Timeline of Melbourne history
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This is a timeline of major events in the history of the city of Melbourne, Australia.
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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 Bay in the Lady Nelson
- 1803 - Charles Robbins and Charles Grimes explore entirety of Port Phillip Bay and discover the Yarra River in the Buffalo
- 1803 - David Collins sent from Sydney to establish a settlement for the British Government, who (incorrectly) feared that the French wished to settle in the lucrative shipping lane. Unaware of previous discoveries, Collins settles near present-day Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula. This settlement is soon abandoned
- 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, with blankets and trinkets
- 1835 - Melbourne is founded by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner
- 1837 - June 1 - First official survey and inner-city land sale
- 1837 - The Hoddle Grid of streets for the central business district is laid out by Robert Hoddle
- 1838 - Melbourne is declared a legal port and administrative centre, opening the way for vastly increased immigration
- 1838 - Second inner-city land sale
- 1839 - Third inner-city land sale
- 1841 - First seaport and market are opened
- 1842 - Melbourne City Council is formed
- 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 in Ballarat
- 1851 - Victoria becomes a separate colony from New South Wales
- 1851 - First state Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe inaugurated
- 1852 - City's first gas works is opened
- 1854 - The Melbourne Terminus (first Flinders Street Station building) is completed
- 1854 - First steam railway journey in Australia from Flinders Street Station to Port Melbourne (then Sandridge)
- 1854 - Melbourne Exhibition held in conjunction with Exposition Universelle (1855)
- 1854 - The University of Melbourne is founded
- 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
- 1857 - First reservoir water supply (at Yan Yean) tapped outside city limits
- 1857 - Queen Victoria Market is founded
- 1857 - Australia's first country railway from Geelong to Melbourne is built
- 1858 - First inter-city telegraph services, to Adelaide and Sydney
- 1859 - Spencer Street Station (then Batman's Hill Station) and Princes Gate Station completed
- 1859 - Construction of the General Post Office begins construction
- 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
- 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 ever Test cricket match
- 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building opened
- 1880 - Melbourne International Exhibition held
- 1884 - Victorian International Exhibition held
- 1885 - First cable tram line begins operating
- 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
- 1897 - First season of the Victorian Football League
20th century
- 1900 - The 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
- 1903 - The City Baths are opened
- 1905 - First Australian Open championship
- 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
- 1919 - Electric suburban train services commence on the Broadmeadows line
- 1923 - W-class trams introduced
- 1924 - first radio station 3AR
- 1927 - Federal Parliament is moved to Canberra, the new national capital
- 1928 - Melbourne City Council installs 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 Puffing Billy Railway
- 1955 - City's first parking meters are installed
- 1956 - First television station HSV-7
- 1956 - The Olympic Games held in Melbourne
- 1962 - The Puffing Billy Railway is re-opened as a tourist attraction
- 1970 - October 15 - 35 construction workers die when a span of the West Gate Bridge collapses
- 1975 - Z-class tram introduced
- 1982 - The City Loop subway is opened
- 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, the city's current tallest building, is completed
- 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.
- 1992 - Pedestrianization of Swanston Street creates Swanston Street Walk
- 1994 - Opening of the Melbourne Observation Deck in Rialto Towers
- 1996 - Development of the Docklands area begins
- 1996 - Construction of the CityLink freeways begin
21st century
- 2000 - The CityLink freeways open, including two new tunnels, a new cross-harbour bridge, and electronic tolling
- 2000 - Docklands Stadium (renamed Colonial Stadium, now Telstra Dome) completed
- 2000 - March 6 - Bourke Street pedestrian extension opened
- 2001 - Melbourne's population reaches 3,366,542 (2001 census)
- 2001 - Low-floor C- and D class trams introduced
- 2002 - October 26 - Federation Square opens
- 2002 - NewQuay, a precinct of the Docklands development opens
- 2003 - December - Rennovation of the National Gallery of Victoria International is completed
- 2004 - Central City Studios, a precinct of the Docklands development opens
- 2005 - Eureka Tower, the city's new tallest building, to be completed
- 2006 - The Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne
- 2015 - Expected completion of the Docklands development