Culture of Melbourne
Encyclopedia
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(the capital of Victoria, Australia) reflects its diverse, multi-layered culture and society and the city is widely noted as the "cultural and sporting capital" of Australia.
Melbourne's culture draws on Western culture
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
and the culture of Australia
Culture of Australia
The culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and by the diverse input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of Australia...
, and cultures of the world, however it branches into its own local culture through a number of local traditions and strong themes with the Melburnian emphasis on the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s (particularly the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, culinary art
Culinary art
Culinary art is the art of preparing and cooking foods. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking. A culinarion is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are...
s and visual arts) as well as sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, sporting traditions and recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
. Melbourne is also a major centre of activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, including the Australian trade union movement.
Melbourne has many cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, events and festivals, public/street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
, popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, live music, film, independent music and independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
and fashion.
The city celebrates a wide variety of major annual cultural events from local to national and international events.
Melbourne has thrice shared top position in a survey by The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
of the World's Most Livable Cities
World's Most Livable Cities
The world's most liveable cities is an informal name given to any list of cities as they rank on a reputable annual survey of living conditions. Two examples are the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and The Economists World's Most Livable Cities .Liveability rankings are designed for use by...
on the basis of - its cultural attributes; climate; cost of living; and social conditions such as crime rates and health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Melbourne has a number of cultural hubs including the Victorian Arts Precinct with its distinctive spire and Federation Square
Federation Square
Federation Square is a civic centre and cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
which has become one of the city's main cultural hubs and tourist centres with its distinctive architecture, large digital screen and public space it attracts congregations, rallies and public viewing of sporting events.
Festivals and events
Melbourne is home to a range of international festivals, most notably the Melbourne International Comedy FestivalMelbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
, Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
, Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne Festival is a celebration of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held for 17 days each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia.-History:...
, Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is held in early April each year, in Melbourne, Victoria .It is located in the World Heritage Site of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens ....
, Melbourne International Air Show and the Melbourne International Animation Festival
Melbourne International Animation Festival
The Melbourne International Animation Festival or MIAF is an annual animation festival held in Melbourne. Supported by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Australian Film Commission and the Melbourne City Council, it is Australia's largest animation event. Over the course of the...
.
- The Royal Melbourne ShowRoyal Melbourne ShowThe Royal Melbourne Show is an agricultural show held at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds every September. The Royal Show began in 1848. The focus of the show is the display of rural industry, including livestock and produce. There are associated competitions and awards...
is a Melbourne tradition since 1848. - Boxing Day TestBoxing Day TestThe Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match hosted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team which is touring Australia that summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground...
has been a Melbourne cricket tradition since 1950. - MyerMyerMyer is Australia's largest department store chain, retailing a broad range of merchandise including women's, men's and children's clothing, footwear and accessories; cosmetics and fragrance; homewares; electrical; furniture and bedding; toys; books and stationery; food and confectionery; and...
Christmas Windows began in 1956 and later the Myer Christmas ParadeMyer Christmas ParadeMyer Christmas Parade is an annual event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia organised by Myer department stores in conjunction with the City of Melbourne. Attracting a crowd of over 40,000, the parade commences at the top of Spring Street and ends outside Myer's flagship Melbourne store on...
. - MoombaMoombaMoomba is Australia's largest free community festival and one of the longest running festivals in Australia. Held annually in the city of Melbourne, Australia, Moomba is celebrated during the Labour Day long weekend , and has been celebrated since 1955...
is an annual festival which began in 1955 and celebrates the Yarra RiverYarra RiverThe Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
, the Birdman Rally is also a Melbourne tradition. - Several Melbourne traditions have developed around Australian rules footballAustralian rules footballAustralian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
(either by embracing or rejecting it), particularly the annual AFL Grand FinalAFL Grand FinalThe AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
sporting event, including the Grand Final Parade and the Punk Pub Crawl. - ANZAC DayANZAC DayAnzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
parade to the Shrine of Remembrance and also the Anzac Day clash. - Melbourne Spring Racing CarnivalMelbourne Spring Racing CarnivalThe Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is the name of a Melbourne, Australia Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually during October and November .-The Carnival and its status in the wider community:...
- Melbourne Fringe FestivalMelbourne Fringe FestivalThe Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia. The Festival runs for three weeks from late September to early October, usually overlapping with the beginning of the Melbourne International Arts Festival...
- MidsummaMidsummaMidsumma is an annual lesbian and gay festival held during January and February in Melbourne, Australia.Each year over 80,000 individuals across Melbourne and Australia participate in and attend Midsumma Festival events....
- Melbourne Winter Masterpieces
- St Kilda FestivalSt Kilda FestivalThe St Kilda Festival is a popular community festival held in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. Traditionally held on the second Sunday in February, the festival is about showcasing live Australian music, family and children's entertainment, beach activities and much more all presented in a...
- Melbourne Jazz FestivalMelbourne Jazz FestivalThe Melbourne International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz music festival held in Melbourne, Australia from 4 - 13 June 2011.-History:The Melbourne International Jazz Festival was first held in 1998....
- Melbourne Food and Wine FestivalMelbourne Food and Wine FestivalLaunched in 1993, the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is one of Victoria’s hallmark events. Each March the festival celebrates Melbourne and Victoria’s vibrant food and wine culture...
- Brunswick Street Street Party/High Street Street Party
- Big Day Out Music Festival
- Sydney Road Street PartySydney Road Street PartyThe Sydney Road Street Party is one of a number of large street-based festivals in Melbourne, Australia. While many other festivals of this type in Melbourne celebrate a particular occasion or cultural group, the Sydney Road Street Party celebrates the cultural diversity of one of Melbourne's most...
- Brunswick Music Festival
Several national traditions originated in Melbourne: The Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
has been a Melbourne tradition since 1861 and then became a national tradition - the "Race that Stops the Nation";Carols by Candlelight
Carols by Candlelight
Carols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in the 1930s. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by...
, first held in 1938, is a Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
tradition;
Myer Christmas Windows; and the AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
.
There are a number of cultural festivals which celebrate foreign cultures in the context of the city's culture. Major festivals for Melbourne's large ethnic communities include:
- Greek Antipodes Festival
- Melbourne Italian Festival
- Asian Food Festival
- Australian Chinese New Year
Parades and protests
Melbourne's original plan, the Hoddle GridHoddle Grid
The Hoddle Grid is the layout of the streets in the centre of the central business district of Melbourne. Named after its designer, Robert Hoddle, the Grid was laid out in 1837, and later extended...
was designed to be devoid of public meeting spaces and squares in a bid by Governor Gipps to discourage democracy. However Melburnians have defied this anti-democratic planning with a history punctuated by public cultural expression and vocal activism.
The city's wide thoroughfares became the conduit for the city's parades, marches and rallies. Swanston Street
Swanston Street, Melbourne
Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Australia. It is historically one of the main streets of central Melbourne, laid out in 1837 as part of the Hoddle Grid, the layout of major streets that makes up the central business district...
and Bourke Street
Bourke Street, Melbourne
Bourke Street is one of Melbourne's best known streets. Historically been regarded as Melbourne's "second street", with the main street being Collins Street and "busier than Bourke Street" is a popular catchphrase. Bourke Street has traditionally been Melbourne's entertainment hub...
are regarded widely as the civic spines of the city. More recently, Federation Square
Federation Square
Federation Square is a civic centre and cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
has become such a venue.
Some of the largest demonstrations in the southern hemisphere have taken place in Melbourne.
- 2005 Industrial relations demonstration - 250,000
- 2003 Anti-Iraq War demonstration - 150-200,000
- Melbourne Vietnam Moratorium - 150,000
- Save Live Australian Music rally - 20-50,000
Trade unionism
Australian Council of Trade Unions
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...
being headquartered in the city and the Australian Eight-hour day
Eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
began in Melbourne.
