History of Victoria
Encyclopedia
This article describes the history of the Australian state of
Victoria
.
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The state of Victoria was originally home to many indigenous nations that had occupied the land for tens of thousands of years. According to Gary Presland
Aborigines have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years, living a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels.
At the Keilor Archaeological Site
a human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP
, making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia. A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP
.
Archaeological sites in Tasmania
and on the Bass Strait
Islands have been dated to between 20,000 – 35,000 years ago, when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing Aboriginal people to move across the region of southern Victoria
and on to the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania
by at least 35,000 years ago.
During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP
, the area now the bay of Port Phillip
would have been dry land, and the Yarra and Werribee river would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP
, when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels. Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8000 and 6000 years ago.
Oral history and creation stories from the Wada wurrung, Woiwurrung
and Bun wurrung
languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil
was responsible for the formation of the bay, or the bay was flooded when the Yarra river
was created (Yarra Creation Story.)
in HM Bark Endeavour
sighted land at Point Hicks
, about 70 km west of Gabo Island
, before turning east and north to follow the coast of Australia.
Ships sailing from the United Kingdom to Sydney
crossed the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean
, sailing around Van Diemen's Land
before turning north to their destination. Several captains viewed the expanse of water between Van Diemen's Land and the east coast of New South Wales
and wondered whether it was a large bay or a strait
. Survivors of the Sydney Cove
, wrecked in the Furneaux Group of islands, also thought it might be a strait.
To clear up the question, Governor Hunter
sent George Bass
to thoroughly explore the coast in a whaleboat. After reaching Wilsons Promontory
and Western Port
in January 1798 he was forced by bad weather and lack of provisions to return to Sydney. Bass returned with Matthew Flinders
in December 1798 and sailed through the strait, proving its existence.
In December 1800, Lieutenant James Grant
in HMS Lady Nelson
, on way from Cape Town to Sydney, sailed through Bass Strait from west to east. Governor King
, disappointed at the vagueness of Grant’s chart, sent him back to survey the strait more thoroughly. Bad weather prevented him from proceeding beyond Western Port, where he stayed for five weeks, planting wheat, fruit trees and vegetables on Churchill Island
off Phillip Island.
In January 1802 Lieutenant John Murray
in the Lady Nelson visited Western Port and entered Port Phillip
on 14 February. He named Arthur’s Seat
, explored Corio Bay
and formally took possession of the bay (which he named Port King) for Britain.
Three weeks later the French explorer Nicolas Baudin
sailed through the strait from east to west and was the first to properly survey the coast to the west.
On 26 April 1802, Flinders, unaware of Murray’s visit, entered Port Phillip in Investigator, climbed Arthur’s Seat, rowed to Mornington
and across to the Bellarine Peninsula
and climbed the You Yangs
.
In January 1803 Acting-Lieutenant Charles Robbins in the schooner Cumberland
sailed right around Port Phillip. With him were acting surveyor-general Charles Grimes
and gardener James Flemming. At the head of the bay they found a river and followed it upstream where it soon divided. They followed the western branch and named it the Saltwater River (the present Maribyrnong
) to what is now Braybrook
, and then the eastern fresh-water branch (the Yarra
) to Dights Falls
. They had a friendly meeting with Aboriginal people and returned to their ship via Corio Bay. They concluded that the best site for a settlement would be on the freshwater at the northern head of the bay, but were unenthusiastic about the soil and its agricultural potential.
, Governor King was concerned that Bass Strait could harbour enemy raiders, and that in peace time it could provide an important trade route and trading base. The appearance of Baudin’s ships served to reinforce the concern that France was interested in the area. King was also looking for an alternative settlement for the increasing number of convicts in Sydney and to reduce the pressure on food resources. Port Phillip, with a favourable climate and rich fishing and sealing resources, seemed an ideal location for another settlement.
A full description of Murray’s and Flinders’ discoveries, together with King’s thoughts on settlement, but not Grimes’ report, reached England just as HMS Calcutta
was being prepared to send a shipload of convicts to Sydney. In February 1803, Lord Hobart
the Secretary of State
changed the destination to Port Phillip. On 24 April 1803, HMS Calcutta, commanded by Captain Daniel Woodriff, with Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins
as commander of the expedition, left England accompanied by the store-ship Ocean. On board were some 300 male convicts, a few free men, a dozen civil officers, a guard of about 50 marines, the wives of 36 of the men, plus 38 children.
The party entered Port Phillip on 9 October 1803 and chose a site at Sullivan Bay
near present-day Sorrento
.
Collins was soon disappointed with the area. Reports from exploring parties led by Lieutenant James Tuckey and surveyor George Harris
described strong currents, sandy soil, poor timber, swampy land and scarce fresh water. They also clashed with the Wathaurung
people near Corio Bay, killing their leader – the first Aboriginal known to have been killed by settlers in Victoria.
Collins reported his criticisms to Governor King, who supported him and recommended moving the settlement. On 18 December Calcutta departed for Port Jackson
, and the party was prepared for evacuation. This was achieved in two voyages of Ocean in January and May 1804, assisted by the Lady Nelson which had been surveying Port Dalrymple on the north coast of Van Diemens Land. The party was transferred to the fledgling settlement of Hobart
, founded by Lieutenant John Bowen
as a penal colony at Risdon Cove
in September 1803.
