Coordinates: 37°0′S 144°0′E / 37°S 144°E / -37; 144

Victoria
Flag Coat of arms
Slogan or nickname: "Garden State"
Motto(s): "Peace and Prosperity"
Other Australian states and territories
Capital	Melbourne
Demonym	Victorian
Government	Constitutional monarchy
- Governor	Alex Chernov
- Premier	Ted Baillieu (LP)
Australian State
- Established as Colony	1850
- Responsible Government	1856
- Became State	1901
- Constitution	Constitution Act (Vic) 1975
- Australia Act	3 March 1986
Area
- Total	237,629 km2 (6th) 91,749 sq mi
- Land	227,416 km2 87,806 sq mi
- Water	10,213 km2 (4.3%) 3,943 sq mi
Population (June 2010)
- Population	5,547,527[1] (2nd)
- Density	24.39/km2 (2nd) 63.2 /sq mi
Elevation
- Highest	Mt Bogong 1,986 m (6,516 ft)
Gross State Product (2009–10)
- Product ($m)	$293,313[2] (2nd)
- Product per capita	$52,872 (6th)
Time zone	UTC+10 (AEST) UTC+11 (AEDT)
Federal representation
- House seats	37
- Senate seats	12
Abbreviations
- Postal	VIC
- ISO 3166-2	AU-VIC
Emblems
- Floral	Pink Heath[3]
- Animal	Leadbeater's possum
- Bird	Helmeted Honeyeater
- Fish	Weedy Seadragon
- Colours	Navy Blue and Silver[4]
Web site	www.vic.gov.au/

Victoria is a state of Australia, in the south-east of the country.^[1] Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively.

Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with almost 75% of Victorians living in Melbourne, the state capital and largest city.

Etymology[link]

Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, the monarch at the time.

History[link]

After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first European settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay, Victoria on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people (5 Government officials, 9 officers of marines, 2 drummers, and 39 privates, 5 soldiers' wives, and a child, 307 convicts, 17 convicts' wives, and 7 children).^[5] They had been sent from England in HMS Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff, principally out of fear that the French, who had been exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent.

In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, and Lieutenant Burchell were sent in H.M.S. Fly (Captain Wetherall) and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. The expedition landed at Settlement Point (now Corinella), on the eastern side of the bay, which was the headquarters until the abandonment of Western Port at the instance of Governor Darling about twelve months afterwards.^[6][7]

Victoria's next settlement was at Portland, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834.^[8]

Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner. From settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales.

Creation of separate colony of Victoria[link]

On 1 July 1851, writs were issued for the election of the first Victorian Legislative Council, and the absolute independence of Victoria from New South Wales was established proclaiming a new Colony of Victoria.^[9] Days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget. Victoria produced in the decade 1851–1860 20 million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output^{[citation needed]}.

Swearing Allegiance to the Southern Cross at the Eureka Stockade on 1 December 1854 – watercolour by Charles Doudiet

Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. Although there was some racism directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley near Bright in 1857. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary; an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854 killed over 1,000 miners.

In 1854 at Ballarat there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes (the "Eureka Stockade"). This was crushed by British troops, but the discontents prompted colonial authorities to reform the administration (particularly reducing the hated mining licence fees) and extend the franchise. Within a short time, the Imperial Parliament granted Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to became members of the Victorian Parliament.

The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Māori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War.

In 1901 Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne had by then become the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time.^{[citation needed]}

Government[link]

The Victorian Parliament House, built in 1856, stands in Spring Street, Melbourne.

The Legislative Council Chamber, as photographed in 1878

One of many local government seats, Geelong Town Hall

Parliament[link]

Victoria has a parliamentary form of government based on the Westminster System. Legislative power resides in the Parliament consisting of the Governor (the representative of the Queen), the executive (the Government), and two legislative chambers. The Parliament of Victoria consists of the lower house Legislative Assembly, the upper house Legislative Council and the Queen of Australia.

Eighty-eight members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to four-year terms from single-member electorates.

In November 2006, the Victorian Legislative Council elections were held under a new multi-proportional representation system. The State of Victoria was divided into eight electorates with each electorate represented by five representatives elected by Single Transferable Vote proportional representation. The total number of upper house members was reduced from 44 to 40 and their term of office is now the same as the lower house members—four years. Elections for the Victorian Parliament are now fixed and occur in November every four years. Prior to the 2006 election, the Legislative Council consisted of 44 members elected to eight-year terms from 22 two-member electorates.