The Eureka flag
Eureka Flag
The Eureka Flag is a design; a dark blue field with a central white symmetric cross consisting five eight-pointed stars, representing the Crux constellation....
(of the Eureka Rebellion), a Victorian emblem is often used by protest groups.
Melbourne has a particularly punctuated history of strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
.
Arts
Melbourne has a vibrant arts scene, hosting the annual Melbourne International Arts FestivalMelbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne Festival is a celebration of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held for 17 days each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia.-History:...
as a celebration of its artistic tradition.
Opera and theatre
Australian Ballet Company
The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director...
are based in Melbourne. The National Theatre in St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
is the oldest ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
school in Australia. Ballet regularly features at the Victorian Arts Centre and the National Theatre. Melbourne is the second home of Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
after it merged with 'Victoria State Opera' in 1996. The Victorian Opera
Victorian Opera (Melbourne)
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 and commenced operations in January 2006 with funding from the Victorian government, and Richard Gill as Artistic Director...
had its inaugural season in 2006 and operates out of various venues in Melbourne.
The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic is a 120-voice choir and orchestra in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1853, and is reportedly Australia's oldest surviving cultural organisation....
was formed in 1853, making it Australia's oldest continuously existing musical organisation and the only orchestra in Australia to be bestowed 'royal' status. The Victoria Orchestra, based in Melbourne was Australia's first professional orchestra and performed during 1888–91. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
, first assembled in 1906, is now the city's premier orchestra and tours internationally.
There are more theatres and performance venues in Melbourne than any other city in Australia. The most notable include: the Melbourne Recital Centre
Melbourne Recital Centre
The Melbourne Recital Centre is Melbourne's second largest auditorium for classical music . It was opened in 2009, as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre complex, and is located on the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct,...
, David Marriner's Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre, Melbourne
The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...
, Regent Theatre
Regent Theatre, Melbourne
The Regent Theatre is a 2162 seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia. It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...
, Forum Theatre
Forum Theatre
The Forum Theatre is a theatre located on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. The building was designed by American architect John Eberson, who has designed many theatres across the globe, along with a local architectural firm...
, and the Comedy Theatre
Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
The Comedy Theatre is a 997 seat theatre in Melbourne. It was built in 1928, and was built in the Spanish style, with a Florentine-style exterior and wrought-iron balconies. It is located at 240 Exhibition Street, and diagonally opposite Her Majesty's Theatre, it is a part of the Marriner Theatre...
; the Athenaeum
Athenaeum, Melbourne
The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is one of the oldest public institutions in Victoria, Australia, founded in 1839. The first President was Captain William Lonsdale, the first Patron was the Superintendent of Port Philip, Charles La Trobe and the first books were donated by Vice-President Henry...
, Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne
Her Majesty's Theatre is a 1706 seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia. Built in 1886, it is located at 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. It is classified by the National Trust of Australia and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
, State Theatre
State Theatre (Melbourne)
Melbourne's original State Theatre was built in 1929 to seat 3,371 patrons and is situated on Flinders Street. It was conceived as an "atmospheric auditorium", a novelty in Melbourne at the time. Another notable feature was the dual-console Wurlitzer organ, the first to be built "west of Chicago",...
, Capitol Theatre
Capitol Theatre, Melbourne
Opened in 1924, The Capitol Theatre is a spectacularly designed single screen cinema located in Melbourne, Australia . On 20 May 1999, it was purchased by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology , and is currently used for both university lectures and cultural events such as film and comedy festivals...
, Palais Theatre
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre is a former cinema, now functioning exclusively as a concert venue, located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia....
and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank....
. Several professional theatre companies operate in Melbourne, of which the Melbourne Theatre Company
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...
, the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, has the most institutional support of any in Australia. There is also a range of smaller professional theatre companies in Melbourne, including the Malthouse, La Mama
La Mama Theatre (Melbourne)
The La Mama Theatre is a theatrical venue located at 205 Faraday St, Carlton, Victoria. It opened in a former factory building on 30 July 1967 and still operates today under the direction of Liz Jones....
in Carlton, Cariad Productions, the Red Stitch Actors Theatre and Theatreworks in St Kilda and an array of amateur companies that produce a professional standard of musical and straight theatre, such as OXAGEN Productions, the Malvern Theatre Company, CLOC, Catchment Players of Darebin, Altona City Theatre
Altona City Theatre
Altona City Theatre, or ACT, is a community based production company residing at the Altona Theatre in Altona, Victoria, Australia.The company is over 30 years old and has been at its home in the Altona Theatre for over half that time....
, Windmill Theatre Company
Windmill Theatre Company
Windmill Theatre Company Inc is a non-professional theatre company located in the outer-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Specifically, their activities occur, and the bulk of their members reside, in the municipalities of Casey, Cardinia and Dandenong...
and Dandenong Theatre Company.
Melbourne has a large number of buskers
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
(also known as street performers) that perform in the CBD and surroundings. Melbourne's musical buskers cater to a wide variety of tastes, from rock to world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australian music
Australian indigenous music includes the music of Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who are collectively called Indigenous Australians; it incorporates a variety of distinctive traditional music styles practiced by Indigenous Australian peoples, as well as a range of contemporary...
traditions. However, not all buskers are musicians. There are also living statue
Living statue
The term living statue refers to a mime artist who poses like a statue or mannequin, usually with realistic statue-like makeup, sometimes for hours at a time....
s, street artists and jugglers
Juggling
Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
.
Melbourne is known throughout Australia and the world as a centre of comedy. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
is one of the three largest stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
festivals in the world. The city is also home to many of Australia's top rating comedy television shows and many of the country's leading comedians either come from the city or call it home.
Melbourne will also be the host of the 2008 World Latin American Dance Championships. The competition will be housed in the Vodafone Arena and will be held immediately after the Australian Dancesport Championships. The Australian Dancesport championships will commence on the 10th of December and the World Latin Championships will be held on the 14th of December.
Melbourne-born satirist Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
created his main character Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna is a character created and played by Australian dadaist performer and comedian, Barry Humphries, famous for her lilac-coloured or "wisteria hue" hair and cat eye glasses or "face furniture," her favorite flower, the gladiola and her boisterous greeting: "Hello Possums!" As Dame Edna,...
as a comic version of a suburban homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. Through her, Humphries has written and performed cutting odes to Melbourne mores
Mores
Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....
and the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
suburbs of Moonee Ponds
Moonee Ponds, Victoria
Moonee Ponds is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moonee Valley.It is home to Queens Park and the Moonee Valley Racecourse...
and Highett
Highett, Victoria
Highett is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district and 2 km east of Port Phillip Bay. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside and the City of Kingston...
, among others.
Visual arts
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The Heidelberg school
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
in Melbourne, largely the work of Melbourne-based artists was the first significant art movement in Australia
Art of Australia
Australian art incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since prehistoric times. This includes Australian Aboriginal art, Australian Colonial art, Landscape, Atelier, Modernist and Contemporary art. The visual arts have a long history in Australia, with evidence of Aboriginal...
, beginning in the late 1880s. Many of its most significant works are held in the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
, one of Australia's premier collections of visual art. The strong art community culminated in significant artist colonies such as Heidelberg and Montsalvat
Montsalvat
Montsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, Victoria, Australia, established by Justus Jorgensen in 1934. It is home to over a dozen buildings, houses and halls set amongst richly established gardens on 48,562 m2 of land...
.
There are more than 100 galleries in Melbourne. In the city, NGV International and the Ian Potter Centre and Ian Potter Museum of Art, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank....
, and Flinders Lane Gallery, Anna Schwartz Gallery, McCulloch Gallery, and http://www.acmi.net.au/Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms. It is located in Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, across four levels of the Alfred Deakin Building...
]- an organisation dedicated to the moving image in all its forms, from film to animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
to video games and television. In inner city Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces is a contemporary art complex located in the suburb of Fitzroy, Melbourne Australia.The complex was founded in 1985 and contains 3 exhibition spaces and 16 studio facilities.-External links:**...