The brief settlement at Sorrento achieved little and left only a few relics for modern tourists to observe. Collins has been criticised for not investigating the bay thoroughly, in particular the northern head with its fresh-water river, and for being too hasty in his condemnation of the bay. The site of the settlement is now a reserve incorporating four graves from the period.
When Collins departed, one man was left behind. A convict, William Buckley
, had escaped and was presumed killed by Aborigines. He was to see his next European in 1835.
For the next thirty years a few sealers and whalers rested on the southern coast of New South Wales. In 1826 the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville
visited one of these camps on Phillip Island. There was a brief convict settlement at Corinella on Western Port under the command of Samuel G. Wright
from November 1826 to April 1828, to protect the approaches to the bay. A sealer William Dutton built a hut on the shore of Portland Bay
in 1829 where he resided until his death.
and former sea-captain William Hovell
set off to explore the country to the south in October 1824. They crossed the Murray River
(which they named the Hume River) near the site of Albury
and continued south. They crossed the Goulburn River (which they called the Hovell) above the site of Yea
, and were forced to detour around mountains. They arrived on the shores of Corio Bay
, mistakenly believing it to be Western Port, and returned to Sydney in January 1825, lavishly praising the quality of the country they had passed through.
In April 1826 the French explorer d'Urville
visited one of the sealers’ camps on Phillip Island. Worried by this renewed French interest in the area and encouraged by Hume and Hovell’s reports, Governor Darling
ordered a settlement to be established at Western Port. A small convict party arrived in November 1826 at Corinella under the command of Samuel Wright, to protect the approaches to the bay. Hovell, accompanying the party, soon realised that this was not where he had arrived two years before, and reported unfavourably on the swampy land around Western Port, although he referred to better land to the north. In spite of clearing the land for crops, and the construction of a fort and houses, the settlement was abandoned in April 1828.
The shortage of good pasture in Van Diemen's Land led to settlers there showing interest in the country across Bass Strait, following Hume and Hovell’s reports and stories of visiting sealers. Pastoralist John Batman
and surveyor John Wedge
planned an expedition from Launceston
in 1825 but permission was not granted. A number of settlers sought land over the next few years, but Governor Darling turned down all requests.
The expedition down the Murray River by Charles Sturt
in 1830 again aroused interest in settlement in the south. In April 1833 Edward Henty
, returning to Van Diemen's Land from Spencer Gulf
called in to Portland for a cargo of oil, and was much impressed. In November 1834 John Hart, another sailor, reported favourably in Launceston on Western Port. It was now inevitable that settlement would occur.
In June 1834 banker Charles Swanston
advised his client George Mercer
that land was scarce in Van Diemen's Land and he should invest across Bass Strait. Pastoralists John Aitken and George Russell suggested forming a partnership, and in August 1834 a group of eight Launceston capitalists formed what became the Port Phillip Association
. On 19 November 1834 Edward Henty landed in Portland Bay
and began the first permanent European settlement on the north coast of Bass Strait.
, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Portland was settled in 1834 by the Henty
family, who were originally farmers from Van Diemen's Land
(Tasmania). When Major Mitchell led an expedition to the region from Sydney in 1835, arriving at Portland in August 1836, he was surprised to find a small but prosperous community living off the fertile farmland.
With the dispossession of Aboriginal tribes from their lands with the establishment of sheep runs by squatters, conflict over resources and land use inevitably occurred. One highly notable incident called the Convincing Ground massacre
occurred in Portland Bay in 1833 or 1834 in a dispute about a Beached whale
between whalers and the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara
people. According to Aboriginal reports the clan was wiped out with just two survivors from the incident. The number of Aborigines reported killed varies from 60 to 200.
Melbourne
was founded in 1835 by John Batman
, also from Van Diemen's Land
and quickly grew into a thriving community, although at great human cost to the original inhabitants. Its foundation was the result of an invasion of wealthy squatters, land speculators and their indentured servants (including ex-convicts) who arrived from 1835, in a race with one another to seize an 'empty' country. The British Crown and colonial governments did not to recognize prior Aboriginal ownership of their lands, waters and property, in spite of claiming that Aborigines fell within the protection of the law as British subjects. No compensation or agreements were ever negotiated with Aboriginal land-owning groups. Violent conflict ensued. For example, in August 1836, Aborigines killed the squatter Charles Franks and an unnamed shepherd, at Franks' station on the Werribee River (near Melbourne). In response, Henry Batman (John Batman's brother) led an indiscriminate punitive expedition against 70-80 Aborigines (men, women & children) in 9 large huts on the Werribee River, killing an unrecorded number. By 1839, large numbers of homeless, dispossessed Aborigines, refugees from surrounding pastoral districts, were "....surviving whenever and however they could on the geographic, social and economic margins of the town." In January, 1844, there were said to be 675 Aborigines resident in camps in Melbourne.
Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were largely dispossessed of territory bigger than England. Although the British Colonial Office appointed 5 "Aboriginal Protectors" for the entire Aboriginal population of Victoria, arriving in Melbourne in 1839, they worked "...within a land policy that nullified their work, and there was no political will to change this." "It was government policy to encourage squatters to take possession of whatever [Aboriginal] land they chose,....that largely explains why almost all the original inhabitants of Port Phillip's vast grasslands were dead so soon after 1835". By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences then issued in Victoria and became the patriarchs "...that were to wield so much political and economic power in Victoria for generations to come."
The first petition for the separation of the Port Phillip District (or 'Australia Felix') from New South Wales
was drafted in 1840 by Henry Fyshe Gisborne
and presented by him to Governor Gipps
. Gipps, who had previously been in favour of separation, rejected the petition.
The British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales, and naming and providing a Constitution for the new Colony, was signed ten years later by Queen Victoria on 5 August 1850. It was followed by enabling legislation passed by the New South Wales Legislative Council
on 1 July 1851. This was formally the founding moment of the Colony of Victoria as separation from New South Wales was established by Section 1 of the 1851 Act. http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?sdID=17
gold
was first discovered in Clunes
near Ballarat
, and subsequently at Bendigo
. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget
. Victoria produced in the decade 1851-1860, twenty million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output.
Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo
and its environs. Although there was some racism
directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots
in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley
near Bright
in 1857
. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary - an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854
killed over 1,000 miners.
In 1854
there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes
(the "Eureka Stockade
"). This was crushed by British troops, but some of the leaders of the rebellion subsequently became members of the Victoria Parliament, and the rebellion is still sometimes regarded as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian democracy.
The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Maori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War
.
At the beginning of 1901
, following a proclamation
by Queen Victoria, Victoria ceased to be an independent colony and became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Victorian and Tasmanian politicians were particularly active in the Federation
process.
As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne
became the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra
was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time, and the second largest city in the Empire
(after London). Whilst Melbourne remains an important financial centre, Sydney is now the largest city.
, and Military history of Australia during World War II
's government. This was largely attributable to lagging property markets and manufacturing sectors as well as a financial crash involving industry giants such as the Pyramid Building Society
and the collapse of The State Bank of Victoria
, in particular its merchant banking arm Tricontinental. The result was a loss of employment and a drain of population to New South Wales
and Queensland.
In the 1990s, the Victorian state government of Premier
Jeff Kennett
(Lib
) sought to reverse this trend with the aggressive development of new public works, mainly centred around the state capital of Melbourne. These included the Melbourne Museum
, Federation Square
, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre
(nicknamed "Jeff's Shed"), Crown Casino
, capital works such as the CityLink
tollway, the sale of state assets (including the State Electricity Commission
and some state schools), the pruning of state services and a public relations campaign promoting Melbourne's merits, aimed at Melbourne residents and visitors alike. These policies were continued under the governments of Premiers Steve Bracks
(ALP
) and John Brumby
(ALP
).
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....
.
Aboriginal history
- See also Prehistory of AustraliaPrehistory of AustraliaThe prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the first definitive sighting of Australia by Europeans in 1606, which may be taken as the beginning of the recent history of Australia...
, Victorian AboriginesVictorian AboriginesThe Indigenous Australians of Victoria, Australia occupied the land for tens of thousands of years prior to European settlement. According to Gary Presland Aborigines have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years living a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming...
Gary Presland
Gary Presland is an Australian archaeologist and writer who studied history at La Trobe University 1973-76, and archaeology at the University of London, 1977-79. He was a staff member of the Victoria Archaeological Survey from 1983 to April 1988; his research interests are in the Aboriginal and...
Aborigines have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years, living a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels.
At the Keilor Archaeological Site
Keilor archaeological site
The Keilor archaeological site was among the first places to demonstrate the antiquity of Aboriginal occupation of Australia when a cranium, unearthed in 1940, was found to be nearly 15,000 years old. Subsequent investigations of Pleistocene alluvial terraces revealed hearths about 31,000 years BP,...
a human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
, making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia. A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
.
Archaeological sites in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and on the Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
Islands have been dated to between 20,000 – 35,000 years ago, when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing Aboriginal people to move across the region of southern 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....
and on to the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
by at least 35,000 years ago.
During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
, the area now the bay of Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
would have been dry land, and the Yarra and Werribee river would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
, when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels. Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8000 and 6000 years ago.
Oral history and creation stories from the Wada wurrung, Woiwurrung
Woiwurrung
Woiwurrung is an Indigenous Australian language spoken by some of the Kulin Nation clans, the Wurundjeri people, of Central Victoria, from Mount Baw Baw in the east to Mount Macedon, Sunbury and Gisborne in the west.The Woiwurrung clans inhabited the Yarra River, called Birrarung in Woiwurrung,...
and Bun wurrung
Bunurong
The Bunurong are Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who occupy South-Central Victoria, Australia. Prior to European settlement, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, sustainably on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers, for tens of thousands of years...
languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil
Bunjil
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Bunjil the eagle is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being. In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he was regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being the trickster Crow. Bunjil has two wives and a son, Binbeal the rainbow. His brother...
was responsible for the formation of the bay, or the bay was flooded when the Yarra river
Yarra River
The 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...
was created (Yarra Creation Story.)
