" (2007).

Twinnings

Bonds

Interns

External

  • Wikitravel : English tourist guide
  • the Alliance Fran1caise of Melbourne

Simple: Melbourne Zh-yue: 墨爾本

Random links:Penguin | Abbey of Moutier-Grandval | Pitt island | Route secondary road 940 (Center) | Ranunculus glacialis

© 2007-2008 speedlook.com; article text available under the terms of GFDL, from fr.wikipedia.org