, and Centre for Contemporary Photography
Centre for Contemporary Photography
The Centre for Contemporary Photography , in Fitzroy, Victoria, Melbourne is one of Australia's premier venues for the exhibition of contemporary photo-based arts, providing a context for the enjoyment, education, understanding and appraisal of contemporary practice.-History:Established as the...
. In Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Victoria
Heidelberg is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule....
, Heide Museum of Modern Art
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Heide Museum of Modern Art, more commonly just Heide, is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum comprises several detached buildings and surrounding gardens & parklands of historical importance that are used as gallery spaces to...
. List of galleries in Melbourne: ART ALMANAC
Melbourne is home to a large array of public artworks, statues and sculptures. Sculptors such as Deborah Halpern
Deborah Halpern
Deborah Halpern is an artist working in Victoria Australia, notable for her prominent and popular works of public art. Halpern is a sculptor, mosaic artist and ceramic artist...
have played a large part in enhancing many of the city's public spaces with their iconic and larger-than-life works. In more modern times, the city has become well known for stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.The process of stenciling...
, public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
that appears in the city's numerous laneways.
The city has major film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s including the Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
, Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
The Melbourne Queer Film Festival, or MQFF, has been running continuously since 1991 . It is the oldest queer film festival in Australia and one of the oldest queer film festivals in the world...
, Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...
and Melbourne International Animation Festival
Melbourne International Animation Festival
The Melbourne International Animation Festival or MIAF is an annual animation festival held in Melbourne. Supported by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Australian Film Commission and the Melbourne City Council, it is Australia's largest animation event. Over the course of the...
, featuring several of the city's major cinemas. The Central City Studios in Melbourne Docklands, constructed in 2005, has seen the production of several big budget films.
Melbourne is also known for fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
. The city, once a leader in the textile industry
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
, retains a small manufacturing base, but has diversified into the more creative areas of the fashion industry. The Melbourne Fashion Festival is an annual event held in the city. The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is the name of a Melbourne, Australia Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually during October and November .-The Carnival and its status in the wider community:...
, Logies and Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
dinner are among the biggest annual red carpet
Red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.- History :...
events in the country.
Street Art in Melbourne is internationally recognised, the city hosting the worlds first street art festival. Many international visitors coming to see and participate in the street art culture. Many suburbs of Melbourne now protect large areas of what was previously thought of as vandalism. International artists such as Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
place work in Melbourne.
Architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. Australia's oldest architectural firm, and one of the world's oldest, Bates Smart
Bates Smart
Bates Smart is Australia's second oldest architectural firm, established in 1853 by Joseph Reed as the practice Reed and Barnes. JPE Design Studio in Adelaide founded in 1851 by Daniel Garlick is the oldest continuing architectural practice in Australia....
, is from Melbourne. The city is home to the first building in Australia to be listed on the World Heritage Register, the Royal Exhibition Building.
Melbourne has also been home to some of Australia's most prolific architects including Joseph Reed
Joseph Reed (architect)
Joseph Reed , a Cornishman by birth, was probably the most influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established a practice, Reed and Barnes in Melbourne in 1852. The practice now known as Bates Smart is one of the oldest continually operating in the world.Reed's buildings...
, William Wardell
William Wardell
William Wilkinson Wardell was a Civil Engineer and Architect, notable not only for his work in Australia, the country to which he emigrated in 1858, but also for having a successful career as a surveyor, and an ecclesiastical architect in England and Scotland before his departure.In Australia,...
, John James Clark
John James Clark
John James Clark , an Australian architect, was born in Liverpool, England. Clark’s 30 years in public service, in combination with 33 in private practice, produced some of Australia’s most notable public buildings, as well as at least one prominent building in New Zealand.-Biography:John James...
, Charles D'Ebro
Charles D'Ebro
Charles Abraham D'Ebro was a London-born architect who designed many important buildings in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia during the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods...
, Charles Webb
Charles Webb (architect)
Charles Webb was an architect working in Victoria, Australia during the 19th century....
, William Pitt
William Pitt (architect)
William Pitt born in Melbourne was an architect, public servant and politician working in Victoria, Australia in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th century....
, Nahum Barnet
Nahum Barnet
Nahum Barnet was an architect working in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia during the Victorian and Edwardian periods....
, Harry Norris
Harry Norris
Harry Norris was an Australian architect whose works are spread across Melbourne. He was well known for his strong Art Deco Style combining American and Australian architecture. He was one of the most prolific commercial architects between 1920 and 1930...
, Sir Roy Grounds and Robin Boyd
Robin Boyd
Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd CBE was an influential Australian architect, writer, teacher and social commentator...
. In recent years, Melbourne has produced some of Australia's best current architectural firms, including international firms Denton Corker Marshall
Denton Corker Marshall
Denton Corker Marshall is a major award-winning Australian architecture practice established in Melbourne in 1972. It was founded by architects John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie Marshall...
, Fender Katsalidis
Fender Katsalidis
Fender Katsalidis Architects is an architecture firm in Melbourne, Australia. Headed by principals Karl Fender and Nonda Katsalidis, the firm has been extremely successful since the early 1990s producing many landmark buildings in Melbourne and other Australian cities and also in South East Asia...
, Daryl Jackson
Daryl Jackson
Daryl Sanders Jackson AO is an Australian architect, and the owner of an international architecture firm, Jackson Architecture...
and Peddle Thorp
Peddle Thorp
Peddle Thorp is an architecture firm based in Melbourne that has designed many of Australia's landmark buildings. Among the buildings it has designed include: the Melbourne Aquarium, Vodafone Arena; Rod Laver Arena; Skilled Stadium; and ANZ Headquarters...
as well as local award winning trendsetters Edmund & Corrigan, Ashton Raggatt McDougall
Ashton Raggatt McDougall
Ashton Raggatt McDougall or ARM is a firm of architects based in Melbourne, Australia known for "architectural outspokenness". Founded in 1988, the firm has completed internationally renowned design work and the principals are Stephen Ashton, Howard Raggatt and Ian McDougall...
and Wood Marsh
Wood Marsh
Wood Marsh Pty Ltd Architecture is a Melbourne based Australian architectural practice founded by Roger Wood and Randal Marsh in 1983. Their design aesthetic and approach is often based on the sculptural form, a sense of drama, spatial arrangements, mood, and three-dimensional design...
.
Literature
There is a greater number of bookshops per capita in Melbourne than any other Australian city.In August 2008, Melbourne was designated as a City of LiteratureCity of Literature
UNESCO's City of Literature program is part of its Creative Cities Network which was launched in 2004. The Network was born out of UNESCO's Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity initiative which was created in 2002...
in UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Creative Cities Network
Creative Cities Network
Not to be confused with:*Creative Cities, an international European project designed and managed by the British Council.*Creative city, an urban planning concept.*Creative City, an urban development project in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates....
program, recognising the role literature plays in the cultural life of Melbourne through its festivals, libraries
Libraries in Melbourne
This is a list of libraries in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the second UNESCO City of Literature. Melbourne has a rich and varied books-and-reading culture and municipal councils throughout Melbourne provide funding and support for a rich network of libraries...
, bookshops, publishing and other literary events and activities.
The Melbourne Writers Festival
Melbourne Writers Festival
The Melbourne Writers Festival is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne.- History :The festival was founded in 1986 as a joint initiative between the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts and the City of Melbourne...
plays a significant role in establishing Melbourne's credence as a city which promotes and respects literature.
The Wheeler Centre a literary and publishing centre housed in the southern wing of the State Library of Victoria
State Library of Victoria
The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district...
opened in February 2010.
Music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
and independent music industries, as with many cities around the world, its independent music scene is growing rapidly as commercial record labels find it increasingly difficult to market and sell music as a product, an increasing number of people are choosing to recognise and appreciate music as a form of art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
rather than a product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
.
