Social
Development
Buildings and Structures in Melbourne
Residence Melbourne's flat terrain has produced regular terraced house patterns, and the wealth of the gold rush fuelled speculative housing development and also ensured that many terraces were built with ornate and elaborate details in a plethora of different styles, often collectively referred to as "boom" style. Melbourne has more decorative cast iron than any other city in the world and much of this was used to decorate its terrace houses in the filigree style with decorative cast iron balconies, material which was first imported before local foundries began due to high demand.nts and visitors were amazed at the speed of Melbourne's growth from a muddy frontier town into a solid city of spires and domes. Archibald Michie remembered the Melbourne of 1852 as little more than 'a very inferior English town'. By 1860, he was astounded by Melbourne's transformation into a great city, as comfortable, as elegant, as luxurious as any place. Melbourne's new civic beauty was due to the erection of many lavish buildings in the 1850s. Built from the colony's gold wealth, solid buildings up to four storeys now lined the main thoroughfares of Collins and Bourke streets.
Growth and Development
of Victoria During the Gold Rush
Population
Governor Charles La Trobe
Sir Charles Hotham
The gold discoveries in Melbourne between 1851-1859 brought in a population aged largely in the twenties, therefore the average age of Melburnites, which was never high, was now reduced further. The balance of males and females began to become normal in the later 1840’s, but there was still mostly males. The immigrants were largely urban in origin, this was an important factor in the post-gold labour market, as there was a strong representation of skilled and semi-skilled. Stonemasons were a significant group and their skills were introduced for quartz mining.
The new immigrants, up to the end of 1854, saw more than 110,000 from other Australian ports, 140,000 from the British Isles and 20,000 from China and other foreign ports. The majority of immigrants were British or of British stock, with some Scotish through the role of the Irish was a little less than it had been. Other nationalities began to make a significant showing but only some stayed in Melbourne. The Swiss-Italian went straight to the goldfields and stayed there, and worked as miners, farmers, charcoal burners or innkeepers. The Germans were not easily categorised, they came in a variety of groups-which were the Protestant refugees (who had begun to immigrate even before the goldrushes), there were German gold seekers (who were in Bendigo) and there were German labourers. Most nationalities had come with the intention of settling permanently and they had no way of knowing of the impact it has in the central city.
-Gold toppled wool as Australia’s economic
mainstay and at the end of the decade still
accounted for about half of Australia’s exports.
-In 1852 alone, 370,00 immigrants arrived in A
ustralia and the economy of the nation boomed.
-The goldfield towns also sparked a huge boost in business investment and stimulated the market for local produce.
-Economy was expanding and thriving.
-Merchants of all kind of flourished in the bonanza, and gold money began to finance the construction of a more respectable suburbia in Melbourne with imported Italian marble and English administer carpets.
-Immigrants leaving Britain in 1852 bought more tickets to Melbourne than to any other destination in the world.
-Sudden wealth transformed a small port town into a frantic world centre.
-By 1861, Melbourne was a city of 125,000 people. Gas street lighting, regular piped water and solid buildings gave the city a more permanent appearance.
-Money was poured into lavishly decorated banks, hotels and coffee places.
-Melbourne had become a wired city by 1910.
-(Flinders street station became the city’s new gateway.
-With the gold rush came wealth and a building boom.
-The most concentrated collection of major buildings from this period can be found on Collins Street.
Money
Sir Charles Hotham (14 January 1806-31 December 1855) was Lieutenant-governor and later was Governor of Victoria of Australia from 22 June 1854 to 10 November 1855.
During Hotham’s time as governor:
Hotham realised the colony’s finances were not in a good state. He decided to raise taxes and ensure that the gold minors at Ballarat paid their licence fees. The minors objected of to having pay the fees particularly as they felt they had no political rights. When a minor was killed and the man believed responsible freed by magistrate. This led into the Eureka Rebellion, when government troops attacked protesting minors.
The royal commission set up by Hotham recommended ending the much hated licence system and increasing minors’ rights. Hotham agreed to the changes, though his handling of the whole situation was criticised by several members of the British government. He reigned in November 1855. But he died in Melbourne a month following.
The discovery of gold in NSW and VIC in 1851 and 1852 attracted many immigrants worldwide, opening the second major phase of European migration to Australia. Chinese migrants begun arriving in the Australian colonies in the 1840s to work as shepherds and labourers on pastoral runs, but with the discovery of gold, the migration swelled: tens of thousands reaching the diggings in NSW and VIC. There were 25,000 Chinese (mostly males) in VIC in 1861. The population of VIC had grown from 77,000 to 540,000.
Ballarat: 1851- 1000 miners / Total population 4000; 1853/54- 20,000 miners / Total population 47,000
Melbourne: 1851- 29,000 / 1861: 123,061
With the growth in the number of women and children, the population needed schools, churches, hospitals, police and government services. Provincial cities like Ballarat and Bendigo grew; bringing railways, roads, libraries, theatres, art galleries and stock exchanges. Many, who learnt the high price of transport and storage, tried to sell excess possessions. Most incoming gold seekers would leave within a few days, complaining of the roughness of the town and the astonishing prices of all the necessities of life. Pressure of the incoming population was felt most strongly in Port Melbourne, where business and land prices grew rapidly.. Because of the rapid rise in population, Ballarat was declared a town in 1852.
poster yourself
Governor Charles La Trobe was the first Governor of Victoria. He was born in London (1801-1875).
In 1851, the colony of Victoria was officially founded, with la Trobe as its first Lieutenant-Governor. Soon after La Trobe was became Lieutenant-Governor, gold was discovered in Ballarat. This led to many people pouring into Victoria to try to make their fortune as gold diggers. Victoria did not have the ability to cope with such numbers:
•There were no roads to the Ballarat district.
•There was not enough housing.
•There was not enough housing.
To help pay for such services, La Trobe introduced a tax on gold digging. In Melbourne his attempts to begin building a world-class city were more successful. He established the Royal Botanic Gardens. He was a keen supporter of various cultural events.
CaptainOmer 4 years ago
hi