Melbourne

Melbourne city (1991 pop. 2,761,995), capital of Victoria, SE Australia, on Port Phillip Bay at the mouth of the Yarra River. Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, is a rail and air hub and financial and commercial center. Wool and raw and processed agricultural goods are exported. The city is heavily industrialized; industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of farm machinery, textiles, and electrical goods. Included in the Melbourne urban agglomeration are many coastal resorts.

Settled in 1835, it was named (1837) for Lord Melbourne , the British prime minister. From 1901 to 1927 the city was the seat of the Australian federal government. The population, once primarily British, has changed since World War II with immigration from E and S Europe and, more recently, Asia.

Melbourne has campuses of several universities, including the Univ. of Melbourne (1853), Monash Univ. (1958), and La Trobe Univ. (1964). Melbourne Technical College, the Australian Ballet School, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Museum, and the galleries and theaters of the Victorian Arts Centre also are in the city. Melbourne is the seat of Roman Catholic and Anglican archbishops. Attractive parks, including the notable Royal Botanic Gardens and Melbourne Zoo; the bustling Queen Victoria Market; and the cultural and commercial Federation Square complex draw both tourists and residents. The Melbourne Cup horse race is run annually at Flemington Racecourse, and the city hosts a Formula One Grand Prix race. Melbourne was the site of the 1956 summer Olympic games.

Melbourne City and port on the River Yarra at the n end of Port Phillip Bay; capital of Victoria state, se Australia. Founded in 1835 by settlers from Tasmania, it was named after the British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. It became the state capital in 1851, and later served (1901–27) as the seat of the Australian federal government. A centre of finance, commerce, communications, and transport, it is Australia's largest cargo-handling port. Manufacturing is also important. Industries: aircraft, motor vehicles, heavy engineering, shipbuilding, textiles, chemicals, agricultural machinery. Pop. (2000) 3,466,000.

Melbourne Theatre Company, Australia's largest and most active professional drama company. It was founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company for the University of Melbourne, at whose Union Theatre it first appeared. The company was responsible in 1955 for the first production of Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. It began performing full-time in the Russell Street Theatre in 1966 when the Union Theatre was no longer available. Two years later it adopted its present name. In 1973 the company took over the St Martin's Theatre, moving in 1977 to the Athenaeum Theatre, where in 1979 it opened the Athenaeum 2 for the presentation of ‘alternative’ experimental plays. In 1984 the company moved to the Victorian Arts Centre and made its home in the Playhouse, still retaining the Russell Street Theatre as a venue. Almost half its repertoire is Australian.

Melbourne also has the Playbox company, which has staged over 100 Australian plays since its foundation in 1976. Its original home was burnt down in 1984, and in 1990 it occupied a refurbished three-storey building, The Malthouse, containing the three-tiered Merlyn, seating 500, and the Beckett, seating 200.