Timeline of Melbourne history

This is a timeline of major events in the history of the city of Melbourne, Australia.

Pre-European settlement

• At least 50,000 years of settlement by various Aboriginal nations that were existing then

18th century

• 1797 - George Bass explores the south-east coast of Australia

19th century

A map dating to the 1880s shows the well-established suburbs of Melbourne.

• 1800 - James Grant explores the south-east of Australia
• 1801 - John Murray sails into Port Phillip in the Lady Nelson
• 1803 - Charles Robbins and Charles Grimes explore the entirety of Port Phillip and discover the Yarra River in the Buffalo
• 1803 - David Collins sent from Sydney to establish a settlement for the British Government. Unaware of previous discoveries, Collins settles near present-day Sullivan Bay on the Mornington Peninsula. This settlement is abandoned five months later.
• 1834 - The Henty family establish first long-term European settlement in Victoria at Portland
• 1835 - John Batman sails to the mouth of the Yarra from Tasmania in the Rebecca
• 1835 - John Batman 'buys' the 2,430 km² that Melbourne would be founded on from the local Aboriginal nation, the Wurundjeri. The Batman Deed is now widely recognised to be more of a treaty than a sale.
• 1835 - Melbourne is founded by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner
• 1836 - William Lonsdale built the first government block, declaring Melbourne the capital of the Port Phillip district
• 1837 - 28 March -The Hoddle Grid of streets for the central business district is surveyed by Robert Hoddle
• 1837 - 1 June - First inner-city land sale
• 1838 - Melbourne is declared a legal port and administrative centre, opening the way for vastly increased immigration
• 1838 - Melbourne Cricket Club is founded
• 1838 - Second inner-city land sale
• 1839 - Third inner-city land sale. Quarrying of bluestone began out of the Melbourne Corporation Quarry at Clifton Hill.
• 1840 - First petition for the separation of Port Phillip District from New South Wales drafted by Henry Fyshe Gisborne and presented to Governor George Gipps.
• 1841 - First seaport and market are opened
• 1842 - Melbourne Municipal Corporation Act was passed in Sydney. Melbourne City Council is formed.
• 1845 - First Princes Bridge constructed connecting both sides of the Yarra
• 1847 - Melbourne declared a city by Queen Victoria on 25 June.
• 1847 - Melbourne Building Act was passed in 1847 based on Sydney act of 1833.
• 1848 - Melbourne Hospital founded (from 1935 the hospital is called The Royal Melbourne Hospital)
• 1851 - Beginning of the Victorian gold rush with discovery of gold at Buninyong
• 1851 - Victoria becomes a colony, separate from New South Wales
• 1851 - First state Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe inaugurated
• 1852 - City's first gas works is opened
• 1853 - The University of Melbourne is founded
• 1854 - The Melbourne Terminus (first Flinders Street Station building) is completed
• 1854 - First steam railway journey in Australia from Melbourne Terminus (on the current site of Flinders Street Station) to Sandridge (later Port Melbourne)
• 1854 - Melbourne Exhibition held in conjunction with Exposition Universelle (1855)
• 1854 - The State Library of Victoria is founded
• 1854 - First telegraph service, to Williamstown
• 1854 - The first Town Hall is completed
• 1855 - First state Governor Sir Charles Hotham inaugurated
• 1855 - The Melbourne Museum is founded
• 1856 - Stonemasons win the Eight hour day
• 1857 - First reservoir water supply (at Yan Yean Reservoir) tapped outside city limits
• 1857 - Queen Victoria Market is founded
• 1857 - Australia's first country railway from Geelong to Melbourne is built
• 1857 - City streets first lit by gas lighting
• 1858 - 7 August - a game of football played between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College
• 1858 - First inter-city telegraph services, to Adelaide and Sydney
• 1859 - 14 May - Melbourne Football Club, Australia's oldest football club, is founded
• 1859 - Spencer Street Station (then Batman's Hill Station) and Princes Gate Station completed
• 1859 - Construction of the General Post Office begins
• 1859 - First Melbourne Trades Hall building opened.
• 1860 - The Burke and Wills expedition departed from Royal Park.
• 1861 - National Gallery of Victoria is founded
• 1861 - First Melbourne Cup
• 1861 - Victorian Exhibition held
• 1861 - Melbourne's population reaches 125,000
• 1862 - Melbourne Zoo founded
• 1863 - Batman's Hill levelled
• 1865 - Melbourne overtakes Sydney to become Australia's most populous city
• 1866 - Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia held
• 1867 - The current Town Hall begins construction
• 1869 - The Royal Mint is completed
• 1874 - The Supreme Court building is completed
• 1875 - Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition held
• 1877 - First Test cricket match, between Australia and the MCC, at the MCG. First season of the Victorian Football Association.
• 1878 - Xavier College, in Kew, is founded after the increased need of boarding space for the oldest Jesuit School in Melbourne, St. Pat's.
• 1879 - Ruyton Girls' School, also in Kew is founded by Charlotte Anderson. Its land includes the heritage listed Henty House, built by the seminal Hentys of Sussex.
• 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building opened
• 1880 - Melbourne International Exhibition held
• 1883 - Historic Melbourne Falls (near Queens Bridge) removed using explosives
• 1884 - Victorian International Exhibition held
• 1885 - First cable tram line opens in the Melbourne cable tramway system
• 1885 - Victorians' Jubilee Exhibition
• 1887 - The current Town Hall is completed
• 1888 - Victorian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition and Centennial International Exhibition held
• 1890 - The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works is formed
• 1894 - City streets first lit by electric lighting
• 1897 - First season of the Victorian Football League
• 1897 - First part of the mains sewage system becomes operational

20th century

Chart of Melbourne's population growth since first settlement in 1851.