Hundreds of venues throughout Melbourne host live music, some of which host live music every night of the week.
Singer Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
has written several well-known songs about aspects of the city close to the heart of many Melburnians, notably "Leaps And Bounds" and "From St Kilda To King's Cross", while Skyhooks also wrote some more tongue-in-cheek songs about Melbourne. "Balwyn Calling", "Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)" and "Toorak Cowboy" are examples. Melbourne-originated indie-rock band The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
wrote the song "West End Riot" about differences between eastern and western suburbs in Melbourne's inner city. Melbourne has produced many popular international vocalists and singers, including 1900s soprano Dame Nellie Melba, who took her name from her native city, who in turn had a suburb in Australia's capital city Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
named after her (see Melba, Australian Capital Territory
Melba, Australian Capital Territory
Melba is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Melba is in the district of Belconnen.The suburb of Melba is named after Dame Nellie Melba , the first internationally-recognised Australian opera soprano...
).
In the late 1970s, Melbourne's independent music
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
scene flourished with strong support from local venues, street press
Street press
Street press is a term used to describe a certain type of publishing, between zines and magazines/newspapers in terms of distribution, content and audience. They are particularly prolific in Australia, although there are also some examples from Europe and North America...
, community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
(such as PBS, 3RRR, 3CR) and an abundance of independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
s. The city's inner suburbs were home to several distinct post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
scenes that each shared a DIY ethic and passion for experimentation. Led by the Primitive Calculators
Primitive Calculators
The Primitive Calculators are an Australian post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizers along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time...
and Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
's Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...
, the "North Fitzroy Beat" and interrelated Little Band scene
Little band scene
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic...
gave rise to Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...
, and Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
of Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
. In Clifton Hill
Clifton Hill, Victoria
Clifton Hill is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. The border between Clifton Hill and Fitzroy North is Queens Parade and Smith Street. Merri Creek defines the eastern border of Clifton Hill. Its Local Government Area is...
, an underground arts space known as "The Organ Factory" facilitated collaborations between conceptual composers, such as David Chesworth
David Chesworth
David Chesworth is an award-winning Australian-based composer and installation artist. Known for his experimental, and at times minimalist music, he has worked in rock groups, classical ensembles, theatre, opera...
and Philip Brophy
Philip Brophy
Philip Brophy, born in Reservoir, Melbourne 1959 is an Australian musician, composer, sound designer, filmmaker, writer, graphic designer, educator and academic.-Music:...
, and experimental punk outfits, namely Tsk Tsk Tsk
Tsk Tsk Tsk
→ ↑ → was an Australian experimental music project formed in Melbourne in 1977 and led by Philip Brophy. Aside from performing music the project produced artwork, films, videos, live theatre, multi-media, and wrote literature.-History:...
, Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport (band)
Essendon Airport was an Australian post-punk group from 1978-83 who explored experimental minimalist, electronic and funk music. They reformed in the original duo lineup for occasional performances in 2003 following the re issue of Sonic Investigations of the Trivial...
, and the funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
-tinged I'm Talking
I'm Talking
I'm Talking was a 1980s Australian funk-pop rock band, which featured vocalists Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne. They formed in 1983 in Melbourne and provided top ten hit singles "Trust Me", "Do You Wanna Be?" and "Holy Word" and a top fifteen album, Bear Witness, before disbanding in...
, which launched the career of singer Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres as well as in her brief forays into musicals with Jesus Christ Superstar and film...
. St. Kilda's Crystal Ballroom
Crystal Ballroom (Melbourne)
The Crystal Ballroom was a prominent alternative rock venue within the Seaview Hotel located in Fitzroy Street St.Kilda . It was run by a succession of Melbourne Rock promoters from 1978 to 1987 starting with Dolores San Miguel The Crystal Ballroom (AKA The Ballroom / Seaview Ballroom) was a...
became the stomping ground for Melbourne's darker "proto-gothic" groups including The Moodists
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band that formed in 1980, when Dave Graney, Clare Moore and Steve Miller of punk group The Sputniks moved from Adelaide to Melbourne. They added bass player Chris Walsh and later added guitarist Mick Turner....
, Crime and the City Solution
Crime and the City Solution
Crime and the City Solution was a rock music band formed by Australian singer and songwriter Simon Bonney.They had four distinct line-ups: Sydney in 1977–78, Melbourne in 1979, and two groupings in Berlin from 1985–1990. The only common member in all four line-ups was Bonney.Other members included:...
, and Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
's The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
, one of the 80s' most influential bands. In 1983, Cave and Melbourne-born industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
pioneer Clint Ruin (aka Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
) formed the "No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
supergroup" The Immaculate Consumptive
The Immaculate Consumptive
The Immaculate Consumptive was a collaborative group featuring four stars of the No Wave scene, that existed for three shows in 1983. Its members were Marc Almond, Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch and Clint Ruin ....
. The same year, Cave and Birthday Party bandmate Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey
Michael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
founded one of Australia's most popular and enduring rock bands, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, whose evolving multinational lineup has included Melbourne musicians Hugo Race
Hugo Race
Hugo Race is an Australian rock musician and record producer who has been based in Europe since 1989. He was a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, before forming The Wreckery with Nick Barker and Robin Casinader in the 1980s. He is currently a member of Hugo Race and the True Spirit.Race is...
, Anita Lane
Anita Lane
Anita Lane is an Australian singer and songwriter who directly influenced the early 1980s European post-punk landscape.-Birthday Party:Lane was born in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1950s. Lane began singing and writing songs at age 16. She was a classmate with Rowland S. Howard who would...
, and Dirty Three
Dirty Three
Dirty Three are an instrumental trio consisting of Warren Ellis , Mick Turner and Jim White , originating from Melbourne, Australia. Since the Dirty Three formed in 1992, they have spent a lot of time overseas...
violinist Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis (musician)
Warren Ellis is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin, and tenor guitar...
.
Many independent artists from Melbourne have become internationally notable and regularly tour abroad, including: The Temper Trap
The Temper Trap
The Temper Trap is an Australian indie rock band which formed in 2005. The core members are Jonathon Aherne on bass guitar and vocals, Toby Dundas on drums and programming, Dougy Mandagi on vocals and guitar, and Lorenzo Sillitto on guitar, keyboards and vocals. They are supplemented on tours with...
, Cut Copy
Cut Copy
Cut Copy are an Australian electronic band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford on vocals, keyboard and guitar. Other members are Tim Hoey on guitar and sampler, Ben Browning on bass guitar and Mitchell Scott on drums. Their second album, In Ghost Colours peaked at number-one on the ARIA Albums Chart in...
, Architecture in Helsinki
Architecture in Helsinki
Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian indie pop band which consists of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland...
, The Drones
The Drones
The Drones are an Australian rock group who rose to prominence during the early 2000s. They are influenced by a variety of bands and soloists including Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Bad Brains, Suicide, Green on Red, The Birthday Party, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.- The Sound...
, Grinderman
Grinderman
Grinderman is an alternative rock band formed by Nick Cave , Warren Ellis , Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos in London, United Kingdom in 2006...
, Augie March
Augie March
Augie March are an Australian indie/pop rock band. Formed in 1996 in Shepparton, Victoria, the band currently consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Glenn Richards, lead guitarist Adam Donovan, bassist Edmondo Ammendola, drummer David Williams, and keyboardist Kiernan Box...
, New Buffalo
New Buffalo
New Buffalo may refer to:Places in the United States:* New Buffalo, Michigan* New Buffalo Township, Michigan* New Buffalo, Pennsylvania* New Buffalo Commune in northern Taos County, New MexicoIn Music:...
, The Cat Empire
The Cat Empire
The Cat Empire are an Australian ska and jazz band formed in 1999. Core members are Harry James Angus , Will Hull-Brown , Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala , Ollie McGill , Ryan Monro and Felix Riebl...
