Introduction

The Place Now Called Victoria

Rural Victoria

Ned Kelly

A Jewel in the Crown

Marvellous Melbourne

Victorians at War

Victorian Stories

Marvellous Melbourne

By the 1880s, Melbourne had developed an international reputation as one of the greatest cities in the world. It was remarked upon by writers such as Mark Twain and Anthony Trollope and was dubbed 'Marvellous Melbourne' by British journalist George Augustus Sala when he visited in 1885.

   

Melbourne was in the grip of a land and property boom which had been building since the 1850s gold rushes. Cable trams ferried crowds through the streets and the young and fashionable 'did the Block', promenading the footpaths and arcades of Collins Street. Telephones and electric light were novelties and Melbourne's first 'skyscrapers' appeared. Theatres and opera houses drew large audiences and Melbourne was home to a group of painters who would become known as the Heidelberg School.

In 1880-81 and 1888, Melbourne showed itself off to the world by hosting major international exhibitions of industrial, scientific and artistic progress from all corners of the globe. Less than a decade later, the land-speculation bubble burst, and the city plunged into economic gloom. It took ten years to recover, after which Melbourne was poised to become the first capital of a new nation.


Illustrations
Left: Unknown maker, The National Football Game, c1900
Right: George Fish, Scale replica of a PSF 3 cable tram, 1897