Capital city of Victoria, Australia
About Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria and the second-most populous city in Australia. The city's name generally refers to a 9,993-square-kilometre (3,858 sq mi) area, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local government areas. The name is also used specifically to refer to the local government area also named the City of Melbourne, whose administrative area is centred on the Melbourne central business district and some immediate surrounds.
Name
The Port Phillip area of Melbourne is known in the Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung languages as Narrm. Different parts of Melbourne have different traditional indigenous names, though traditional indigenous area names don't match up exactly with modern council districts. The Melbourne city area, near the St Pauls (or possibly St Patricks) cathedrals was called Geeburr, Fitzroy area was referred to as Ngár-go and Collingwood was known as Yálla-birr-ang in the Woiwurrung language. The wider Port Phillip Bay area is referred to as Naarm in the Woiwurrung language and means "the Bay" in the Boonwurrung language.
History
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. …
Geography
Melbourne is in the southeastern part of mainland Australia, within the state of Victoria. Geologically, it is built on the confluence of Quaternary lava flows to the west, Silurian mudstones to the east, and Holocene sand accumulation to the southeast along Port Phillip. The southeastern suburbs are situated on the Selwyn fault, which transects Mount Martha and Cranbourne. The western portion of the metropolitan area lies within the Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands vegetation community, and the southeast falls in the Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland zone. Melbourne extends northward through the undulating bushland valleys of the Yarra Valley's tributaries—Moonee Ponds Creek (toward Melbourne Airport), Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and Plenty River. The city reaches southeast through Dandenong to the growth corridor of Pakenham towards West Gippsland. …
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