, Dirty Three
Dirty Three
Dirty Three are an instrumental trio consisting of Warren Ellis , Mick Turner and Jim White , originating from Melbourne, Australia. Since the Dirty Three formed in 1992, they have spent a lot of time overseas...
, Muscles
Muscles (musician)
Muscles is an Australian electronica musician.Muscles' debut album Guns Babes Lemonade was released in Australia on 29 September 2007. The album entered the Australian ARIA Album Chart at #14 on 8 October 2007, reaching #3 on the Australian Artist Chart and #1 on the Dance Album Chart in its first...
, The Lucksmiths
The Lucksmiths
The Lucksmiths were an indie pop band from Melbourne, Australia known for witty, intelligent lyrics, a strong melodic sense and a jangly pop sound harkening back to early-80's bands such as The Smiths and The Go-Betweens.-History:...
, Ned Collette
Ned Collette
Ned Collette is a Melbourne singer-songwriter signed with the Australian record label Dot Dash Recordings.-Background:...
, The Crayon Fields
The Crayon Fields
Crayon Fields are a four-piece Melbourne based band signed to the labels Chapter Music and Rallye. They have been described as having an artful naïve-pop aesthetic and as lo-fi....
, Love of Diagrams
Love Of Diagrams
Love of Diagrams is an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia, formed in 2001. Their sound is characterized by a mix of energetic drumming, angular guitar and bass riffs, and call-and-response vocals.- History :...
, Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts are a band from Melbourne, Australia composed of Andrew Szekeres, Vincent Vendetta, and Daniel Stricker. The band has been described as anything from 'prog dance meets cosmic film scores', to 'slasher-flick disco' to 'deadpan landscape',...
, Gotye
Gotye
Wouter "Wally" De Backer , also known professionally by his stage name Gotye , is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter. He has released three studio albums independently and one remix album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums...
and The Avalanches
The Avalanches
The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in 1997 with mainstays Robbie Chater on keyboards, Tony Diblasi on keyboards, bass and backing vocals, and Darren Seltmann on vocals and keyboards. They are known for their live DJ sets and their debut album Since I Left You , which was...
amongst others.
Melbourne's lively rock and pop music scene has fostered many internationally renowned artists and musicians. The 1960s gave rise to many performers including Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
, Graeme Bell
Graeme Bell
Graeme Emerson Bell AO MBE is an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader...
, and folk group The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
. The 1970s and 1980s saw many acts getting their first big breaks on Melbourne's Countdown, including Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
the Little River Band and Crowded House
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...
who later wrote a song about the city of Melbourne called Four Seasons In One Day
Four Seasons in One Day
"Four Seasons in One Day" is a 1992 single released by rock group Crowded House. It was co-written by Neil Finn and brother Tim Finn, originally intended for their debut Finn Brothers album, however was moved onto the Woodface project as the two projects amalgamated. The song reached #26 on the UK...
. Successful Melbourne artists include Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...
, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
), Weddings Parties Anything
Weddings Parties Anything
Weddings Parties Anything were an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1998. Their name came from The Clash song and musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Australian rock debut since Skyhooks' Living in the '70s.-Formation and...
, TISM
TISM
TISM was a seven piece anonymous alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The group was formed in 1982 and enjoyed a large underground/independent following. Their third album Machiavelli and the Four Seasons reached the Australian national top 10 in 1995...
, Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
, Snog
Snog
Snog is a band formed by Australian musician David Thrussell, along with fellow art school friends, Tim McGrath and Julia Bourke, in 1989. The band's music is a fusion of many different styles, including industrial, techno, ambient, experimental, funk and even some of the social commentary of...
, Jet
Jet (band)
Jet are an Australian rock band formed in 2001 while attending St Bede's College Mentone in Melbourne, . The band consists of lead guitarist Cameron Muncey, bassist Mark Wilson, and brothers Nic and Chris Cester on vocals/rhythm guitar and drums respectively...
and Something for Kate
Something for Kate
Something for Kate are a rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Members include songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Paul Dempsey, drummer Clint Hyndman and bassist Stephanie Ashworth...
. Melbourne is also the home of rock "guru" journalist Ian "Molly" Meldrum
Ian Meldrum
Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian popular music critic, journalist, record producer , and musical entrepreneur...
.
More recent notable Melbourne acts include Jet
Jet (band)
Jet are an Australian rock band formed in 2001 while attending St Bede's College Mentone in Melbourne, . The band consists of lead guitarist Cameron Muncey, bassist Mark Wilson, and brothers Nic and Chris Cester on vocals/rhythm guitar and drums respectively...
, Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders are an Australian electronic pop rock band fronted by Melinda "Mindi" Jackson with James Ash on keyboards, Tim Henwood on guitars and Peter Marin on drums. The group's original members met in London in 1989. Before forming Rogue Traders, Ash and Davis worked together on many...
, Taxiride
Taxiride
Taxiride is an Australian rock band. Formed in 1997, the band consists of lead singer Jason Singh, guitarists Dan Hall and Tim Wild, and drummer Sean McLeod....
, Missy Higgins
Missy Higgins
Melissa "Missy" Morrison Higgins is an Australian pop singer-songwriter, musician and actor. Her No. 1 albums in Australia are The Sound of White and On a Clear Night , and her Top Ten singles are "Scar", "The Special Two", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". From a musical family in...
, Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue (band)
Madison Avenue was an Australian house music duo consisting of writer-producer Andy Van Dorsselaer and singer-lyricist Cheyne Coates. Madison Avenue is best known for the song "Don't Call Me Baby", which peaked at number two on the Australian singles charts in 1999.- History :Before joining Madison...
, Anthony Callea
Anthony Callea
Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in the 2004 season of Australian Idol when he became runner up. He was signed to Sony Music Australia until 2009 and is now an independent artist...
and The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
. Melbourne-based television shows Young Talent Time
Young Talent Time
Young Talent Time is an Australian television variety program screened on Network Ten, running from 1971 until 1988. The series features a core group of young performers in the vein of The Mickey Mouse Club, and a weekly junior talent quest. The "Young Talent Team" regularly performed popular...
and Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
gave many singers a launching pad to international success. Local talents to come from these shows include Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Dannii Minogue
Dannii Minogue
Danielle Jane "Dannii" Minogue is an Australian singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, radio personality, fashion designer and model...
, Tina Arena
Tina Arena
Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena is an Australian singer, songwriter and musical theatre actress. She has won several awards, most notably 6 ARIA Awards and in both 1996 and 2000 she received the World Music Award for the world's best selling Australian artist...
, Jamie Redfern
Jamie Redfern
Jamie Redfern born 9 April 1957, is an Australian television presenter and pop singer. Redfern was a founding member of the Australian show Young Talent Time and currently presents Jamie Redfern's Rascals, which can be viewed on Aurora TV. He is also the director of the Australian Showbusiness...
and Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
. Another Music TV show that began in Melbourne was Turn It Up! It was first shown on Melbourne's Channel 31 and then relayed via satellite and rebroadcast terrestrially to major TV networks in over 22 countries. The show had the second largest viewing audience around the world, beaten only by the audience of American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
. In one episode, the show presented Melbournes annual festival Moomba
Moomba
Moomba is Australia's largest free community festival and one of the longest running festivals in Australia. Held annually in the city of Melbourne, Australia, Moomba is celebrated during the Labour Day long weekend , and has been celebrated since 1955...
to a world audience.