Premier and cabinet[link]

The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the political party or coalition with the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier is the public face of government and, with cabinet, sets the legislative and political agenda. Cabinet consists of representatives elected to either house of parliament. It is responsible for managing areas of government that are not exclusively the Commonwealth's, by the Australian Constitution, such as education, health and law enforcement. The current Premier of Victoria is Ted Baillieu.

Governor[link]

Executive authority is vested in the Governor of Victoria who represents and is appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. The post is usually filled by a retired prominent Victorian. The governor acts on the advice of the premier and cabinet. The current Governor of Victoria is Alex Chernov.

Constitution[link]

Victoria has a written constitution. Enacted in 1975, but based on the 1855 colonial constitution^{[dead link]}, it establishes the parliament as the state's law-making body for matters coming under state responsibility. The Victorian Constitution can be amended by the parliament of Victoria. Under new provisions to be enacted, changes to the Victorian Constitution will be subjected to a plebiscite of votes, voting in a referendum.

Politics[link]

Premier Ted Baillieu leads a Liberal/National Coalition that won the November 2010 Victorian state election.

The centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia and the rural-based National Party of Australia are Victoria's major political parties. Traditionally, Labor is strongest in Melbourne's inner, working class and western and northern suburbs, Morwell, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. The Liberals' main support lies in Melbourne's more affluent eastern and outer suburbs, and some rural and regional centres. The Nationals are strongest in Victoria's North Western and Eastern rural regional areas.

Federal government[link]

Victorian voters elect 49 representatives to the Parliament of Australia, including 37 members of the House of Representatives and 12 members of the Senate. Since 2010, the ALP has held 22 Victorian house seats, the Liberals 12, the Nationals two and the Greens one. As of 1 July 2008, the Liberals have held six senate seats, the ALP five and the Family First Party one.

Local government[link]

Victoria is incorporated into 79 municipalities for the purposes of local government, including 39 shires, 32 cities, seven rural cities and one borough. Shire and city councils are responsible for functions delegated by the Victorian parliament, such as city planning, road infrastructure and waste management. Council revenue comes mostly from property taxes and government grants.

Demographics[link]

Melbourne, the state capital, is home to more than seven in ten Victorians.

The 2006 Australian census reported that Victoria had 4,932,422 people resident at the time of the census, an increase of 6.2% on the 1996 figure. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that in June 2010 the state's population reached 5,547,500, an increase of 1.8% from the previous year and may well reach 7.2 million by 2050.

Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from southern and eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and, most recently, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Victoria's population is ageing in proportion with the average of the remainder of the Australian population.

About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north west of the state. Around two-thirds of Victorians claim Australian, Scottish, English or Irish ancestry. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal. The largest groups of people born outside Australia came from the British Isles, China, Italy, Vietnam, Greece and New Zealand.

More than 70% of Victorians live in Melbourne, located in the state's south. The greater Melbourne metropolitan area is home to an estimated 3.9 million people.^[10] Leading urban centres outside Melbourne include Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Warrnambool, Wodonga and the Latrobe Valley.

Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state: nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. State Government efforts to decentralise population have included an official campaign run since 2003 to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas,^[11] however Melbourne continues to rapidly outpace these areas in terms of population growth.^[12]

Age structure and fertility[link]

The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021. The 2006 census reveals that Australian average age has crept upward from 35 to 37 since 2001, which reflects the population growth peak of 1969–72.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, Victoria recorded a TFR of 1.87, the highest after 1978.^[13]

Crime[link]

The state of Victoria is divided into four geographical regions; North-West Metropolitan Region, Southern Metropolitan Region, Eastern Region, Western Region. In 2010-2011 there were 152 homicides within the state of Victoria.^[14]

Religion[link]

About 60.5% of Victorians describe themselves as Christian. Roman Catholics form the single largest religious group in the state with 27.5% of Victorian population, followed by Anglicans and members of the Uniting Church. Buddhism, the state's largest non-Christian religion and also the fastest growing, with 132,634 members as of the most recent census. Victoria is also home of 109,370 Muslims and 41,105 Jews. Around 20% of Victorians claim no religion, and even amongst those who declare a religious affiliation, church attendance is low.^[15]

In 2008, the levels of couples choosing to marry in a church had dropped to 36%; the other 64% chose to register their marriage with a civil celebrant.^[16]

Education[link]

Primary and secondary[link]

Victoria's state school system dates back to 1872, when the colonial government legislated to make schooling both free and compulsory. The state's public secondary school system began in 1905. Before then, only private secondary schooling was available. Today, a Victorian school education consists of seven years of primary schooling (including one preparatory year) and six years of secondary schooling.