Early European exploration
Coming from New Zealand in 1770, Captain James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
in HM Bark Endeavour
HM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
sighted land at Point Hicks
Point Hicks
Point Hicks, formerly called Cape Everard, is a coastal headland on the eastern coast of Victoria, Australia, located within the Croajingolong National Park.- Name :...
, about 70 km west of Gabo Island
Gabo Island
Gabo Island is a 154 ha island located off the coast of eastern Victoria, Australia, between Mallacoota and Cape Howe on the border with New South Wales. It is separated from the mainland by a 500 m wide channel; access is available by arranged flights and boats...
, before turning east and north to follow the coast of Australia.
Ships sailing from the United Kingdom to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
crossed the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
, sailing around Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
before turning north to their destination. Several captains viewed the expanse of water between Van Diemen's Land and the east coast of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and wondered whether it was a large bay or a strait
Strait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
. Survivors of the Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove (ship)
Sydney Cove was a sailing ship wrecked in 1797 on Preservation Island off Tasmania while on her way from Calcutta to Port Jackson. She was among the first ships wrecked on the east coast of Australia.- Voyage :...
, wrecked in the Furneaux Group of islands, also thought it might be a strait.
To clear up the question, Governor Hunter
John Hunter (New South Wales)
Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...
sent George Bass
George Bass
George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
to thoroughly explore the coast in a whaleboat. After reaching Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland and is located at . South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia...
and Western Port
Western Port
Western Port, is sometimes called "Western Port Bay", is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in Victoria. Geographically, it is dominated by the two large islands; French Island and Phillip Island. Contrary to its name, it lies to...
in January 1798 he was forced by bad weather and lack of provisions to return to Sydney. Bass returned with Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
in December 1798 and sailed through the strait, proving its existence.
In December 1800, Lieutenant James Grant
James Grant (navigator)
James Grant was a British Royal Navy officer and navigator in the early nineteenth century. He made several voyages to Australia and Tasmania, and was the first to map parts of the south coast of Australia.-Early life:...
in HMS Lady Nelson
Lady Nelson
The Royal Navy purchased Lady Nelson in 1799. She spent her career exploring the coast of Australia in the early years of the 19th century. She was the first known vessel to sail eastward through Bass Strait, the first to sail along the South coast of Victoria, as well as the first to enter Port...
, on way from Cape Town to Sydney, sailed through Bass Strait from west to east. Governor King
Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
, disappointed at the vagueness of Grant’s chart, sent him back to survey the strait more thoroughly. Bad weather prevented him from proceeding beyond Western Port, where he stayed for five weeks, planting wheat, fruit trees and vegetables on Churchill Island
Churchill Island
Churchill Island is a island in Western Port, Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Phillip Island. It is the site of the first European settlement in Victoria. It contains a working farm and a homestead, dating from 1872, which is open to the public...
off Phillip Island.
In January 1802 Lieutenant John Murray
John Murray (Australian explorer)
John Murray was a seaman and explorer of Australia. He was the first European to discover Port Phillip, the bay on which the cities of Melbourne and Geelong are situated....
in the Lady Nelson visited Western Port and entered Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
on 14 February. He named Arthur’s Seat
Arthurs Seat, Victoria
Arthurs Seat is a hill and locality on the Mornington Peninsula, within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula, about 75 km south east of Melbourne, Australia....
, explored Corio Bay
Corio Bay
Corio Bay is one of numerous bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay.-Name:...
and formally took possession of the bay (which he named Port King) for Britain.
Three weeks later the French explorer Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...
sailed through the strait from east to west and was the first to properly survey the coast to the west.
On 26 April 1802, Flinders, unaware of Murray’s visit, entered Port Phillip in Investigator, climbed Arthur’s Seat, rowed to Mornington
Mornington, Victoria
Mornington is a sea side town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, located 57 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula....
and across to the Bellarine Peninsula
Bellarine Peninsula
The Bellarine Peninsula is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Peninsula separates Port Phillip from Bass Strait...
and climbed the You Yangs
You Yangs
The You Yangs are a series of granite ridges that rise to 364m above the Werribee Plain approximately 55km south west of Melbourne and 22km north east of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. The main ridge runs roughly N-S for about 9 km, with a lower extension running for about 15 km to the west...
.
In January 1803 Acting-Lieutenant Charles Robbins in the schooner Cumberland
HMS Cumberland (1803)
HMS Cumberland was a 29 ton schooner built in Port Jackson, Australia, by Henry Moore in 1801. Under the command of Acting Lieutenant Charles Robbin, she was used for Charles Grimes survey of King Island and Port Phillip in early 1803. She was purchased in 1803 to convey Matthew Flinders to England...
sailed right around Port Phillip. With him were acting surveyor-general Charles Grimes
Charles Grimes
Charles Grimes was an English-born surveyor who did some valuable work in colonial Australia. He served as surveyor-general of New South Wales and discovered the Yarra River in what is now the state of Victoria. He is perhaps best known for being the surveyor who mapped the route of the Hobart...
and gardener James Flemming. At the head of the bay they found a river and followed it upstream where it soon divided. They followed the western branch and named it the Saltwater River (the present Maribyrnong
Maribyrnong river
The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....