Media
Melbourne has two major daily newspapers, Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
and the Fairfax
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The group's operations include newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John Fairfax and Sons, later to become John...
owned The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, as well as the free afternoon tabloid mX
MX (newspaper)
mX is an Australian free afternoon daily newspaper in the cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, owned and produced by News Limited. Targeted at commuters, its main channels of distribution are inner-city railway stations, tram and bus stops, and major CBD intersections.-Beginnings:The first mX...
which is published by Murdoch. A national Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
newspaper has a Victorian issue and is also published by Murdoch. Several weekly magazines are published by Murdochs' News Corp. As News Corp holds over 50 million shares in Fairfax, there is no daily newspaper in Melbourne free of Rupert Murdoch's media empire. There are three commercial television networks: Seven, Nine
GTV-9
GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:...
and Ten
ATV-10
ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
; and three public: the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
and a community television channel, C31
Channel 31 Melbourne
C31 Melbourne, formally known as Channel 31 Melbourne , is a public television station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.-The Channel:Its signal is transmitted from Mt...
. Leader Newspapers is Australia's largest publisher of community newspapers, distributing 33 local papers across Melbourne suburbs. More community newspapers are published by Fairfax Community Newspapers, and the Star News Group
Star News Group
Star News Group is a newspaper company based in Pakenham, Victoria, with a circulation of 450,000 per week. It is the largest independent newspaper company in Melbourne and Geelong....
.
Melbourne's commercial radio industry
Radio industry
The "radio industry" is a generic term for any companies or public service providers who are involved with the broadcast of radio stations or ancillary services.Radio broadcasters can be broken into at least two different groups:...
is dominated by the DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia operates commercial radio networks in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. The company is 50% owned by United Kingdom company, Daily Mail and General Trust Group. Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Ltd bought 50% of the company in November 2009.DMG Radio Australia was formed...
, Austereo and Southern Cross Broadcasting
Southern Cross Broadcasting
Southern Cross Broadcasting Limited was a diversified Australian media company, that owned and operated a variety of media businesses, primarily radio and television.-History:...
networks – all Melbourne-based. DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia operates commercial radio networks in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. The company is 50% owned by United Kingdom company, Daily Mail and General Trust Group. Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Ltd bought 50% of the company in November 2009.DMG Radio Australia was formed...
stations include Nova 100
Nova 100
Nova 100 is a commercial radio station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, broadcasting on 100.3 MHz. It is in the Melbourne radio market, with the intention of challenging the number one FM Austereo station Fox FM by playing alternative, hip hop, pop & dance music, with a strong lean towards...
and Classic Rock, Austereo stations include FOX FM
Fox FM
Fox FM may refer to:*Fox FM , a radio station in Melbourne, Australia*Heart Thames Valley, a radio station in the United Kingdom formerly known as Fox FM*Port FM, a radio station in New Zealand...
and Triple M
Triple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
. 3AW
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...
is consistently the city's highest-rating commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...
station. Melbourne also boasts a number of community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
stations, of which the best known are 3RRR
3RRR
3RRR is a popular Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. It is the largest per capita subscribed radio station in the world....
, 3PBS, 3CR, SYN, and JOY
Joy Melbourne
JOY 94.9 , broadcasting at 94.9 FM in Melbourne, is Australia's first and only gay and lesbian community radio station.-History:...
, the first Australian full-time gay and lesbian
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
radio station. Public broadcasters include the multilingual SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
, and the ABC's Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
, NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts right around Australia, including AM/FM radio, some pay-TV platforms and online via the Internet.Originally...
, and 774 ABC Melbourne
774 ABC Melbourne
774 ABC Melbourne is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. Originally known by its callsign 3LO, it began transmission on 13 October 1924 – Melbourne's second radio station after 3AR.-History:...
.
Sport
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based research and consulting firm ArkSports found Melbourne to be the world's top city for sports events.
Melbourne is home to the National Museum of Sport.
The city hosts many major sporting events including the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is the name of a Melbourne, Australia Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually during October and November .-The Carnival and its status in the wider community:...
(featuring the 'race that stops the nation', the Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
), the Australian Formula One Grand Prix
Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
, the Australian round of the MotoGP, the Australian Open Tennis Championship
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
, the AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
and the Boxing Day Test Match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
. Melbourne hosted the first Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in the southern hemisphere in 1956
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
, as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
. Melbourne also played host to the 12th FINA World Aquatics Championships
FINA World Championships - Long Course
The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for aquatic sports: diving, swimming, open water swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo. They are run by FINA, and in the pool swimming events are contested in a 50 m, or "long course", pool.The...
in 2007. In 2008, the city will host its first Asia Pacific Outgames which are set to take place between 30 January and 3 February.
Melbourne is where Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
originated — the world's first codified game of football and the most popular sport in Australia by attendance and viewership. The city is home to nine of the sixteen teams that constitute the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(AFL), whose five Melbourne games per week attract an average 40,000 people per game. The AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
, one of the biggest sporting events in Australia, is played on the last Saturday of September at the world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
(MCG), The city also is home to nine out of the thirteen teams of the professional state wide Victorian Football League
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
.
During the summer months cricket takes preference amongst Melburnians, with the annual Boxing Day Test Match, which is held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
, being the feature of the Melbourne summer. The Boxing Day Test is the largest attended annual Test Match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
in the world. The Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
also hosts Victorian Bushrangers
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
home Sheffiled Shield, One-Day and Twenty20
KFC Twenty20 Big Bash
The KFC Twenty20 Big Bash was the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. The competition was organised by Cricket Australia, and sponsored by fast food chicken outlet KFC. The competition was replaced by the Big Bash League as Australia's domestic Twenty20 competition after the 2010–11...
matches, which attract in excess of 40,000 fans.
Melbourne has professional teams in several codes: football, rugby league and union, basketball and netball. There are two A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
(association football) teams: Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, that plays in the A-League....
and Melbourne Heart
Melbourne Heart FC
Melbourne Heart FC is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2008, the club has competed in the A-League, the highest division of football in Australia, since its inaugural 2010–2011 season. It is the twelfth club to have played in the league...
. In rugby there is Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
(NRL
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
), and Melbourne Rebels
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia...
(Super Rugby). The Melbourne Tigers
Melbourne Tigers
The Melbourne Tigers are Australia's oldest and most respected basketball team, established circa 1931 in a local church hall League. Entering the National Basketball League in 1984, they are now the only Melbourne team, after the South Dragons withdrew from the league.The Melbourne Tigers are the...
compete in the NBL
National Basketball League (Australia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
(basketball). For netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
, two Melbourne teams compete for the Commonwealth Bank Trophy
Commonwealth Bank Trophy
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was the pre-eminent national netball competition in Australia from 1997 to 2007.It was established in 1997 as a true national league to replace the ailing, state club-based Mobil League. Designed from the beginning to be more marketable to the general public, it saw...
: Melbourne Phoenix
Melbourne Phoenix
The Melbourne Phoenix were an Australian netball team. They were one of two teams representing the city of Melbourne, Victoria in the national Commonwealth Bank Trophy. They have been replaced by the Melbourne Vixens in the ANZ Championship...
and Melbourne Kestrels
Melbourne Kestrels
The Melbourne Kestrels were an Australian netball team. They were based out of the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne, Victoria and were one of two teams from the city to compete in the national Commonwealth Bank Trophy, alongside the Melbourne Phoenix. The Kestrels were coached by Jane...
.
Including the MCG, Melbourne is home to over 29 stadiums with a capacity of over 10,000 people. Some venues, such as the Albert Park Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
track and the Calder Raceway, have large capacities but only temporary structures, while there are numerous suburban horse racing tracks and Australian Rules ovals. In 2000 construction was completed on the Docklands Stadium, capable of seating up to 56,000 people. The stadium was the first in the world to host cricket and football matches under a roof. Under naming rights changed, the stadium has gone from being originally the Colonial Stadium, then to Telstra Dome, finally to Etihad Stadium, adopted in 2009.
The city also has large State Cycling, Hockey, Baseball/Softball and Netball centres, and an Ice centre (National Ice Sports Centre, hosting the Australian Olympic Winter Institute) is being constructed in Melbourne Docklands
Melbourne Docklands
Docklands is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia occupying an area extending up to 2 km west of and adjacent to Melbourne's Central Business District . Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
.