The final years of secondary school are optional for children aged over 17. Victorian children generally begin school at age five or six. On completing secondary school, students earn the Victorian Certificate of Education. Students who successfully complete their secondary education also receive a tertiary entrance ranking, or ATAR score, to determine university admittance.

Victorian schools are either publicly or privately funded. Public schools, also known as state or government schools, are funded and run directly by the Victoria Department of Education [2]. Students do not pay tuition fees, but some extra costs are levied. Private fee-paying schools include parish schools run by the Roman Catholic Church and independent schools similar to English public schools. Independent schools are usually affiliated with Protestant churches. Victoria also has several private Jewish and Islamic primary and secondary schools. Private schools also receive some public funding. All schools must comply with government-set curriculum standards. In addition, Victoria has four government selective schools, Melbourne High School for boys, MacRobertson Girls' High School for girls, the coeducational schools John Monash Science School, Nossal High School and Suzanne Cory High School, and The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Students at these schools are exclusively admitted on the basis of a selective entry test.

As of August 2010, Victoria had 1,548 public schools, 489 Catholic schools and 214 independent schools. Just under 540,800 students were enrolled in public schools, and just over 311,800 in private schools. Over 61 per cent of private students attend Catholic schools. More than 462,000 students were enrolled in primary schools and more than 390,000 in secondary schools. Retention rates for the final two years of secondary school were 77 per cent for public school students and 90 per cent for private school students. Victoria has about 63,519 full-time teachers.^[17]

Tertiary education[link]

Victoria has nine universities. The first to offer degrees, the University of Melbourne, enrolled its first student in 1855. The largest, Monash University, has an enrolment of nearly 56,000 students—more than any other Australian university. Both the University of Melbourne and Monash University are ranked highly among the world's best universities requiring a high entry score, or passing of mature age entrance exams for student admission into their courses.

The number of students enrolled in Victorian universities was 241,755 at 2004, an increase of 2% on the previous year. International students made up 30% of enrolments and account for the highest percentage of pre-paid university tuition fees. The largest number of enrolments were recorded in the fields of business, administration and economics, with nearly a third of all students, followed by arts, humanities, and social science, with 20% of enrolments.

Victoria has 18 government-run institutions of “technical and further education” (TAFE). The first vocational institution in the state was the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute (established in 1839), which is now the Melbourne Athenaeum. More than 1,000 adult education organisations are registered to provide recognised TAFE programs. In 2004, there were about 480,700 students enrolled in vocational education programs in the state.

The State Library of Victoria forecourt

Libraries[link]

The State Library of Victoria is the State's research and reference library. It is responsible for collecting and preserving Victoria's documentary heritage and making it available through a range of services and programs. Material in the collection includes books, newspapers, magazines, journals, manuscripts, maps, pictures, objects, sound and video recordings and databases.

In addition, local governments maintain local lending libraries, typically with multiple branches in their respective municipal areas.

Economy[link]

The state of Victoria is the second largest economy in Australia after New South Wales, accounting for a quarter of the nation's gross domestic product. The total gross state product (GSP) at current prices for Victoria was at just over A$293 billion, with a GSP per capita of A$52,872. The economy grew by 2.0 per cent in 2010, less than the Australian average of 2.3 per cent.

Finance, insurance and property services form Victoria's largest income producing sector, while the community, social and personal services sector is the state's biggest employer. Despite the shift towards service industries, the troubled manufacturing sector remains Victoria's single largest employer and income producer. As a result of job losses in declining sectors such as manufacturing, Victoria has the highest unemployment rate in Australia as of September 2009.^[18]

Agriculture[link]

During 2003–04, the gross value of Victorian agricultural production increased by 17% to $8.7 billion. This represented 24% of national agricultural production total gross value. As of 2004, an estimated 32,463 farms occupied around 136,000 square kilometres (52,500 sq mi) of Victorian land. This comprises more than 60% of the state's total land surface. Victorian farms range from small horticultural outfits to large-scale livestock and grain productions. A quarter of farmland is used to grow consumable crops.

More than 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Victorian farmland are sown for grain, mostly in the state's west. More than 50% of this area is sown for wheat, 33% for barley and 7% for oats. A further 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) is sown for hay. In 2003–04, Victorian farmers produced more than 3 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of barley. Victorian farms produce nearly 90% of Australian pears and third of apples. It is also a leader in stone fruit production. The main vegetable crops include asparagus, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Last year, 121,200 tonnes of pears and 270,000 tonnes of tomatoes were produced.

