Hello, Tourists! So, you’ve come to Melbourne, filled with hopes, dreams, and hoping reality doesn’t smash you in the face? Or maybe you’re just here to find out some interesting facts about the city we all love? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Let me enlighten you on some of the fun facts about Melbourne.
Did you know? Between 1901 and 1927, we were actually the capital of Australia? YUP! Forget Canberra, THIS was where the real action happened. Now… Sydney wasn’t too pleased about that fact (if you’re from Germany, think the situation between Cologne and Dusseldorf, who hate each other like they ran over the other’s dogs!). Sydney thought they should be the capital because, among other things, Captain Cook landed there in 1770.
When Australia became a Commonwealth, in 1901, it was decided that Melbourne would be the capital. Sydney didn’t like that one bit. They wanted the top spot for… bragging rights, I guess? So, after years of arguing, a compromise was made. A new city was built (Canberra), far enough apart from both Sydney and Melbourne), and they even have their own state (Australian Capital Territory – ACT).
Don’t feel bad for us just because we stopped being the capital though – We were able to bounce back and, from 2011 to 2017, that’s SEVEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS, we were named world’s most livable city, top ranked student city in Australia, and the third ranked student city in the entire world!
One more fun fact before I leave you (you’ve always gotta leave em with some mystery, right?) Melbourne has the dubious honour of not only being the most livable city but, as of 2021, most locked down city too. Luckily, with the majority of people finally vaccinated, we have now started to rebuild and, very soon, we’ll restart our most livable city streak once again!