Timeline of Melbourne history

This is a timeline of major events in the history of the city of Melbourne, Australia.

Chart of Melbourne's population growth since first settlement in 1851.

18th century

• 1797 - George Bass explores the south-east coast of Australia

19th century

A map dating to the 1880s shows the well-established suburbs of Melbourne.

• 1800 - James Grant explores the south-east of Australia
• 1801 - John Murray sails into Port Phillip Bay in the Lady Nelson
• 1803 - Charles Robbins and Charles Grimes explore entirety of Port Phillip Bay and discover the Yarra River in the Buffalo
• 1803 - David Collins sent from Sydney to establish a settlement for the British Government. Unaware of previous discoveries, Collins settles near present-day Sullivan Bay on the Mornington Peninsula. This settlement is abandoned five months later.
• 1834 - The Henty family establish first long-term European settlement in Victoria at Portland
• 1835 - John Batman sails to the mouth of the Yarra from Tasmania in the Rebecca
• 1835 - John Batman 'buys' the 2,430 km² that Melbourne would be founded on from the local Aboriginal nation, the Wurundjeri, with blankets and trinkets
• 1835 - Melbourne is founded by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner
• 1836 - Lonsdale built the first government block, declaring Melbourne the capital of the Port Phillip district Lewis, Miles (1995). Melbourne the city's history and development, 2nd ed. City of Melbourne.
• 1837 - March 28 -The Hoddle Grid of streets for the central business district is surveyed by Robert Hoddle
• 1837 - June 1 - First inner-city land sale
• 1838 - Melbourne is declared a legal port and administrative centre, opening the way for vastly increased immigration
• 1838 - Melbourne Cricket Club is founded
• 1838 - Second inner-city land sale
• 1839 - Third inner-city land sale. Qarrying of bluestone began out of the Melbourne Corporation Quarry at Clifton Hill.
• 1841 - First seaport and market are opened
• 1842 - Melbourne Municipal Corporation Act was passed in Sydney. Melbourne City Council is formed.
• 1845 - first Princes Bridge constructed connecting both sides of the Yarra
• 1847 - Melbourne declared a city by Queen Victoria on 25 June.^[1]
• 1847 - Melbourne Building Act was passed in 1847 based on Sydney act of 1833.
• 1848 - Melbourne Hospital founded (from 1935 the hospital is called The Royal Melbourne Hospital)
• 1851 - Beginning of the Victorian gold rush with discovery of gold in Ballarat
• 1851 - Victoria becomes a separate colony from New South Wales
• 1851 - First state Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe inaugurated
• 1852 - City's first gas works is opened
• 1853 - The University of Melbourne is founded
• 1854 - The Melbourne Terminus (first Flinders Street Station building) is completed
• 1854 - First steam railway journey in Australia from Flinders Street Station to Port Melbourne (then Sandridge)
• 1854 - Melbourne Exhibition held in conjunction with Exposition Universelle (1855)
• 1854 - The State Library of Victoria is founded
• 1854 - First telegraph service, to Williamstown
• 1854 - The first Town Hall is completed
• 1855 - First state Governor Sir Charles Hotham inaugurated
• 1855 - The Melbourne Museum is founded
• 1856 - Stonemasons win the Eight hour day
• 1857 - First reservoir water supply (at Yan Yean Reservoir) tapped outside city limits
• 1857 - Queen Victoria Market is founded
• 1857 - Australia's first country railway from Geelong to Melbourne is built
• 1858 - 31 July - first game of Australian rules football played between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College
• 1858 - August 7 - Melbourne Football Club, Australia's oldest football club is founded
• 1858 - First inter-city telegraph services, to Adelaide and Sydney
• 1859 - Spencer Street Station (then Batman's Hill Station) and Princes Gate Station completed
• 1859 - Construction of the General Post Office begins construction
• 1859 - First Melbourne Trades Hall building opened.
• 1860 - The Burke and Wills expedition departed from Royal Park.
• 1861 - National Gallery of Victoria is founded
• 1861 - First Melbourne Cup
• 1861 - Victorian Exhibition held
• 1861 - Melbourne's population reaches 125,000
• 1862 - Melbourne Zoo founded
• 1863 - Batman's Hill levelled
• 1865 - Melbourne overtakes Sydney to become Australia's largest city
• 1866 - Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia held
• 1867 - The current Town Hall begins construction
• 1869 - The Royal Mint is completed
• 1874 - The Supreme Court building is completed
• 1875 - Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition held
• 1877 - First ever Test cricket match. First season of the Victorian Football Association.
• 1878 - Xavier College, in Kew, is founded after the increased need of boarding space for the oldest Jesuit School in Melbourne, St. Pat's.
• 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building opened
• 1880 - Melbourne International Exhibition held
• 1884 - Victorian International Exhibition held
• 1885 - First cable tram line opens in the Melbourne cable tramway system
• 1885 - Victorians' Jubilee Exhibition
• 1887 - The current Town Hall is completed
• 1888 - Victorian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition and Centennial International Exhibition held
• 1890 - The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works is formed
• 1897 - First season of the Victorian Football League
• 1897 - First part of the mains sewage system becomes operational