More than 14 million sheep and 5 million lambs graze over 10% of Victorian farms, mostly in the state's north and west. In 2004, nearly 10 million lambs and sheep were slaughtered for local consumption and export. Victoria also exports live sheep to the Middle East for meat and to the rest of the world for breeding. More than 108,000 tonnes of wool clip was also produced—one-fifth of the Australian total.

Victoria is the centre of dairy farming in Australia. It is home to 60% of Australia's 3 million dairy cattle and produces nearly two-thirds of the nation's milk, almost 6.4 million litres. The state also has 2.4 million beef cattle, with more than 2.2 million cattle and calves slaughtered each year. In 2003–04, Victorian commercial fishing crews and aquaculture industry produced 11,634 tonnes of seafood valued at nearly A$109 million. Blacklipped abalone is the mainstay of the catch, bringing in A$46 million, followed by southern rock lobster worth A$13.7 million. Most abalone and rock lobster is exported to Asia.

Manufacturing[link]

Machinery and equipment manufacturing is the state's most valuable manufacturing activity, followed by food and beverage manufacturing and petroleum, coal and chemical manufacturing. More than 15% Victorian workers are employed in manufacturing industries. Victoria has 318,000 manufacturing workers. The state is marginally behind New South Wales in the value of manufacturing output.

Major industrial plants belong to the car manufacturers Ford, Toyota and Holden; Alcoa's Portland and Point Henry aluminium smelters; oil refineries at Geelong and Altona; and a major petrochemical facility at Laverton.

Victoria also plays an important role in providing goods for the defence industry. Melbourne is the centre of manufacturing in Victoria, followed by Geelong. Energy production has aided industrial growth in the Latrobe Valley.

Mining[link]

Yallourn Power Station in the Latrobe Valley

Mining in Victoria contributes around A$3 billion to the gross state product (~1%) but employs less than 1% of workers. The Victorian mining industry is concentrated on energy producing minerals, with brown coal, petroleum and gas accounting for nearly 90% of local production. The oil and gas industries are centred off the coast of Gippsland in the state's east, while brown coal mining and power generation is based in the Latrobe Valley.

In the 2005/2006 fiscal year, the average gas production was over 700 million cubic feet (20,000,000 m³) per day (M cuft/d) and represented 18% of the total national gas sales, with demand growing at 2% per year.^[19]

In 1985, oil production from the offshore Gippsland Basin peaked to an annual average of 450,000 barrels (72,000 m³) per day. In 2005–2006, the average daily oil production declined to 83,000 bbl (13,200 m³)/d, but despite the decline Victoria still produces almost 19.5% of crude oil in Australia.^[20]

Brown coal is Victoria's leading mineral, with 66 million tonnes mined each year for electricity generation in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland.^[21] The region is home to the world's largest known reserves of brown coal.

Despite being the historic centre of Australia's gold rush, Victoria today contributes a mere 1% of national gold production. Victoria also produces limited amounts of gypsum and kaolin.

Service industry[link]

The service industries sector is the fastest growing component of the Victorian economy. It includes the wide range of activities generally classified as community, social and personal services; finances, insurance and property services, government services, transportation and communication, and wholesale and retail trade. Most service industries are located in Melbourne and the state's larger regional centres.

As of 2004–05, service industries employed nearly three-quarters of Victorian workers and generated three-quarters of the state's GSP. Finance, insurance and property services, as a group, provide a larger share of GSP than any other economic activity in Victoria. More than a quarter of Victorian workers are employed by the community, social and personal services sector.^[22]

Geology and geography[link]

Victorian cities, towns, settlements and road network

Victoria's northern border is the southern bank of the Murray River. It also rests at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, which stretches along the east coast and terminates west of Ballarat. It is bordered by South Australia to the west and shares Australian's shortest land border with Tasmania. The official border between Victoria and Tasmania is at 39°12' S, which passes through Boundary Islet in the Bass Strait for 85 metres.^[23][24]

Victoria contains many topographically, geologically and climatically diverse areas, ranging from the wet, temperate climate of Gippsland in the southeast to the snow-covered Victorian alpine areas which rise to almost 2,000 metres (6,500 ft), with Mount Bogong the highest peak at 1,986 m; (6,516 ft). There are extensive semi-arid plains to the west and northwest. There is an extensive series of river systems in Victoria. Most notable is the Murray River system. Other rivers include: Ovens River, Goulburn River, Patterson River, King River, Campaspe River, Loddon River, Wimmera River, Elgin River, Barwon River, Thomson River, Snowy River, Latrobe River, Yarra River, Maribyrnong River, Mitta River, Hopkins River, Merri River and Kiewa River. The state symbols include the Pink Heath (state flower), Leadbeater's Possum (state animal) and the Helmeted Honeyeater (state bird).

