Notes:
Victoria is a state located in the south-eastern corner of Australia. It is the smallest mainland state in area but the most densely populated and urbanised. Victoria began in the 1830s as a farming community. The discovery of gold in 1851 transnsformed it into a leading industrial and commercial centre. Victoria is the second most populous Australian state, after New South Wales, with an estimated population of 5,037,700 as at September 2005. Melbourne is Victoria's capital and largest city, with more than 70% of all Victorians living there.
History
After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, the continent was divided into an eastern half - named New South Wales, and a western half, named New Holland, but under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. Victoria's first settlement was at Portland, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman.
From settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, and this gained some administrative status prior to separation from New South Wales and declaration as the Colony of Victoria in 1851.
In 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria, Australia increased seven-fold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget. Victoria produced in the decade 1851-1860 20 million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output.
Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. Although there was some racism directected at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley near Bright in 1857. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary - an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854 killed over 1,000 miners.
In 1854 there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes (the "Eureka Stockade"). This was crushed by British troops, but some of the leaders of the rebellion subsequently became members of the Victoria Parliament, and the rebellion is still sometimes regarded as a pivotal moment in the development of Australia democracy.
The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Maori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War.
In 1901 Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne became the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time, and the second largest city in terms of population of the Empire (after London, England). Whilst Melbourne remains an important and influential financial centre, home to several national and internation companies, its importance has slowly waned from the 1970s and 1980s onwards as Sydney heavily increases in population, business and global importance.
People
The 2001 Australian census reported that Victoria had 4,644,950 people, an increase of 6.2% on the 1996 figure. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that by September 2005 the state's population had reached 5,087,000. Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from southern and eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and, most recently, the Horn of Africa and Middle East. Victoria's population is ageing rapidly. The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021.
More than 70% of Victorians live in Melbourne, located in the state's south. The sprawling Melbourne metropolitan area is home to an estimated 3.7 million people. Other important urban centres include Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Warrnambool and the Latrobe Valley. Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state, with nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. Since 1871, more than half of all Victorians have lived in urban areas. Today, just over 12% of Victorians live in rural areas. The drift of people into Melbourne continues despite government efforts to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas.
About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne, but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north-west of the state. Around two-thirds of Victorians claim Australian, English or Irish ancestry. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal. The largest groups of people born outside Australia came from the United Kingdom, Italy, Vietnam, Greece and New Zealand.
Religion
About 65 per cent of Victorians describe themselves as Christian. Roman Catholics form the single largest religious group in the state, followed by Anglicans and members of the Uniting Church. Catholics and Protestants (including Anglicans) in Victoria each form around 30% of the population. Buddhism, the state's largest non-Christian religion, is also the fastest growing. Victoria is also home to around 93,000 Muslims and 60,000 Jews. Around 17% of Victorians claim no religion.
Source: 2001 Australian Census, Department of Infrastructure
City/Town : Latitude: -36.558800, Longitude: 145.468994Matches 1 to 1 of 1
Last Name, Given Name(s)  |
Birth  |
Person ID | Tree | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  McEvoy, Frederick | Tuesday 12 February 1907 | Victoria, Australia | I686189 | Veenkoloniale voorouders |
Matches 1 to 2 of 2
| Last Name, Given Name(s) |
Death |
Person ID | Tree | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landstra, Tjitske | Sunday 17 January 1999 | Victoria, Australia | I671710 | Veenkoloniale voorouders |
| 2 | Volders, Roelf | Wednesday 15 December 2004 | Victoria, Australia | I345338 | Veenkoloniale voorouders |
Matches 1 to 1 of 1
| Family |
Marriage |
Family ID | Tree | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zeven / Burke | Wednesday 05 October 1859 | Victoria, Australia | F81504 | Veenkoloniale voorouders |
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