Melbourne
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melbourne is a city in Australia in Victoria. It is the state's capital and it has a 3,720,300 inhabitants (2001). It is the second largest city in Australia.
There is a lot of industry (factories) and commerce (buying and selling) in Melbourne. Many of Australia's largest companies and many multinational companies work there. (In 2002, about one-third of the 100 largest multinational companies in Australia were in Melbourne.) It is home to Australia's largest seaport. There are seven universities (the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Deakin University, Victoria University, La Trobe University, RMIT University, and Swinburne University). Much of Australia's automotive (car) industry is there, for example the engine maker "Holden", and "Ford" and "Toyota" car builders.
Melbourne was founded in 1834 by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner. Melbourne grew very quickly because people went there around 1850 after they heard that gold had been found. At the end of the 19th century, Melbourne was called "Marvellous Melbourne"; "marvellous" means "wonderful". The first Australian government was in Melbourne.
[edit] Population
Many people from different countries live in Melbourne. In fact 43% of the Melburnians were born outside Australia or have parents from another country. All together people from 233 countries live in Melborne and people with 116 different religions.
Melbourne Population by year |
||
---|---|---|
1836 | 177 | |
1851 | 29,000 | |
1854 | 123,000 | (gold rush) |
1860 | 140,000 | |
1880 | 280,000 | |
1890 | 490,000 | |
1895 | 900,000 | (economic collapse) |
1956 | 1,500,000 | |
1981 | 2,806,000 | |
1991 | 3,156,700 | (economic slump) |
2001 | 3,366,542 | |
2004 | 3,592,975 | |
2006 | 3,720,300 | (2006 estimate) |
2030 | 4,500,000 | (projected) |
[edit] Events
- 1956 - The Olympic Games were in Melbourne.
- 2006 - Commonwealth Games
[edit] Sister cities
Melbourne has six sister cities. They are:
- - Osaka, Japan (1978)
- - Tianjin, China (PRC) (1980)
- - Thessaloniki, Greece (1984)
- - Boston, United States (1985)
- - Saint Petersburg, Russia (1989)
- - Milan, Italy (2004)