The state's capital, Melbourne, contains approximately 70% of the state's population and dominates its economy, media, and culture. For other cities and towns, see List of localities (Victoria) and Local Government Areas of Victoria.

Transport[link]

Victoria has the highest population density in any state in Australia, with population centres spread out over most of the state; only the far northwest and the Victorian Alps lack permanent settlement.

The Victorian road network services the population centres, with highways generally radiating from Melbourne and other major cities and rural centres with secondary roads interconnecting the highways to each other. Many of the highways are built to freeway standard ("M" freeways), while most are generally sealed and of reasonable quality.

A current Melbourne C class (Citadis) tram

Rail transport in Victoria is provided by several private and public railway operators who operate over government-owned lines. Major operators include: Metro Trains Melbourne which runs an extensive, electrified, passenger system throughout Melbourne and suburbs; V/Line which is now owned by the Victorian Government, operates a concentrated service to major regional centres, as well as long distance services on other lines; Pacific National, CFCLA, El Zorro which operate freight services; Great Southern Railway which operates The Overland Melbourne—Adelaide; and CountryLink which operates XPTs Melbourne—Sydney.

There are also several smaller freight operators and numerous tourist railways operating over lines which were once parts of a state-owned system. Victorian lines mainly use the 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge. However, the interstate trunk routes, as well as a number of branch lines in the west of the state have been converted to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge. Two tourist railways operate over 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge lines, which are the remnants of five formerly government-owned lines which were built in mountainous areas.

Melbourne has the world's largest tram network,^[25] currently operated by Yarra Trams. As well as being a popular form of public transport, over the last few decades trams have become one of Melbourne's major tourist attractions. There are also tourist trams operating over portions of the former Ballarat and Bendigo systems. There are also tramway museums at Bylands and Haddon.

Melbourne Airport is the major domestic and international gateway for the state. Avalon Airport is the state's second busiest airport, which is complements Essendon and Moorabbin Airports to see the remainder of Melbourne's air traffic. Hamilton Airport, Mildura Airport, Mount Hotham and Portland Airport are the remaining airports with scheduled domestic flights. There are no fewer than 27 other airports in the state with no scheduled flights.

The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia,^[26] and is located in Melbourne on the mouth of the Yarra River, which is at the head of Port Phillip. Additional seaports are at Westernport, Geelong, and Portland.

CountryLink is an interstate train and coach service provider which provides twice-daily services from Melbourne to Sydney.

An 'X'Trapolis' in livery of former commuter-service provider Connex, now succeeded by Metro Trains Melbourne

V/Line is a government-owned train and coach service provider in Victoria. The enterprise provides inter-city services to a number of regional cities in the state.

Utilities[link]

Energy[link]

Victoria's major utilities include a collection of brown-coal-fired power stations, particularly in the Latrobe Valley. One of these is Hazelwood Power Station, which is number 1 in the worldwide List of least carbon efficient power stations.

Water[link]

Victoria's water infrastructure includes a series of dams and reservoirs, predominantly in Central Victoria, that hold and collect water for much of the state. The water collected is of a very high quality and requires little chlorination treatment, giving the water a taste more like water collected in a rainwater tank. In regional areas however, such as in the west of the state, chlorination levels are much higher.

The Victorian Water Grid consists of a number of new connections and pipelines being built across the State. This allows water to be moved around Victoria to where it is needed most and reduces the impact of localised droughts in an era thought to be influenced by climate change. Major projects already completed as part of the Grid include the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline and the Goldfields Superpipe.^[27]

Climate[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Climate diagrams of Victoria

Victoria has a varied climate despite its small size. It ranges from semi-arid and hot in the north-west, to temperate and cool along the coast. Victoria's main land feature, the Great Dividing Range, produces a cooler, mountain climate in the centre of the state.

Victoria's southernmost position on the Australian mainland means it is cooler and wetter than other mainland states and territories. The coastal plain south of the Great Dividing Range has Victoria's mildest climate. Air from the Southern Ocean helps reduce the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Melbourne and other large cities are located in this temperate region.

