Melbourne History

The Melbourne History pages can be summed up in a gist as below -

Before the arrival of Europeans, this place was occupied by hunter gatherers from the 3 Indigenous Aboriginal Tribes: the Wurundjeri, Wathaurong & Boonwurrung tribes.

Melbourne was established in 1835 by free settlers as a pastoral township. this happened 47 years after the settlement of Europeans in Australia. It was named in 1837 in honour of the 2nd Viscount Melbourne - William Lamb, who was then the British Prime Minister who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire.

Melbourne was declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. When gold was discovered in 1850s, it started the Victorian Gold rush and soon Melbourne became the largest & wealthiest cities in the world.

Until Canberra was being constructed as the planned National Capital, Melbourne served as the Capital of Australia till 1927.