20th century

• 1900 - The Puffing Billy Railway opens
• 1900 - Construction of the current Flinders Street Station building begins
• 1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia is formed. Melbourne becomes national capital
• 1902 - Sydney overtakes Melbourne as Australia's most populous city
• 1903 - The City Baths are opened
• 1905 - First Australian Open championship
• 1906 - First electric tram service commences
• 1907 - The General Post Office is completed
• 1910 - Current Flinders Street Station building is completed
• 1913 - The Domed Reading Room of the State Library is opened
• 1916 - Strict height limit of 32 feet (40 metres) imposed onll buildings
• 1919 - Electric suburban train services commence on the Broadmeadows line
• 1923 - W-class Melbourne trams introduced.
• 1923 - 1923 Victorian Police strike
• 1924 - first radio station 3AR
• 1927 - Federal Parliament is moved to Canberra, the new national capital
• 1928 - Melbourne City Council installs city's first set of traffic lights at Collins and Swanston streets
• 1940 - Last cable tram service ends operation
• 1943 - Russell Street Police Headquarters building is completed
• 1954 - April - Victorian Railways closes the Puffing Billy Railway
• 1954 - First Moomba parade
• 1954 - Proposal to destroy much of East Melbourne and Jolimont to make way for an inner city ringroad.
• 1955 - City's first parking meters are installed
• 1955 - ICI building given special exception from CBD height limits
• 1956 - First television station HSV-7
• 1956 - The Olympic Games held in Melbourne
• 1957 - Plot ratio hight limits introduced to CBD (dependent upon floor space and light angles), plazas and open space. By laws introduced for compulsory carspace for all new city buildings. 1.45m Setbacks for 'Little' streets introduced to widen footpaths.
• 1959 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl opened
• 1961 - Proposal to demolish Flinders Street station and replace it with office blocks.
• 1962 - The Puffing Billy Railway is re-opened as a tourist attraction
• 1967 - first woman city councillor Clare Cascarret
• 1969 - Proposal to demolish the Regent Theatre for multi-storey development.
• 1970 - October 15 - 35 construction workers die when a span of the West Gate Bridge collapses
• 1974 - Underground Rail Loop begins construction
• 1975 - Z-class tram introduced
• 1982 - The City Loop subway is opened
• 1985 - Port Melbourne and St Kilda train lines are converted to light rail
• 1985 - B-class trams introduced
• 1986 - Car-bombing outside the Russell Street Police Headquarters kills one police officer
• 1986 - Rialto Towers completed and becomes the city's tallest building as well as the tallest in the southern hemisphere
• 1986 - Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman is stolen from National Gallery of Victoria by activists. Returned a week later
• 1987 - Hoddle Street Massacre, killing 7 and injuring 19.
• 1987 - Queen Street Massacre, killing 8 and injuring 5.
• 1990 - Southbank promenade opens, paving the way for urban renewal in Southbank, Victoria
• 1991 - Melbourne experiences severe economic slump; City property markets crash and CBD vacancy rates reach all time high.
• 1992 - Pedestrianization of Swanston Street creates Swanston Street Walk
• 1992 - Postcode 3000 policy attracts residents to the city centre, warehouses and offices are converted into apartments and CBD vacancy rates drop.
• 1994 - Opening of the Melbourne Observation Deck in Rialto Towers
• 1994 - Tasty nightclub raid
• 1996 - Development of the Docklands area begins
• 1996 - Construction of the CityLink freeways begins
• 1996 - Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre opens
• 1996 - Melbourne wins right to host Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake
• 1997 - Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex, Melbourne's first gambling centre opens.
• 1999 - New Melbourne Museum officially opens
• 1999 - Bolte Bridge open for traffic.

21st century

• 2000 - The CityLink freeways open, including two new tunnels, a new cross-harbour bridge, and electronic tolling
• 2000 - Docklands Stadium (later renamed Colonial Stadium, currently Telstra Dome) completed
• 2000 - March 6 - Bourke Street redevelopment
• 2002 - Controversial Melbourne 2030 planning policy introduced. Aimed to increase population in designated 'activity centres' and curb urban sprawl. Promises to increase public transport usage to 20% of motorised trips by 2020.
• 2006 - Commonwealth Games Held
• 2010 - Population expected to reach 4,000,000
• 2015 - Expected completion of docklands.

See also

• History of Melbourne

References

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