The Mallee and upper Wimmera are Victoria's warmest regions with hot winds blowing from nearby deserts. Average temperatures top 30 °C (86 °F) during summer and 15 °C (59 °F) in winter. Victoria's highest maximum temperature of 48.8 °C (119.9 °F) was recorded in Hopetoun on 7 February 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave.^[28]

The Victorian Alps in the northeast are the coldest part of Victoria. The Alps are part of the Great Dividing Range mountain system extending east-west through the centre of Victoria. Average temperatures are less than 9 °C (48 °F) in winter and below 0 °C (32 °F) in the highest parts of the ranges. The state's lowest minimum temperature of −11.7 °C (10.9 °F) was recorded at Omeo on 13 June 1965, and again at Falls Creek on 3 July 1970.^[28]

Rainfall[link]

Victoria is the wettest Australian state after Tasmania. Rainfall in Victoria increases from north to south, with higher averages in areas of high altitude. Median annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 millimetres (71 in) in some parts of the northeast but is less than 250 millimetres (10 in) in the Mallee.

Rain is heaviest in the Otway Ranges and Gippsland in southern Victoria and in the mountainous northeast. Snow generally falls only in the mountains and hills in the centre of the state. Rain falls most frequently in winter, but summer precipitation is heavier. Rainfall is most reliable in Gippsland and the Western District, making them both leading farming areas. Victoria's highest recorded daily rainfall was 375 millimetres (14.7 in) at Tanybryn in the Otway Ranges on 22 March 1983.^[28]

Tourism[link]

The Twelve Apostles

Some major tourist destinations in Victoria are:

• The metropolis of Melbourne, particular its inner city suburbs (known also for shopping tourism) and the attractions of the city centre such as Crown Casino, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, the Melbourne Aquarium, ScienceWorks, Healesville Sanctuary, Werribee Open Range Zoo, tourism precincts such as Melbourne Docklands, Southbank and St Kilda as well as cultural and sporting tourist icons such as The Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, also known as the MCG, and the Eureka Tower, tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, with its Skydeck 88.
• Victoria has more than 2000 kilometres of coastline with hundreds of beaches.^[29]
• The Goldfields region featuring the historic cities of Ballarat, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Daylesford.
• Natural attractions, such as The Twelve Apostles, Wilsons Promontory, The Grampians, the Fairy Penguins (particularly at Phillip Island and St Kilda), the Buchan Caves and the Gippsland Lakes.
• The Dandenong Ranges (in particular the Puffing Billy Railway).
• Towns along the Murray River and Riverina including Echuca and Mildura including waterskiing.
• Geelong and the Australian International Airshow
• The Bellarine Peninsula which features historic resort towns such as Queenscliff.
• The Surf Coast which features famous beaches such as Bells Beach, Torquay and Lorne
• Mornington Peninsula, particularly for its wineries and secluded beaches, Arthur's Seat and the coastal attractions of Portsea and Sorrento.
• Yarra Valley (in particular Healesville Sanctuary and wineries).
• Great Ocean Road, which features The Twelve Apostles, historic towns of Port Fairy and Portland, cliffs and whale watching and resort towns such as Lorne.
• The Victorian Alpine Region, part of the Australian Alps, particularly for skiing
• The Central Victorian Highlands, 'Highcountry' are very well known for winter sports and bushwalking
• Wine regions across the entire state.

Other popular tourism activities are gliding, hang-gliding, hot air ballooning and scuba diving.

Major events also play a big part in tourism in Victoria, particularly cultural tourism and sports tourism. Most of these events are centred around Melbourne, but others occur in regional cities, such as the V8 Supercars and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool and the Australian International Airshow at Geelong and numerous local festivals such as the popular Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Bells Beach SurfClassic and the Bright Autumn Festival.

Sport[link]

The Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 1998 Boxing Day Test match

Victoria is the home of Australian rules football, with ten of the eighteen clubs of the Australian Football League based in Victoria, and the traditional Grand Final held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground usually on the last Saturday in September.

Victoria's cricket team, the Victorian Bushrangers play in the national Sheffield Shield cricket competition. Victoria is represented in the National Rugby League by the Melbourne Storm and in Super Rugby by the Melbourne Rebels. It is also represented in Football (soccer) by Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart in the A-League.

Melbourne has held the 1956 Summer Olympics, 2006 Commonwealth Games and the FINA World Swimming Championship.

Melbourne is also home to the Australian Open tennis tournament in January each year, the first of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Victoria's Bells Beach hosts one of the world's longest-running surfing competition, the Bells Beach SurfClassic, which is part of The ASP World Tour.

