Beginning
Gold was discovered in Victoria in 1851 and the subsequent gold rush led to a huge influx of migrants, with the local population increasing from 29,000 in 1851 to 139,916 in 1861 (Sydney had 93,686 at the time). The colony became fantastically wealthy and Melbourne grew rapidly to become Australia's largest city and the second largest city of the British Empire. The boom lasted forty years and ushered in the era known as "marvellous Melbourne". The influx of educated gold seekers from England, Ireland and Germany led to rapid growth of schools, churches, learned societies, libraries and art galleries. The University of Melbourne was founded in 1855 and the State Library of Victoria in 1856. The Philosophical Institute of Victoria was founded in 1854 and became the Royal Society of Victoria after receiving a Royal Charter in 1859.
Read more about this topic: Burke And Wills Expedition
Famous quotes containing the word beginning:
“In the beginning was the word, the word
That from the solid bases of the light
Abstracted all the letters of the void....”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“The beginning of self-knowledge: recognizing that your motives are the same as other people’s.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“That the world can be improved and yet must be celebrated as it is are contradictions. The beginning of maturity may be the recognition that both are true.”
—William Stott (b. 1940)