Melbourne (Mel'burn), the metropolis of the Australian colony of Victoria, and the most important city of Australasia, stands at the northern extremity of Port Phillip Bay, and is bisected by the river Yarra; it is in 37° 49' S. lat. and 144° 58' E. long., and is 11,940 miles from London (via Brindisi and the Suez Canal). Since 1888 there is a ship-canal from a point near the mouth of the river to the Melbourne quays. Port Phillip Bay, the maritime approach, is a spacious landlocked inlet covering 800 sq. m. The entrance, known as ' The Heads,' is very narrow, and strong fortifications have been carried out since 1875. Williamstown and Port Melbourne, on the shores of the bay, are thriving ports. Melbourne is a chessboard city, its streets intersecting at right angles ; the principal thoroughfares are of greater width (99 feet) than is desirable in such a warm climate. Collins Street is architecturally imposing, being lined on either side by tall, massive, and ornate buildings, chiefly banks, offices, warehouses, and hotels. In Bourke Street most of the theatres, music-halls, and retail shops are situated. Melbourne has a flourishing university, founded in 1853, with three affiliated colleges - Trinity (Episcopalian), Queen's (Wesleyan), and Ormond (Presbyterian). The last - a very fine structure - was built at the expense of the Hon. Francis Ormond, to whom Melbourne is indebted also for its working-men's college. The Wilson Hall is also a noteworthy adjunct of the university. The Exhibition building and the General Post-office are two of the most striking public buildings. The Houses of Parliament, erected in 1855-91 at a cost of nearly a million of money, form a magnificent pile of buildings. The Trades Hall (1857) stands on the northern boundary of the city proper. Melbourne possesses a public library of over 250,000 vols., and associated with it are a national art gallery and a technological museum. The town-hall has an immense assembly-room, and an organ of colossal size. Crowning the summit of the western hill of Melbourne are the law-courts, forming an extensive square, and topped by a lofty and graceful dome. Close by is the Melbourne branch of the Royal Mint (1872). Other notable public institutions are the Melbourne and Alfred hospitals, the Benevolent Asylum, the Immigrants' Home, the Orphan Asylums, the Custom-house, the Treasury, and the Public Offices, the last-named a vast and labyrinthine pile in which most of the government departments are housed. St Patrick's R. C. cathedral, a towering Gothic structure, is the most conspicuous ecclesiastical edifice in Melbourne. The Anglican cathedral of St Paul was consecrated in 1891. The Scots Church, the architectural gem of Collins Street, has a graceful soaring spire of 211 feet. In 1841 the pop. was 11,000 ; in 1851, the year of the gold discoveries, it was less than 25,000 ; in 1861, 191,000; in 1871, with suburbs, 206,780; in 1881, 282,907 ; in 1901, 494,129 (of whom 68,379 were in the 'city'). Foundries, flour-mills, boot and clothing factories, etc. are numerous in the suburbs. The Royal Park, the Carlton, Fitzroy, Botanical, and Flagstaff Gardens are the principal recreation reserves. The abundant water-supply (1857) comes from the Yan-Yean reservoir in the Plenty Valley. Tramways were introduced in 1886. The sanitary condition is not so good as might have been expected. Melbourne was first occupied by white men in 1835, and known as Doutta-Galla from the neighbouring tribe of blacks. In 1837 it was christened after the reigning premier, Lord Melbourne, in 1842 it was incorporated, and in 1851 it was advanced to the dignity of a capital when the Port Phillip province was separated from New South Wales and erected into the colony of Victoria. Then too the Victorian goldfields were opened up. The International Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1888 cost the colony a quarter of a million. A great conflict between labour and capital took place in 1890, and Melbourne like the rest of Australia suffered severely in the commercial crises of 1893. See Victoria and its Metropolis (Melbourne, 2 vols. 1889).