Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and also the most populous city of Victoria state. It is also the second most populous city after Sydney and the population was 3,744,373 Melburnians according to the 2006 census. Melbourne is located on a large natural bay known as Port Phillip. The city centre is located on the estuary of the Yarra River. The metropolitan area consists of 31 municipalities and the city centre is located in the City of Melbourne municipality.

Melbourne was founded by the settlers from Van Diemen’s Land in 1835. Formerly known as Bearbrass it was renamed as Melbourne in 1837. Melbourne also known as the cultural capital of Australia is the birthplace of Australian film, Australian television, Australian Rules football and a huge centre for Australian music. It is also a renowned for hosting successful sporting events like the 1956 Summer Olympics games and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Popular sports include Australian football, cricket, netball and basketball. The city contains many skyscrapers including five of the six tallest buildings of Australia among which the Eureka Tower is the tallest. The urban infrastructure displays a unique characteristic of the ‘laneway culture’. The city is well known for its blend of modern and Victorian architecture. It possesses the largest tram network in the world. The city was classified as a Beta World City Plus by Loughborough University.

Geography and Climate
Melbourne is positioned in the south eastern part of Australia in the state of Victoria. The major beaches are located along the shores of Port Phillip in areas like Port Melbourne, Albert Park and St. Kilda among others.  The climate in Melbourne is mainly moderate oceanic but known for rapid changes in a single day. It is colder than other Australian cities due to its proximity to the Port Phillip.

Economy and Tourism
Melbourne possesses a highly diversified economy with strong points including finance, manufacturing, education, research, I.T., logistics, transportation and tourism. Many large corporations including five of the largest ten selected on the basis of revenue are based in Melbourne. The largest and busiest seaport which handles more than $75 billion of the nation’s trade is based in Melbourne. NAB and ANZ banks, among the top four are headquartered in Melbourne. The city was ranked 34th in the top fifty financial cities by the MasterCard Worldwide Commerce Index. Melbourne is a huge technology hub comprising of an I.T. industry that employs a workforce of 60,000 people and has a turnover of $ 19.8 billion. It is the backbone of Australia‘s automotive industry.

Tourism forms a large part of Melbourne’s economy with 15.9 million domestic visitors and 1.4 million international visitors as of Dec.2009. It leads the list of Australian cities in the context of money spent by domestic tourists. Melbourne attracts visitors who visit for cultural and fashion events.

After hosting the 2006 Commonwealth games and other events, it has emerged as a sports centre and attracts sports fans in large numbers. Federation Square, MCG, Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne Observation Deck, Melbourne Park and Melbourne museum are some of the famous tourist spots.