• 1900 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook narrow-gauge railway (now Puffing Billy Railway) opens
• 1900 - Construction of the current Flinders Street Station building begins
• 1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia is formed. Melbourne becomes national capital
• 1902 - Sydney recovers title from Melbourne as Australia's most populous city
• 1903 - The City Baths are opened
• 1905 - First Australian Open championship
• 1905 - Melbourne Continuation School, Victoria's first state secondary school, is founded in Spring Street
• 1906 - First electric tram service commences
• 1907 - The General Post Office is completed
• 1910 - Current Flinders Street Station building is completed
• 1913 - The Domed Reading Room of the State Library is opened
• 1916 - Strict height limit of 32 feet (40 metres) imposed on all buildings
• 1916 - Introduction of 6:00pm closing for all hotels (abolished in 1966)
• 1919 - Electric suburban train services commence on the Broadmeadows line
• 1923 - W-class Melbourne trams introduced.
• 1923 - 1923 Victorian Police strike
• 1924 - First radio station 3AR (now known as Radio National.)
• 1927 - Federal Parliament is moved to Canberra, the new national capital
• 1928 - Melbourne City Council installs the city's first set of traffic lights at Collins and Swanston streets
• 1940 - Last cable tram service ends operation
• 1943 - Russell Street Police Headquarters building is completed
• 1954 - April—Victorian Railways closes the Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook narrow-gauge railway (now Puffing Billy Railway)
• 1954 - First Moomba parade
• 1954 - Proposal to destroy much of East Melbourne and Jolimont to make way for an inner city ringroad.
• 1955 - City's first parking meters are installed
• 1955 - ICI building given special exception from CBD height limits
• 1956 - First television station HSV-7
• 1956 - The Olympic Games held in Melbourne
• 1957 - Plot ratio height limits introduced to CBD (dependent upon floor space and light angles), plazas and open space. By laws introduced for compulsory carspace for all new city buildings. 1.45 m setbacks for 'Little' streets introduced to widen footpaths.
• 1959 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl opened
• 1961 - Proposal to demolish Flinders Street station and replace it with office blocks.
• 1962 - The Puffing Billy Railway is re-opened as a tourist attraction
• 1966 - Abolition of 6:00pm closingof hotels (introduced in 1916)
• 1967 - first woman city councillor Clare Cascarret
• 1969 - Proposal to demolish the Regent Theatre for multi-storey development.
• 1970 - (15 October) 35 construction workers die when a span of the West Gate Bridge collapses
• 1974 - Underground Rail Loop begins construction
• 1975 - Z-class tram introduced
• 1975 - 1 March, Colour television introduced.
• 1982 - The City Loop subway is opened
• 1983 - (8 February) The Melbourne dust storm and (16 February) Ash Wednesday fires occur
• 1985 - Port Melbourne and St Kilda train lines are converted to light rail
• 1985 - B-class trams introduced
• 1986 - Car-bombing outside the Russell Street Police Headquarters kills one police officer
• 1986 - Rialto Towers completed and becomes the city's tallest building as well as the tallest in the southern hemisphere
• 1986 - Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman is stolen from National Gallery of Victoria by activists. Returned a week later
• 1987 - Hoddle Street Massacre, killing 7 and injuring 19.
• 1987 - Queen Street Massacre, killing 8 and injuring 5.
• 1990 - Southbank promenade opens, paving the way for urban renewal in Southbank
• 1991 - Melbourne experiences a severe economic slump; City property markets crash and CBD vacancy rates reach all time high.
• 1992 - Pedestrianisation of Swanston Street creates Swanston Street Walk
• 1992 - Postcode 3000 policy attracts residents to the city centre, warehouses and offices are converted into apartments and CBD vacancy rates drop.
• 1994 - Opening of the Melbourne Observation Deck in Rialto Towers
• 1994 - Tasty nightclub raid
• 1995 - Host City to the World Police and Fire Games
• 1996 - Development of the Docklands area begins
• 1996 - Construction of the CityLink freeways begins
• 1996 - Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre opens
• 1996 - Melbourne wins right to host Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake
• 1997 - The new site for Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex, Melbourne's first gambling centre opens.
• 1999 - Bolte Bridge open for traffic.

21st century

• 2000 - New Melbourne Museum officially opened.
• 2000 - The CityLink freeways open, including two new tunnels, a new cross-harbour bridge, and electronic tolling.
• 2000 - Docklands Stadium (later renamed Colonial Stadium, then Telstra dome, currently Etihad Stadium) completed.
• 2000 - 6 March - Bourke Street redevelopment.
• 2002 - Controversial Melbourne 2030 planning policy introduced. Aimed to increase population in designated 'activity centres' and curb urban sprawl. Promises to increase public transport usage to 20% of motorised trips by 2020.
• 2003 - 2003 Melbourne thunderstorm.
• 2005 - 2005 Melbourne Thunderstorm.
• 2006 - Commonwealth Games held.
• 2007 - 2007 FINA Swimming World Championships are held.
• 2008 - New Eastlink freeway completed.
• 2008 - M1 upgrade begins
• 2009 - Victorian bushfires around Melbourne - worst fires in the history of the city
• 2010 - Severe Thunderstorm 6 March, once in a century storm with 10cm hail stones.
• 2010 - Melbourne Celebrates 175th Birthday
• 2013 - Melbourne gets invaded by aliens

See also

• History of Melbourne