) to what is now Braybrook
Braybrook, Victoria
Braybrook is a suburb 9 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Braybrook had a population of 6940....
, and then the eastern fresh-water branch (the Yarra
Yarra River
The 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...
) to Dights Falls
Dights Falls
Dights Falls is located in Melbourne, Victoria just downstream of the junction of the Yarra River with Merri Creek. At this point the river narrows and is constricted between 800,000 year old volcanic, basaltic lava flow and a much older steep, silurian, sedimentary spur...
. They had a friendly meeting with Aboriginal people and returned to their ship via Corio Bay. They concluded that the best site for a settlement would be on the freshwater at the northern head of the bay, but were unenthusiastic about the soil and its agricultural potential.
1803 British settlement
With Britain involved in the French revolutionary warsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, Governor King was concerned that Bass Strait could harbour enemy raiders, and that in peace time it could provide an important trade route and trading base. The appearance of Baudin’s ships served to reinforce the concern that France was interested in the area. King was also looking for an alternative settlement for the increasing number of convicts in Sydney and to reduce the pressure on food resources. Port Phillip, with a favourable climate and rich fishing and sealing resources, seemed an ideal location for another settlement.
A full description of Murray’s and Flinders’ discoveries, together with King’s thoughts on settlement, but not Grimes’ report, reached England just as HMS Calcutta
HMS Calcutta (1795)
HMS Calcutta was an East Indiaman converted to a Royal Navy 56-gun fourth rate. This ship of the line served for a time as an armed transport. She also transported convicts to Australia in a voyage that became a circumnavigation of the world. The French 74-gun Magnanime captured Calcutta in 1805...
was being prepared to send a shipload of convicts to Sydney. In February 1803, Lord Hobart
Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire
Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire PC , styled Lord Hobart from 1793 to 1804, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th century.-Background:...
the Secretary of State
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...
changed the destination to Port Phillip. On 24 April 1803, HMS Calcutta, commanded by Captain Daniel Woodriff, with Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins
David Collins (governor)
Colonel David Collins was the first Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Van Diemens Land, founded in 1804, which in 1901 became the state of Tasmania in the Commonwealth of Australia.-Early life and military career:...
as commander of the expedition, left England accompanied by the store-ship Ocean. On board were some 300 male convicts, a few free men, a dozen civil officers, a guard of about 50 marines, the wives of 36 of the men, plus 38 children.
The party entered Port Phillip on 9 October 1803 and chose a site at Sullivan Bay
Sullivan Bay, Victoria
Sullivan Bay lies 60 km due south of Melbourne on Port Phillip, one kilometre east of Sorrento, Victoria. It was established as a short-lived convict settlement in 1803 by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins. The site was chosen because of its strategic location near the entrance of the Bay...
near present-day 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...
.
Collins was soon disappointed with the area. Reports from exploring parties led by Lieutenant James Tuckey and surveyor George Harris
George Prideaux Robert Harris
George Prideaux Robert Harris was a deputy surveyor and naturalist in Tasmania, Australia from 1803. He described many of the marsupials native to the Island, including the Tasmanian Devil and the Thylacine. He also described some plant species....
described strong currents, sandy soil, poor timber, swampy land and scarce fresh water. They also clashed with the Wathaurung
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
people near Corio Bay, killing their leader – the first Aboriginal known to have been killed by settlers in Victoria.
Collins reported his criticisms to Governor King, who supported him and recommended moving the settlement. On 18 December Calcutta departed for Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
, and the party was prepared for evacuation. This was achieved in two voyages of Ocean in January and May 1804, assisted by the Lady Nelson which had been surveying Port Dalrymple on the north coast of Van Diemens Land. The party was transferred to the fledgling settlement of Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, founded by Lieutenant John Bowen
John Bowen (colonist)
John Bowen was a naval officer and colonial administrator. Led the first settlement of Tasmania at Risdon Cove. He was the son of James Bowen, and was born at Ilfracombe, Devon, England.-Early career:...
as a penal colony at Risdon Cove
Risdon Cove
Risdon Cove was the site of the first British settlement in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, the smallest Australian state. Risdon Cove, which was named after William Bellamy Risdon, second officer of the ship Duke of Clarence. Risdon served under Lt...
in September 1803.
The brief settlement at Sorrento achieved little and left only a few relics for modern tourists to observe. Collins has been criticised for not investigating the bay thoroughly, in particular the northern head with its fresh-water river, and for being too hasty in his condemnation of the bay. The site of the settlement is now a reserve incorporating four graves from the period.
When Collins departed, one man was left behind. A convict, William Buckley
William Buckley (convict)
William Buckley was an English convict who was transported to Australia, escaped, was given up for dead and lived in an Aboriginal community for many years....
, had escaped and was presumed killed by Aborigines. He was to see his next European in 1835.
