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

Victoria coat-of-arms

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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia after Sydney (approximate population of four million).

Melbourne Golden Mile Guided Walk

That was how many immigrants imagined Melbourne during the gold rushes of the 1850s.In 1851 a shepherd stumbled on a nugget of gold near Ballarat. Excited colonists downed tools and rushed to the new goldfields. Soon word of the discovery had passed from Victoria back to Europe. Thousands of eager fortune-hunters poured into Melbourne, transforming it overnight from a sleepy port into a madcap metropolis. The population more than quadrupled from 29,000 in 1851 to 123,000 in 1854.

Lucky diggers rode through the streets drinking champagne and lighting their cigars with pound notes while canny shopkeepers and bankers grew rich on their good luck.You can walk the trail on your own with a Golden Mile booklet (AUD $8), available from tourism outlets and museums along the trail.

Melbourne is an international cultural centre, with cultural endeavors spanning major events and festivals, drama, musicals, comedy, music, art, architecture, literature, film and television.

The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct. It was designed by architect Sir Roy Grounds

Major companies regularly performing in the theatres include Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet, the Melbourne Theatre Company and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The Arts Centre also hosts a large number of Australian and international performances and production companies.The Arts Centre is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The complex retains landmark status due to its massive steel spire and its wrap-around base.The spire was completed in 1996, and reaches 162 meters. The spire is illuminated with roughly 6,600 meters of optic fiber tubing, 150 meters of neon tubing on the mast and 14,000 incandescent lamps on the spire's skirt. The metal webbing of the spire is influenced by the billowing of a ballerina's tutu and the Eiffel Tower.

Melbourne was the second city after Edinburgh to be named a UNESCO City of Literature

Public art. Forward Surge sculpture-Inge King 1974

A Wedge-tailed Eagle and Peregrine Falcon were utilized in early 2008 to deter groups of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos from damaging the spire's electrical fittings and thimble-sized lights.

Melbourne

Sound: Australian National Anthem Mark Atkins, Janawiri Viparrka - Wongi Wongi

Pictures and arangement: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda