MELBOURNE

city, Brevard county, central Florida, U.S. It lies along the Indian River (a lagoon) and the Atlantic coast. Thomas Mason, a retired professor from Cambridge, Eng., first settled the site in 1878, and the community was supposedly named by its first postmaster, C.J. Hector, from Melbourne, Australia. A passenger steamer service existed until the Florida East Coast Railroad arrived in 1893. Tourism (yachting and sport fishing), truck farming, citrus growing, gladiolus culture, and cattle raising provided the town's early economic base. Since 1950 Melbourne's growth has been influenced by the space complex at Cape Canaveral and an influx of aerospace industries. The city is the site of the Florida Institute of Technology, founded as Brevard Engineering College in 1958. In 1969 Melbourne consolidated with Eau Gallie, near Patrick Air Force Base. The Melbourne bone beds, a series of deposits along the east coast, contain important Pleistocene fossil remains of extinct animals. The towns of Melbourne Beach and Indialantic can be reached across the lagoon via the Melbourne Causeway. Inc. town, 1887; city, 1913. Pop. (1990) city, 59,646; MelbourneTitusvillePalm Bay MSA, 398,978. city, capital of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is located at the head of Port Phillip Bay, on the southeastern coast. Although the officially defined city is the home of fewer than 65,000 people, it is the core of an extensive metropolitan area, the world's most southerly such area with a population of more than 1,000,000. The Melbourne Statistical Division, which includes all areas in close economic and social contact with the central city, covers 2,359 square miles (6,109 square kilometres). The continuous, densely settled metropolis, where a vast majority of the residents live, is less than half the size of the larger division. In Australia its metropolitan area is second only to Sydney's in population, and there is a good-natured rivalry between the two cities, to which geography and history have bequeathed diverse characteristics. Though Melbourne's flat site has led to the regular development of a rectangular pattern of streets, the city has many beautiful parks, and the person with an eye for architectural detail and history can find much that is varied and attractive. Melbourne has a reputation for conservatism and financial soundnessattributes that have contributed to its growth and are revealed by the burgeoning skyline of the central city and the rapidly expanding eastern suburbs. city, capital of the state of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia. Situated on the southeastern coast of Australia at the head of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne is the world's southernmost urban area of more than 1,000,000 people. Formerly (190127) the capital of Australia, Melbourne is rivaled in size and importance on the continent only by the city of Sydney. For census and planning purposes, the sprawling city of Melbourne has two boundaries. The outer boundary, defining the Melbourne Statistical Division, includes all areas in close economic and social contact with the central city; the division contains about 70 percent of Victoria's population. The inner boundary encloses the Melbourne metropolitan area, which occupies a flat site at the northern end of the bay and is drained by the Yarra River and its main tributaries. The city's climate is temperate; average daily maximum temperatures vary from 55 F (13 C) in July to 79 F (26 C) in January, and the average annual rainfall is 26 inches (657 mm). Melbourne dominates the economic life of Victoria and is the centre of major financial institutions. The city's most important industries include metal processing, engineering, textile and clothing manufacture, food processing, papermaking and printing, and the manufacture of chemicals and building materials. The inner city has been declining in industrial importance as new activitiesproduction of automobiles, rubber goods, chemicals, and refined oilshave become established in the outer suburbs. Large regional shopping centres have been constructed in the rapidly growing eastern and southern suburbs. The main imports passing into Melbourne's fine sheltered harbour include newsprint and paper, iron and steel, chemicals, motor vehicles, and textiles; chief exports include wool, petroleum products, and food products. The heart of Melbourne is on the northern bank of the Yarra, 3 miles (5 km) from the bay. It is dissected into square blocks by long main streets. Commercial areas include Swanston, Elizabeth, Bourke, Collins, and Queen streets. The city is circled by parks and sports fields. Melbourne has developed asymmetrically, with the western shores of the bay relatively underdeveloped in comparison with the residential eastern shore areas of Frankston, Mornington, and Flinders. The University of Melbourne (1853), La Trobe University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Monash University are the main centres of higher education. The public library has a collection of rare books of the earliest European printers. A major cultural facility is the Victorian Arts Centre (1968), which houses art galleries, theatres, auditoriums, studios, and study areas; the performing arts are well-represented in the city. Melbourne's public transport is provided by electric trains, buses, and old-fashioned but efficient tramcars. An underground loop extending the service of the suburban electric railways was opened in 1981. Traffic congestion has risen with the increasing popularity of automobile travel, necessitating improvements in the road network. Melbourne's port serves overseas passengers in addition to a high tonnage of freight. An international airport is located to the northwest near suburban Tullamarine. Area city, 12.1 square miles (31.4 square km); statistical division, 2,359 square miles (6,110 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 60,485; statistical division, 3,022,157. Additional reading W.H. Newnham, Melbourne: Biography of a City (1985), an excellent historical account; Anthony Harvey (comp.), The Melbourne Book (1982), a good general description; J.S. Duncan (ed.), Atlas of Victoria (1982), which includes many well-illustrated references to Melbourne; and Graeme Davison, The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne (1978), an economic history. See also Australian Bureau Of Statistics, Victorian Year Book (annual), invaluable for statistics and developments in the area, with a good bibliography; and "Greater Melbourne, International Demographics, 5(3):19, 12 (March 1986), for recent demographic data on the city. John R.V. Prescott History Early settlement Port Phillip Bay was discovered by Europeans in 1802, when captains John Murray and Matthew Flinders visited the bay within a few months of each other. This area was then part of the colony of New South Wales, and the colony's governor, Philip Gidley King, instructed the surveyor-general, Charles Grimes, to examine the shores of the bay with a view to identifying sites for future settlement. In 1803 Grimes and his party discovered the Yarra River and traveled along its lower course. Unlike some members of the party, Grimes was not enthusiastic about the Yarra River as a potential settlement. Later in the same year Captain David Collins arrived with a contingent of soldiers and convicts and settled near Sorrento, just inside the entrance to the bay on the east coast. Within a few months, however, he decided that the location was unsuitable and moved his group to Tasmania. Permanent settlement was delayed until 1835, when a pioneer settler and entrepreneur, John Batman, negotiated a treaty with the Aboriginal elders for the purchase of 500,000 acres at the head of Port Phillip Bay. The price he paid for the land was 40 blankets, 30 axes, 100 knives, 50 scissors, 30 mirrors, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour, and six shirts. Batman and his heirs were bound by the treaty to provide an annual rent of tribute of similar items. A few days after the treaty was signed, Batman left, and two months later a party led by another pioneer, John Fawkner, settled on the banks of the Yarra River. There has been much debate about whether Batman or Fawkner should be regarded as the founder of Melbourne. Both seem to have an equal claim, but if the term is interpreted to include expansion and consolidation of the settlement, then the honour must go to Fawkner. Within four years of signing his treaty, which had been disallowed by the Governor of New South Wales, Batman died, at age 38; his financial affairs were in disarray, and prolonged litigation over his will destroyed the estate he had created. Fawkner lived to the age of 76. He died in Melbourne in 1869 after a rewarding career in which he established hotels, a newspaper, and a bookselling business, acquired large areas of land, and held a seat on the Legislative Council for 18 years. Melbourne is distinguished from the other Australian state capitals in that it was founded unofficially, by individual enterprise. Once Batman, Fawkner, and others had established the settlement in 1835, the government in Sydney had to recognize the fact. In 1836 the first administrator of the Port Phillip District arrived, and in 1837 the new settlement was given its present name honouring the British prime minister, Lord Melbourne. Melbourne became a town in 1842 and a city in 1847, but its first main surge in growth came in the early 1850s following the discovery of gold near Bendigo and Ballarat less than 100 miles away. In three years the population of Melbourne increased fourfold to 80,000. Growth of the city Melbourne capitalized on its central position within Victoria and its port facilities to capture most of the region's trade. Between 1856 and 1873, railways were built to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca, and Wodonga, and in 1883 a link with the New South Wales rail system was established at Albury. In 1877 the Melbourne Harbour Trust was created, and the Coode Canal was cut in the soft alluvial sediments of the lower Yarra River to provide a more direct course free from silting problems. During the 1870s manufacturing flourished under the protection of a high tariff, and progress in most spheres continued until 1889, when a financial crisis and the collapse of many firms lowered public confidence. The following decade witnessed a severe economic depression that began with a maritime strike and the failure of a number of banks and was sealed by seven years of drought from 1895 to 1902. In the decade before 1891 the population of Melbourne had increased by 200,000; in the following decade it rose by only 6,000. In the early years of the 20th century, confidence gradually revived. Australia became a commonwealth, and Melbourne served as its federal capital until 1927, when Canberra was established. World Wars I and II encouraged the growth of manufacturing, and after 1945 European immigrants began to arrive in significant numbers. After 1971 Melbourne's rate of growth slackened as immigration declined, and economic conditions worsened through the 1970s and early 1980s. Nevertheless, during this period of slower population growth a number of major changes took place. The appearance of the inner city was transformed by the replacement of old buildings with multistory office structures and hotels. The system of arterial roads was improved dramatically. Several important suburban economic areas emerged, reducing the retail and industrial importance of the city's centre. And the cultural life of the city was immeasurably enlivened by the completion of the Victorian Arts Centre.