For the next thirty years a few sealers and whalers rested on the southern coast of New South Wales. In 1826 the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer, naval officer and rear admiral, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.-Childhood:Dumont was born at Condé-sur-Noireau...
visited one of these camps on Phillip Island. There was a brief convict settlement at Corinella on Western Port under the command of Samuel G. Wright
Samuel G. Wright
Samuel Gardiner Wright was born in Wrightstown, New Jersey.In 1830 he was elected to the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Monmouth County.He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth United States Congress to represent and served from March 4, 1845, until his death near Imlaystown, New...
from November 1826 to April 1828, to protect the approaches to the bay. A sealer William Dutton built a hut on the shore of Portland Bay
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
in 1829 where he resided until his death.
Interest grows in the north coast of Bass Strait
Following a number of exploratory expeditions south from the settled areas of New South Wales, the pastoralist Hamilton HumeHamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume was the first Australian born explorer. Along with Hovell in 1824, Hume was part of an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip near the site of present day Melbourne...
and former sea-captain William Hovell
William Hovell
William Hilton Hovell was an English explorer of Australia.-Early life:Hovell was born in Yarmouth, Norfolk, England and went to sea as a boy, becoming a Royal Navy captain before settling in New South Wales, arriving in October 1813 aboard the Earl Spencer with his wife Esther née Arndell...
set off to explore the country to the south in October 1824. They crossed the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
(which they named the Hume River) near the site of Albury
Albury, New South Wales
Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
and continued south. They crossed the Goulburn River (which they called the Hovell) above the site of Yea
Yea, Victoria
Yea is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. Located north-east of Melbourne via the Melba Highway, Yea sits at the junction with the Goulburn Valley Highway, and above sea-level. At the 2006 Census, Yea had a population of 1,052.- History :The...
, and were forced to detour around mountains. They arrived on the shores of Corio Bay
Corio Bay
Corio Bay is one of numerous bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay.-Name:...
, mistakenly believing it to be Western Port, and returned to Sydney in January 1825, lavishly praising the quality of the country they had passed through.
In April 1826 the French explorer d'Urville
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer, naval officer and rear admiral, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.-Childhood:Dumont was born at Condé-sur-Noireau...
visited one of the sealers’ camps on Phillip Island. Worried by this renewed French interest in the area and encouraged by Hume and Hovell’s reports, Governor Darling
Ralph Darling
General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH was a British colonial Governor and Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831.-Early career:...
ordered a settlement to be established at Western Port. A small convict party arrived in November 1826 at Corinella under the command of Samuel Wright, to protect the approaches to the bay. Hovell, accompanying the party, soon realised that this was not where he had arrived two years before, and reported unfavourably on the swampy land around Western Port, although he referred to better land to the north. In spite of clearing the land for crops, and the construction of a fort and houses, the settlement was abandoned in April 1828.
The shortage of good pasture in Van Diemen's Land led to settlers there showing interest in the country across Bass Strait, following Hume and Hovell’s reports and stories of visiting sealers. Pastoralist John Batman
John Batman
John Batman was an Australian grazier, businessman and explorer who is best known for his role in the founding of a settlement which became Melbourne and the colony of Victoria.-Life:...
and surveyor John Wedge
John Wedge
John Wedge was an English agriculturalist.John Wedge was the son of Francis Wedge and Elizabeth Knock of Fernhill House, near Forton, Staffordshire, a prosperous farmer, and brother of Thomas Wedge of Chester and Charles Wedge of Shudy Camps. John Wedge established himself on the Church Farm,...
planned an expedition from Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
in 1825 but permission was not granted. A number of settlers sought land over the next few years, but Governor Darling turned down all requests.
The expedition down the Murray River by Charles Sturt
Charles Sturt
Captain Charles Napier Sturt was an English explorer of Australia, and part of the European Exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from both Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers,...
in 1830 again aroused interest in settlement in the south. In April 1833 Edward Henty
Edward Henty
See also Western District Edward Henty ,was a pioneer and first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district , Australia....
, returning to Van Diemen's Land from Spencer Gulf
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. The Gulf is 322 km long and 129 km wide at its mouth. The western shore of the Gulf is the Eyre Peninsula, while the eastern side is the...
called in to Portland for a cargo of oil, and was much impressed. In November 1834 John Hart, another sailor, reported favourably in Launceston on Western Port. It was now inevitable that settlement would occur.
In June 1834 banker Charles Swanston
Charles Swanston
Charles Swanston merchant, banker and politician was a financial backer of the Port Phillip Association. He was born in Berwick upon Tweed, England the son of Robert and Rebecca Swanston...
advised his client George Mercer
George Mercer
George C. "Tiny" Mercer was convicted of the rape and murder of 22 year old Karen Keeton in Belton, Missouri, United States, on August 31, 1978. At the time of the murder, Mercer had a charge pending against him of raping a 17 year old girl. He was executed at the age of 44 by the state of...
that land was scarce in Van Diemen's Land and he should invest across Bass Strait. Pastoralists John Aitken and George Russell suggested forming a partnership, and in August 1834 a group of eight Launceston capitalists formed what became the Port Phillip Association
Port Phillip Association
The Port Phillip Association was formally formed in June 1835 to settle land in what would become Melbourne, which the association believed had been acquired by John Batman for the association from Wurundjeri elders after he had obtained their marks to a document, which came to be known as...