The city has hosted several major international sporting events. Annually, Melbourne hosts the Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
tournaments and the AAMI Classic; the famous Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
horse race; the 'Boxing Day' cricket test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
held each year from 26 December to 30 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
; and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix
Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
. The Wallabies, Australia's national rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team, and the Socceroos usually play at least one game annually in Melbourne. Since 1999, the city has been the biennial host of the International Rules series involving the Australian national team
Australia international rules football team
This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team....
and the Irish national team
Ireland international rules football team
The Ireland International rules football team is the representative team for Ireland in international rules football, a compromise between Gaelic football and Australian rules football...
. The city hosted the 2002 and 2005 Australian Football International Cup
Australian Football International Cup
The Australian Football International Cup is an international sport competition in Australian rules football...
.
Since the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
were held in Melbourne, the city has hosted numerous sporting events which rotate host cities. Melbourne co-hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
, including many pool matches as well as a quarter final – all of which were played at the Etihad Stadium; hosted the 2002 World Masters Games
World Masters Games
The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind....
; broke new ground as the first city outside the United States to host the World Police and Fire Games
World Police and Fire Games
ThisWorld Police and Fire Games are a biennial athletic event open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world...
in 1995
1995 in sports
1995 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Alberto Tomba, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland-American football:...
, and the Presidents Cup
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world less Europe. Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup. The Presidents Cup is held biennially...
golf tournament
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
in 1999
1999 in sports
1999 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austria-American football:...
; and was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
to host the World Polo Championship
World Polo Championship
The World Polo Championship is a polo competition between countries. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the Federation of International Polo , and is contested by the men's national teams. The inaugural tournament was held in 1987, hosted by Argentina, and is now contested every...
in 2001
2001 in sports
2001 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Janica Kostelić, Croatia-American football:...
. The city has hosted FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
qualifiers in both 1997 and 2001. Most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
were held in Melbourne. Seventy-one Commonwealth nations competed in the Games.
In July 2006, the Rugby League State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
, often considered the flagship event of Australian rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, was played at the Ethiad Stadium. The Rugby League State of Origin has been held several times before in Melbourne (most recently in 1997), and has attracted over 87,000 spectators at the MCG
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
, even though Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
is not actually one of the states involved. In 2006, the Kangaroos
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...
, Australia's national rugby league team, played a Tri-nations
Rugby League Tri-Nations
The Rugby League Tri-Nations was a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand...
test at the Etihad Stadium, the first rugby league test in the city for 14 years.
In December 2006, the 100th cricket test was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
as part of The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
series attracting a sell-out crowd with as many as 40,000 English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
.
The Victorian government recently won the right to host the Bledisloe Cup
Bledisloe Cup
Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
rugby union Test in 2007 and 2011 at the MCG. The Australian Football International Cup returns in 2008 to celebrate 150 years of Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, as well as a much anticipated return to the AFL State of Origin series.
The tennis arena of Rod Laver was converted in to the Susie O'Neill pool for the 2007 Swimming World Championships.
Recreation and leisure
Australian rules football, cricket and netball are the most popular participation team sport
Team sport
A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...
s in Melbourne.
Cycling in Melbourne
Cycling in Melbourne
Cycling in Melbourne, Victoria is common on the roads and paths for recreation, commuting and as a sport. However it is not one of the popular modes of transportation despite an extensive network of bicycle paths and some designated bicycle lanes on roads...
is a popular pastime, as one can tell from the bevy of cyclists and paths that lie all throughout the city, as well as a spectator sport. Melbourne's flat terrain and extensive off-road paths
Segregated cycle facilities
Segregated cycle facilities are marked lanes, tracks, shoulders and paths designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded...
in green wedges are conducive to riding. Beach Road combines with the Nepean Highway to form a 90-kilometre stretch from Port Melbourne to Sorrento
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...
, incorporating the Bayside Trail. It is the city's most popular training route and attracts cyclists from around the world. Thousands of commuters
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
cycle the roads, bike lanes and bike paths daily. Bicycle Victoria
Bicycle Victoria
Bicycle Network Victoria is a community-based not-for-profit organisation, one of the largest cycling membership organisations in the world , whose mission is to get More People Cycling More Often. The name was changed from Bicycle Victoria to Bicycle Network Victoria in July 2011...
's annual events, Around the Bay in a Day
Around the Bay in a Day
Around the Bay in a Day is a recreational cycling event organised by Bicycle Victoria in Victoria, Australia. Cyclists register to ride a 210 km course starting and ending in Melbourne around Port Phillip, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, catching the ferry between Queenscliff and...
and Ride to Work Day
Ride to Work Day (Melbourne)
National Ride to Work Day is an annual event run in conjunction with Australian State and Territory Bicycle Organisations held during October.The event encourages commuters to bicycle to work which was first held in 1994 in Melbourne with 615 cyclists...
, attract tens of thousands of Melburnians. Other events such as the Herald Sun Tour
Herald Sun Tour
The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six day event and it is held annually in October. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne's...
begin and end in the Melbourne area and there are many local cycling events of varying grades all year round.
Triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
dominates the Beach Road area during summer, when hundreds of amateurs and professionals dive into Port Phillip Bay on Sundays.
Watersports are a big recreational activity in Melbourne. Rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
on the Yarra River is also popular with universities and schools, and there are many boat-sheds along the river. the Yarra is home to the Head of the River
Head of the River (Australia)
The Head of the River is a name given to annual Australian rowing regattas held in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia...
, first raced in 1868 and Australia's oldest. The Oarsome Foursome
Oarsome Foursome
The Oarsome Foursome is the nickname for an Australian rowing crew who competed between 1990 and 1998 - winning two Olympic gold medals in the coxless fours.The original crew was Nick Green, James Tomkins, Mike McKay, and Sam Patten...
are also from Melbourne. On Port Phillip Bay, boating
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
is popular , as is jetskiing
Personal water craft
A personal water craft , also called water scooter, is a recreational watercraft that the rider rides or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat....
, kitesurfing
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding is an adventure surface water sport that has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. Kitesurfing harnesses the power of the wind to propel a rider across the water on a small surfboard or a...
and windsurfing
Windsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
on St Kilda Beach.
Parks and gardens
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s and gardens, with a ring of parks providing a green lung for the city centre. Perhaps the most notable is the Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 38 hectares of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over...
. Other notable gardens have been established on outskirts of Melbourne. In particular the Dandenong Ranges
Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
has the National Rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
Gardens, and several other public gardens. Residential gardening is a popular pastime in Melbourne, and Australia's Open Garden Scheme
Australia's Open Garden Scheme
Australia's Open Garden Scheme is a non-profit organisation that began in Victoria Australia in 1987. Its aim is to promote the knowledge and pleasure of gardens and gardening across Australia. Under the scheme, private gardens are opened for public viewing for one or two weekends a year. About 650...
started in the city.
Entertainment
In Melbourne there is approximately 5000 cafes and restaurants - per capita Melbourne has the most cafes/restaurants in the world. Also, Melbourne has more clubs/pubs per capita than anywhere else in the world. RestaurantRestaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s are numerous and present a diverse range of cuisines. The city has a reputation as a culinary capital, celebrated by the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. As well as the famous "Little Italy" of Lygon Street
Lygon Street, Melbourne
Lygon Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, Australia running through the suburbs of Carlton, Carlton North, Princes Hill and Brunswick East. Lygon Street's name has become synonymous with Italian restaurants and cafés located in the Carlton part of the street...
in Carlton
Carlton, Victoria
Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
, other favourite inner city dining locations for Melburnians include Fitzroy Street St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, Brunswick Street Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
, Victoria St Collingwood
Collingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, the CBD, and the Docklands
Melbourne Docklands
Docklands is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia occupying an area extending up to 2 km west of and adjacent to Melbourne's Central Business District . Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
and Southbank
Southbank, Victoria
Southbank is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located direct south of the Yarra River opposite Melbourne's Hoddle Grid. The northernmost area is considered part of the Central Business District and Central Activities District of the city. Its Local Government Area are the...
precincts. In 2006, Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
selected Melbourne as the location for "Fifteen Melbourne", the Australian restaurant for his reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Jamie's Kitchen Australia.