Netball is a big part of sport in Victoria. The Melbourne Vixens represent Victoria in the ANZ Championship. Some of the worlds best netballers such as Sharelle McMahon, Renae Hallinan, Madison Browne, Julie Corletto and Bianca Chatfield come from Victoria.

Possibly Victoria's most famous island, Phillip Island, is home of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit which hosts the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix which features MotoGP (the world's premier motorcycling class), as well as the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship and the domestic V8 Supercar racing, which also visits Sandown Raceway and the rural Winton Motor Raceway circuit.

Australia's most prestigious footrace, the Stawell Gift, is an annual event.

Victoria is also home to the Aussie Millions poker tournament, the richest in the Southern hemisphere.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is one of the biggest horse racing events in the world and is one of the world's largest sporting events. The main race is for the $6 million Melbourne Cup, and crowds for the carnival exceed 700,000.

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Oceania portal
	Commonwealth realms portal
	Australia portal
	Victoria portal

• 2003 Melbourne thunderstorm
• Atlas of Victorian Birds

Geography:

• Goombala Road
• Victorian Alps
• Vicmap Topographic Map Series

Lists:

• List of highways in Victoria
• List of localities (Victoria)
• Protected areas of Victoria (Australia)

References[link]

Further reading—Victorian frontier history[link]

• Jan Critchett, (1990), A distant field of murder: Western district frontiers, 1834-1848, Melbourne University Press (Carlton, Vic. and Portland, Or.) ISBN 052284389
• Ian D Clark (1990) Aboriginal languages and clans: An historical atlas of western and central Victoria, 1800-1900, Dept. of Geography & Environmental Science, Monash University (Melbourne), ISBN 0-909685-41-X
• Ian D Clark (1995), Scars in the landscape: A register of massacre sites in western Victoria, 1803-1859, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Canberra), ISBN 0-85575-281-5
• Ian D Clark (2003) ‘That’s my country belonging to me’ - Aboriginal land tenure and dispossession in nineteenth century Western Victoria, Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Victoria, Australia

• State Government of Victoria website
• Official Government tourism website
• Tourism Victoria's Online Image Library

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Commonwealth of Australia
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Advance Australia Fair" Royal anthem: "God Save the Queen"[N 1]
Capital		Canberra 35°18.48′S 149°7.47′E / 35.308°S 149.1245°E / -35.308; 149.1245
Largest city		Sydney
Official language(s)		None[N 2]
National language		English (de facto)[N 2]
Demonym		Australian, Aussie[3][4]
Government		Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch	Elizabeth II
-	Governor-General	Quentin Bryce
-	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Constitution	1 January 1901
-	Statute of Westminster	11 December 1931
-	Statute of Westminster Adoption Act	9 October 1942 (with effect from 3 September 1939)
-	Australia Act	3 March 1986
Area
-	Total	7,617,930 km2 (6th) 2,941,299 sq mi
Population
-	2012 estimate	22,944,040[5] (52nd)
-	2006 census	19,855,288[6]
-	Density	2.8/km2 (233rd) 7.3/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$914.482 billion[7] (18th)
-	Per capita	$40,234[7] (12th)
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$1.488 trillion[7] (13th)
-	Per capita	$65,477[7] (5th)
Gini (2006)		30.5[8] (medium)
HDI (2011)		0.929[9] (very high) (2nd)
Currency		Australian dollar (AUD)
Time zone		various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +10.5)
-	Summer (DST)	various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +11.5)
Date formats		dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		AU
Internet TLD		.au
Calling code		+61

Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia,^[10] is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.^{[N 4]} It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.

For at least 40,000 years^[12] before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians,^[13] who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups.^[14][15] After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.

On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system which functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 22.9 million is heavily concentrated in the Eastern states and is highly urbanised.

A highly developed country, Australia is the world's 13th-largest economy and has the world's fifth-highest per capita income. Australia's military expenditure is the world's 13th-largest. With the second-highest human development index globally, Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.^[16] Australia is a member of the G20, OECD, WTO, APEC, UN, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, and the Pacific Islands Forum.

Etymology[link]

Pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australian English,^[17] the name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century.^{[N 5]} Aussie is a common colloquial term for "Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand the term "Aussie" is sometimes applied as a noun to the nation as well as its residents.^[22]

Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis.