. On 19 November 1834 Edward Henty landed in Portland Bay
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
and began the first permanent European settlement on the north coast of Bass Strait.
1834 permanent settlement
Victoria's first successful British settlement was at PortlandPortland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Portland was settled in 1834 by the Henty
Edward Henty
See also Western District Edward Henty ,was a pioneer and first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district , Australia....
family, who were originally farmers from Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
(Tasmania). When Major Mitchell led an expedition to the region from Sydney in 1835, arriving at Portland in August 1836, he was surprised to find a small but prosperous community living off the fertile farmland.
With the dispossession of Aboriginal tribes from their lands with the establishment of sheep runs by squatters, conflict over resources and land use inevitably occurred. One highly notable incident called the Convincing Ground massacre
Convincing Ground massacre
When Portland, Victoria was established as a whaling station in 1829, there was tension between the local Indigenous Australian tribe, the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara people and the whalers. In 1833 or 1834 this tension turned into a full fledged conflict in a dispute over a beached...
occurred in Portland Bay in 1833 or 1834 in a dispute about a Beached whale
Beached whale
A beached whale is a whale that has stranded itself on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, the body collapsing under its own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole.-Species:...
between whalers and the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria . Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people.The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara...
people. According to Aboriginal reports the clan was wiped out with just two survivors from the incident. The number of Aborigines reported killed varies from 60 to 200.
Melbourne
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...
was founded in 1835 by John Batman
John Batman
John Batman was an Australian grazier, businessman and explorer who is best known for his role in the founding of a settlement which became Melbourne and the colony of Victoria.-Life:...
, also from Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
and quickly grew into a thriving community, although at great human cost to the original inhabitants. Its foundation was the result of an invasion of wealthy squatters, land speculators and their indentured servants (including ex-convicts) who arrived from 1835, in a race with one another to seize an 'empty' country. The British Crown and colonial governments did not to recognize prior Aboriginal ownership of their lands, waters and property, in spite of claiming that Aborigines fell within the protection of the law as British subjects. No compensation or agreements were ever negotiated with Aboriginal land-owning groups. Violent conflict ensued. For example, in August 1836, Aborigines killed the squatter Charles Franks and an unnamed shepherd, at Franks' station on the Werribee River (near Melbourne). In response, Henry Batman (John Batman's brother) led an indiscriminate punitive expedition against 70-80 Aborigines (men, women & children) in 9 large huts on the Werribee River, killing an unrecorded number. By 1839, large numbers of homeless, dispossessed Aborigines, refugees from surrounding pastoral districts, were "....surviving whenever and however they could on the geographic, social and economic margins of the town." In January, 1844, there were said to be 675 Aborigines resident in camps in Melbourne.
Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were largely dispossessed of territory bigger than England. Although the British Colonial Office appointed 5 "Aboriginal Protectors" for the entire Aboriginal population of Victoria, arriving in Melbourne in 1839, they worked "...within a land policy that nullified their work, and there was no political will to change this." "It was government policy to encourage squatters to take possession of whatever [Aboriginal] land they chose,....that largely explains why almost all the original inhabitants of Port Phillip's vast grasslands were dead so soon after 1835". By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences then issued in Victoria and became the patriarchs "...that were to wield so much political and economic power in Victoria for generations to come."
The first petition for the separation of the Port Phillip District (or 'Australia Felix') from New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
was drafted in 1840 by Henry Fyshe Gisborne
Henry Fyshe Gisborne
Henry Fyshe Gisborne was the first Commissioner for Crown Lands of the Port Phillip District, founder of Flemington Racecourse and petitioner for Victoria's separation from New South Wales.-Early career:...
and presented by him to Governor Gipps
George Gipps
Sir George Gipps was Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Australia, for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship was during a period of great change for New South Wales and Australia, as well as for New Zealand, which was administered as part of New South Wales for much of this...
. Gipps, who had previously been in favour of separation, rejected the petition.
The British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales, and naming and providing a Constitution for the new Colony, was signed ten years later by Queen Victoria on 5 August 1850. It was followed by enabling legislation passed by the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
on 1 July 1851. This was formally the founding moment of the Colony of Victoria as separation from New South Wales was established by Section 1 of the 1851 Act. http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?sdID=17
1850s gold rush
In 18511851 in Australia
See also:1850 in Australia,other events of 1851,1852 in Australia,1853 in Australia,1854 in Australia,and theTimeline of Australian history....
gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
was first discovered in Clunes
Clunes, Victoria
Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, located 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. At the 2006 census it had a population of 1,026.- History :...
near Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
, and subsequently at Bendigo
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget
Welcome Stranger
The "Welcome Stranger" is the name given to the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, which had a calculated refined weight of 2,283 oz 6 dwts 9 gr...
. Victoria produced in the decade 1851-1860, twenty million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output.
Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
and its environs. Although there was some racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots
Lambing Flat riots
The Lambing Flat riots were a series of violent anti-Chinese demonstrations that took place in the Burrangong region, in New South Wales, Australia...
in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley
Buckland Riot
The Buckland Riot was an anti-Chinese race riot that occurred on 4 July 1857, in the goldfields of the Buckland Valley, Victoria, Australia. At the time approximately 2000 Chinese and 700 European migrants were living in the Buckland area.-Riot:...
near Bright
Bright, Victoria
Bright is a small sized town, located in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the 2006 census, Bright had a population of 2684. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area...
in 1857
1857 in Australia
See also:1856 in Australia,other events of 1857,1858 in Australia and theTimeline of Australian history.- Governors:Governors of the Australian colonies:*Governor of New South Wales - Sir William Denison...
. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary - an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854
1854 in Australia
See also:1853 in Australia,other events of 1854,1855 in Australia, and theTimeline of Australian history.- Governors:Governors of the Australian colonies:*Governor of New South Wales - Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy...
killed over 1,000 miners.
In 1854
1854 in Australia
See also:1853 in Australia,other events of 1854,1855 in Australia, and theTimeline of Australian history.- Governors:Governors of the Australian colonies:*Governor of New South Wales - Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy...
there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes
Miner's Licence
The Miner's Licence was the colonial government's response to the Australian gold rushes and the need to provide infrastructure including policing. The Governor of New South Wales, Sir Charles Fitzroy invoked a sixteenth-century lawsuit, R v Earl of Northfartland which was decided in 1568, to...
(the "Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
"). This was crushed by British troops, but some of the leaders of the rebellion subsequently became members of the Victoria Parliament, and the rebellion is still sometimes regarded as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian democracy.
The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Maori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
.
1901 federation
1901 in Australia
See also:1900 in Australia,other events of 1901,1902 in Australia and theTimeline of Australian history.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria , then Edward VII*Governor General — John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun...
, following a proclamation
Proclamation Declaring the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia
The Proclamation Declaring the Establishment of the Commonwealth was a royal proclamation made by Queen Victoria on 17 September 1900 federating the six separate British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia under the name of the...
by Queen Victoria, Victoria ceased to be an independent colony and became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Victorian and Tasmanian politicians were particularly active in the Federation
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...
process.
As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne
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...
became the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while 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...
was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time, and the second largest city in the Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
(after London). Whilst Melbourne remains an important financial centre, Sydney is now the largest city.
World War Two
Main articles: Australian home front during World War IIAustralian home front during World War II
Although most Australian civilians lived far from the front line of World War II, the Australian home front during World War II played a significant role in the Allied victory and led to permanent changes to Australian society....
, and Military history of Australia during World War II
Military history of Australia during World War II
Australia entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the European theatre, North African campaign, and...
1990s economic slump
Victoria experienced an economic slump from 1989 to 1992 during the term of John CainJohn Cain II
John Cain , Australian Labor Party politician, was the 41st Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1982 to 1990.-Biography:...
's government. This was largely attributable to lagging property markets and manufacturing sectors as well as a financial crash involving industry giants such as the Pyramid Building Society
Pyramid Building Society
The Pyramid Building Society, the Geelong Building Society and the Countrywide Building Society together made up the Farrow Group of building societies, based in Geelong, Australia. They collapsed in 1990 with debts in excess of $2 billion...
and the collapse of The State Bank of Victoria
State Bank of Victoria
The State Bank of Victoria was a bank that existed from 1842 until 1990 when it was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank. It was owned by the State of Victoria....
, in particular its merchant banking arm Tricontinental. The result was a loss of employment and a drain of population to New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and Queensland.
In the 1990s, the Victorian state government of Premier
Premiers of Victoria
The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the government in the Australian state of Victoria. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Legislative Assembly....
Jeff Kennett
Jeff Kennett
Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...
(Lib
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
) sought to reverse this trend with the aggressive development of new public works, mainly centred around the state capital of Melbourne. These included the Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Museum is located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, adjacent the Royal Exhibition Building.It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere, and is a venue of Museum Victoria, which also operates the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum.The museum has seven main...
, Federation Square
Federation Square
Federation Square is a civic centre and cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is the name given to two adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
(nicknamed "Jeff's Shed"), Crown Casino
Crown Casino
Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex is a large casino and entertainment precinct located on the south bank of the Yarra River, in Melbourne, Australia. Crown Casino is a unit of Crown Limited....
, capital works such as the CityLink
CityLink
CityLink is a system of tolled urban Highways in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two existing freeways and construct two new Toll roads—labelled the Western and Southern Links—directly linking a number of existing freeways to...
tollway, the sale of state assets (including the State Electricity Commission
State Electricity Commission of Victoria
The State Electricity Commission of Victoria was a monopoly electricity generation, transmission and supply utility located in Victoria, Australia...
and some state schools), the pruning of state services and a public relations campaign promoting Melbourne's merits, aimed at Melbourne residents and visitors alike. These policies were continued under the governments of Premiers Steve Bracks
Steve Bracks
Stephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....
(ALP
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
) and John Brumby
John Brumby
John Mansfield Brumby , is an Australian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became Premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election...
(ALP
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
).