Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1838
The
Melbourne Advertiser
, Melbourne's first newspaper, is first published, with 10 weekly handwritten
editions; in 1839 it rolls off the presses daily as the
Port Phillip Patriot & Melbourne Advertiser.
1851
Victoria separates from the colony of New South Wales. Gold is discovered in central Victoria and the
world's richest gold rush is on.
1854
Gold miners rebel over unfair licences and conditions, raising the Southern Cross flag at the Eureka
Stockade. Brutally suppressed by soldiers and police, their actions enter into Australia's nation-
building mythology.
1854
Australia's first significant rail line, from Melbourne Terminus on Flinders St, across the Yarra, to
Station Pier in Port Melbourne, opens.
1856-60
Stonemasons building the University of Melbourne strike and the struggle for a shorter working day
begins; the subsequent 'eight-hour day' campaign transforms Victorian working conditions.
1858
The Melbourne Football Club is formed. Australian Rules football's first recorded match takes place
between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School.
1859
Thomas Austin releases rabbits onto his property at Winchelsea, west of Melbourne, beginning a
rabbit infestation that will spread across the southern part of Australia and continue to this day.
1880
The International Exhibition is held at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne's Carlton Gardens.
More than a million visitors come to see the fruits of the Empire.
1883-85
The railway line linking Sydney and Melbourne opens in 1883, followed two years later by Mel-
bourne's first cable-tram service, running from the city centre to Richmond.