The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Sir Richard Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus, a corruption of the original Spanish name "Tierra Austral del Espíritu Santo" (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit)^[23] for an island in Vanuatu.^[24] The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south.^[25] Australia was later used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur.^[26] Referring to the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771. By the end of the 18th century, the name was being used to refer specifically to Australia, with the botanists George Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 1793 Zoology and Botany of New Holland,^[27] and James Wilson including it on a 1799 chart.^[28]

The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who pushed for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis, he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed himself the footnote:

"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."^[29]

This is the only occurrence of the word Australia in that text; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown's General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis, Brown makes use of the adjectival form Australian throughout,^[30]—the first known use of that form.^[31] Despite popular conception, the book was not instrumental in the adoption of the name: the name came gradually to be accepted over the following ten years.^[32]

The first time that the name Australia appears to have been officially used was in a despatch to Lord Bathurst of 4 April 1817 in which Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Capt. Flinders' charts of Australia.^[33] On 12 December 1817 Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.^[34] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.^[35]

The first map on which the word Australia occurs was published in St Petersburg in 1824. It is in Krusenstern's "Atlas de l'Océan Pacifique".^[36]

History[link]

Exploration by Europeans till 1812

  1606 Willem Janszoon

  1606 Luis Váez de Torres

  1616 Dirk Hartog

  1619 Frederick de Houtman

  1644 Abel Tasman

  1696 Willem de Vlamingh

  1699 William Dampier

  1770 James Cook

  1797–1799 George Bass

  1801–1803 Matthew Flinders

Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago,^[37] possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now South-East Asia. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. At the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers.^[38]

Following sporadic visits by fishermen from the Malay Archipelago,^[39] the first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent were attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula on an unknown date in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York, near the modern town of Weipa.^[40] The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement.^[40] William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer landed on the north-west coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.^[41] Cook's discoveries prepared the way for establishment of a new penal colony. Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson on 26 January 1788.^[42] This date became Australia's national day, Australia Day. (The British Crown Colony of New South Wales was not formally promulgated until 7 February 1788, but 26 January has entered the popular consciousness as the effective date of its foundation.) Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825.^[43] The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1828.^[44]

Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859.^[45] The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia.^[46] South Australia was founded as a "free province"—it was never a penal colony.^[47] Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts.^[48][49] A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.^[50]

Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest gaol for transported convicts.

The indigenous population, estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 at the time of European settlement,^[51] declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease.^[52] The "Stolen Generations" (removal of Aboriginal children from their families), which historians such as Henry Reynolds have argued could be considered genocide,^[53] may have contributed to the decline in the Indigenous population.^[54] Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by conservative commentators such as former Prime Minister John Howard as exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.^[55] This debate is known within Australia as the History wars.^[56] The Federal government gained the power to make laws with respect to Aborigines following the 1967 referendum.^[57] Traditional ownership of land—aboriginal title—was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") before European occupation.^[58]

A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s,^[59] and the Eureka Rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience.^[60] Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.^[61] The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs,^[62] defence,^[63] and international shipping.

The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Similar ceremonies are held in most suburbs and towns.

On 1 January 1901 federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting.^[64] The Commonwealth of Australia was established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was constructed.^[65] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911.^[66] In 1914, Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Commonwealth Liberal Party and the incoming Australian Labor Party.^[67] Australians took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front.^[68] Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded.^[69] Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action.^[70][71] The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.^[72]

Australia's national flag comprises the Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star, and the Southern Cross.

Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in 1942,^[73] but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II.^[74][75] The shock of the UK's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector.^[76] Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty.^[77] After World War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and following the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also promoted.^[78] As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image were transformed.^[79] The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London.^[80] In a 1999 referendum, 55 per cent of Australian voters and a majority in every Australian state rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972,^[81] there has been an increasing focus in foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim nations, while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.^[82]

Government[link]

Parliament House, Canberra was opened in 1988, replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.

Government House, Canberra, also known as "Yarralumla", is the official residence of the Governor-General.

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia since 2010

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constitution of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by the Constitution specifically to the Governor-General.^[83][84] The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside a Prime Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.^[85]

The federal government is separated into three branches:

• The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;
• The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;^[86]
• The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.

In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory).^[87] The House of Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population,^[88] with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats.^[89] Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the 76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution.^[87]

Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT, which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,^[90] as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia).^[91] The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the power to appoint the Prime Minister, and if necessary dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.^[92]

There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.^[93][94] Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.

Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left. Queensland in particular, along with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are regarded as comparatively conservative.^{[95][96][97][98][99][100]} Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory are regarded as comparatively socially liberal.^{[100][101][102][103]} New South Wales has often been regarded as a politically moderate bellwether state.^[104][103]

Following a partyroom leadership challenge, Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister in June 2010.^[105] The most recent federal election was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50 years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of independents.

States and territories[link]