Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Difficult Half-Century
Despite the symbolic honour of becoming the new nation's temporary capital in 1901, Mel-
bourne's fortunes didn't really rally until after WWI, and by then its 'first city' status had
been lost to Sydney. When WWI broke out, large numbers of young men from throughout
Victoria fought in the trenches of Europe and the Middle East, with enormous losses.
There was a renewed spirit of expansion and construction in Victoria in the 1920s, but
this came to a grinding halt with another economic disaster, the Great Depression (in 1931
almost a third of breadwinners were unemployed). When war broke out once again in 1939,
Melbourne became the heart of the nation's wartime efforts, and later the centre for US op-
erations in the Pacific. It was boom time again, though no time for celebration.
The state's Victorian heritage did not fare well during the postwar construction boom -
when Melbourne hosted the Olympic Games in 1956, hectares of historic buildings were
bulldozed with abandon; this continued apace during the new boom days of the 1980s as
well. However, significant parts of the city and many goldfield towns still echo with
Victorian ambition and aspiration.