Dance music is a thriving part of the Melbourne scene. The largest nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s are the Melbourne Metro Nightclub (2500 capacity) and QBH (2100 capacity). Melbourne is the birthplace of the Melbourne Shuffle
Melbourne Shuffle
The Melbourne Shuffle is a rave and club dance that originated in the late 1980s in the underground rave music scene in Melbourne, Australia. The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm...
, a style of dance that has been exported to South East Asia and continues to evolve to date.
Shopping
Retail therapy
Retail therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit...
" has been a big part of Melbourne's way of life since the late 19th century, when "doing the Block" was a sign of prestige. Today, the city is home to some of Australia's best shopping strips, such as the famous Chapel Street
Chapel Street, Melbourne
Chapel Street is a shopping, dining and entertainment precinct in Melbourne, Australia. It has a myriad shops ranging from exclusive upmarket fashion designers at the South Yarra end to old fashion pawnbrokers towards Windsor.-Geography:...
which stretches many blocks through South Yarra
South Yarra, Victoria
South Yarra is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Stonnington and Melbourne...
and Prahran
Prahran, Victoria
Prahran , also known colloquially as "Pran", is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Prahran had a population of 10,651. It is a part of Melbourne with...
, while heritage arcades such as the Block
Block Arcade, Melbourne
Block Arcade is a heritage shopping arcade in Melbourne, Victoria. Melbourne's Golden Mile heritage walk runs through the arcade.It forms a short, narrow laneway, connecting Collins Street to Little Collins Street in the central business district of Melbourne...
and the Royal Arcade
Royal Arcade, Melbourne
Royal Arcade is a heritage shopping arcade in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria. Originally constructed in 1869, the arcade connects Little Collins Street to the Bourke Street Mall, with a perpendicular passage running to Elizabeth Street in the west...
and the CBD's myriad lanes. Chadstone Shopping Centre
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Chadstone Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre located in the inner south-eastern suburb of Malvern East in the city of Melbourne, Australia...
, currently claimed to be the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere, markets itself as the "Fashion Capital". Strip shopping localities include Toorak Village, known for its exclusiveness, and Bridge Road
Bridge Road, Melbourne
Bridge Road is a major shopping strip in Melbourne, Australia. It is best known for its abundance of clothing factory outlets, which makes it a popular tourist attraction...
in Richmond
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, known for its extensive factory outlets. Also there are major shopping centres throughout metropolitan Melbourne such as Westfield Airport West
Westfield Airport West
Westfield Airport West is a shopping centre in the suburb of Airport West in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The centre hosts eight major stores, approximately 160 specialty stores including Village Cinemas. It is located on Louis Street, close to the Essendon Airport...
, Westfield Southland, Westfield Doncaster
Westfield Doncaster
Westfield Doncaster is a shopping centre 50% owned by the Westfield Group and 50% owned by LaSalle Investment Management located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
, and Knox City Shopping Centre
Knox City Shopping Centre
Knox City Shopping Centre is a super-regional shopping centre and outdoor entertainment complex located in the outer eastern suburb of Wantirna South in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The centre opened on November 9, 1977 with an initial 88 stores and 2300 parking spaces...
.
Melbourne is also home to the Queen Victoria Market
Queen Victoria Market
The Queen Victoria Market is a major landmark in Melbourne, Australia, and at around seven hectares is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The Market is significant to Melbourne's culture and heritage and has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register...
. This market contains both indoor and outdoor sections.
Film and drama
Melbourne has been the setting for many novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, television dramas, and films. Fergus Hume
Fergus Hume
Fergusson Wright Hume, known as Fergus Hume was an English novelist.-Early life:Hume was born in England, the second son of Dr. James Hume. At the age of three years his father emigrated with his family to Dunedin, New Zealand. He attended Otago Boys' High School and studied law at the University...
's international best-seller Mystery of a Hansom Cab was set in Gold Rush era Melbourne. Frank Hardy
Frank Hardy
Francis Joseph Hardy, or Frank, was an Australian left-wing novelist and writer best known for his controversial novel Power Without Glory. He also was a political activist bringing the plight of Aboriginal Australians to international attention with the publication of his book, The Unlucky...
's Power Without Glory
Power Without Glory
Power Without Glory is a 1950 novel written by Australian writer Frank Hardy. It was later adapted into a mini-series by the Australian Broadcasting Commission .- Publication :...
tells the story of Melbourne businessman John West (based on the real-life John Wren
John Wren
John Wren was an Australian businessman. He has become a legendary figure thanks mainly to a fictionalised account of his life in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, which was also made into a television series...
) and is set in a thinly-disguised Collingwood
Collingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne. Perhaps the best-known novel internationally is Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
's novel On the Beach. In 1959, it was made into a film directed by Stanley Kramer
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer. Kramer was responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies...
and starring Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
and Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
. The film depicted the denizens of Melbourne quietly slipping off into eternity as the last victims of a global nuclear holocaust. It was filmed on location in and around Melbourne. Similar filming was undertaken when a 2000 television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
remake was produced.
The world's first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...
, was filmed in Melbourne in 1906. Some of the more famous Australian films include Mad Max
Mad Max
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
and The Castle
The Castle (film)
The Castle is a 1997 Australian comedy film directed by Rob Sitch. It starred Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Sophie Lee, Eric Bana and Charles 'Bud' Tingwell. The screenwriting team comprised Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Jane Kennedy of Working Dog Productions.The Castle was...
. Melbourne has also produced many talented film and television actors including Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
, Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
and is home to Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
.
Australian audiences saw Melbourne portrayed in the 1960s–70s Crawford Productions
Crawford Productions
Crawford Productions is an Australian television production company founded by Hector Crawford; the present incarnation of the company, Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN television corporation.-History:...
police television drama series Homicide and Division 4
Division 4
Division 4 was an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 300 episodes....
. Contemporary series include: soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, Stingers
Stingers
Stingers was an Australian police drama television series. It ran for eight seasons on the Nine Network before it was canceled in late 2004 due to declining ratings and the late timeslot Channel Nine gave the program...
(an undercover police drama), The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
, Kath and Kim, Prisoner
Prisoner (TV series)
Prisoner is an Australian television soap opera which was set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and ran on Network Ten for 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986.The series was inspired by the 1970s...
(known as Prisoner: Cell Block H for US and UK broadcasts), Halifax FP, and MDA.
See also
- Culture of AustraliaCulture of AustraliaThe culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and by the diverse input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of Australia...
- MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
- Media in MelbourneMedia in MelbourneRelative to most other Australian cities, Melbourne media is unusual in its size and diversity.-Newspapers:Melbourne has two major and one minor daily newspapers...
- List of songs about Melbourne
- List of movies filmed in Melbourne
- Parks and gardens of Melbourne
- Sport in VictoriaSport in VictoriaThe state of Victoria, Australia, is known for its sporting culture. The Victorian capital, Melbourne is often referred to as the sporting capital of the world....
- Melbourne street artMelbourne street artMelbourne, the second largest city in Australia, has gained international notoriety for its diverse range of street art and associated subcultures. Throughout the 1970s and 80s much of the city's disaffected youth were influenced by the graffiti of New York which subsequently became popular in...
- Melbourne performing art venuesMelbourne performing art venuesMelbourne has more performing art venues than any other city in Australia.The following is a list of venues and maximum capacities.*The Butterfly Club *Festival Hall *Marriner Group Theatres**Princess Theatre...
External links
- That's Me!bourne - Melbourne tourism website
- Arts Victoria
- Melbourne Festival