Timeline of Melbourne history

Updated on Oct 13, 2024

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

Pre-European settlement

At least 30,000 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

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 Cumberland

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 – 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 - 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

1846 - The Melbourne Botanic Gardens is founded

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 – Victoria'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 – Burke & 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 – Melbourne Town Hall begins construction

1869 – Royal Mint is completed

1874 – Supreme Court building is completed

1875 – Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition held

1877 – First Test cricket match, between Australia and England, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 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.

1878 – 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 - Ned Kelly hanged in Melbourne Gaol

1880 – Royal Exhibition Building opened

1880 – Melbourne International Exhibition held

1883 – Historic Yarra-Yarra 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 – Melbourne Town Hall is completed

1888 – Victorian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition and Centennial International Exhibition held

1890 – 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

1900 – Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook narrow-gauge railway (now Puffing Billy Railway) opens

1900 – Construction of the current Flinders Street station building begins

1901 – Commonwealth of Australia is formed. Melbourne becomes national capital

1902 – Sydney reclaims title from Melbourne as Australia's most populous city

1903 – 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 – 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 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 & 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 demolish much of East Melbourne and Jolimont Yard 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 – 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 – Puffing Billy Railway is re-opened as a tourist attraction

1966 – Abolition of 6:00pm closing of 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 City Loop construction begins

1975 – Z-class tram introduced

1975 – 1 March, Colour television introduced.

1982 – City Loop subway opened

1983 – (8 February) 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 & Fire Games

1996 – Development of the Docklands area begins

1996 – Construction of the CityLink freeways begins

1996 – Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre opens

1996 – Melbourne hosts its first Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit

1997 – Crown Melbourne, Melbourne's first gambling centre opens

1999 – Bolte Bridge open for traffic

21st century

2000 – New Melbourne Museum opened.

2000 – CityLink freeways open, including two new tunnels, a new cross-harbour bridge, and electronic tolling

2000 – Docklands 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

2004 – Melbourne Victory FC is formed

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 – Black Saturday bushfires around Melbourne—worst fires in the history of the city

2009 – Melbourne Heart FC is formed

2010 – Severe Thunderstorm 6 March, once in a century storm with 10 cm hail stones

2010 – Melbourne Celebrates 175th Birthday

2015 - Melbourne Heart changes name to Melbourne City

References

Timeline of Melbourne history Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA