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Bayswater Railway Station, Melbourne

Bayswater railway station, Melbourne

Bayswater (station code: BAY) is a railway station on the Belgrave line in Melbourne, Australia, opened in 1889 as Macauley, which was changed to the present name in 1894. It has 2 platforms and is staffed full time. It is located in Metcard ticketing Zone 3. Next to the station is the Alstom train maintenance facility.

External links


- [http://www.connexmelbourne.com.au/travel_facilities/station/bayswater.asp Station Facilities] (Connex)
- [http://www.vicrailstations.netfirms.com/Gembrook/Bayswater/Bayswater.html Bayswater Station Pictures/Info] (vicrailstations)

Belgrave railway line, Melbourne

The Belgrave railway line is a broad gauge electric suburban railway in Melbourne, Australia. It branches from the Lilydale line at Ringwood station. It has eight stations, all of which are in Metcard ticketing Zone 3. The line is double track to Ferntree Gully, then single track to Belgrave, with passing loops and island platforms at Upper Ferntree Gully, Upwey, and Belgrave. The section of track between Upper Ferntree Gully and Belgrave stations was formerly part of a narrow gauge line to Gembrook. The line was electrified and converted to broad gauge between Upper Ferntree Gully and Belgrave. Between Belgrave and Gembrook the Puffing Billy Railway operates a tourist railway on the restored narrow gauge track. Belgrave station is next to Puffing Billy station from where the narrow gauge trains depart.

List of stations

Bold stations are terminuses, italic stations are staffed. Branches from the Lilydale line at Ringwood.
- Zone 3
- Heathmont
- Bayswater
- Boronia
- Ferntree Gully
- Upper Ferntree Gully
- Upwey
- Tecoma
- Belgrave

External links, maps, and timetables


- [http://www.victrip.com.au/timetables/timetable_options.php?type=train&id=MTNBEG Timetables]
- [http://www.victrip.com.au/images/uploaded/MPGI2517_Train_Bel_Lil_DL.jpg Official line map]
- [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure§ion=lineguide&line=Belgrave Statistics and detailed schematic map] at the [http://www.vicsig.net/ vicsig] enthusiast website Category:Melbourne railway lines

Melbourne

Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of approximately 3.6 million (2001 census) in the Melbourne metropolitan area and 69,670 in the City of Melbourne (which covers only the central city area). The city's name is pronounced as either or . The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "we gather strength as we go." Melbourne was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927. The city was named after the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose home was near the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne in Derbyshire derives its name from the Old English for Mill Stream (Mylla Burne). Melbourne has twice ranked first in a survey by The Economist of The World's Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions, once in 2002 [http://www.investincostarica.com/news/economist.htm], and again in 2004. In 2005, however, it was ranked 2nd, behind Vancouver, Canada. The US's Utne Reader puts it thus: "Add a long tradition of civic pride, communities of new immigrants from around the world, and the best food in Australia, and you have a recipe for what many claim is the hippest city in the Southern Hemisphere" (Nov/Dec 2001). Melbourne has undergone a major urban 'revival', such that it is sometimes classed as being in a second tier of "world cities"; the GaWC study group in the UK ranks Melbourne, on the basis of relative availability of specialised "advanced services" as a "minor world city" comparable to cities such as Montreal, Osaka, and Prague. It has one of the highest numbers of international students studying in its universities, after London, New York, and Paris. A resident of Melbourne is referred to as a Melburnian.

Geography

Paris Melbourne is located in the south-eastern corner of mainland Australia, and is the southernmost mainland capital city. Geologically it is built on the confluence of Quaternary lava flows to the west, Silurian mudstones to the east and Holocene sand accumulation to the southeast along Port Phillip, its suburbs sprawling to the east, following the Yarra River out to the Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, south-east to the mouth of the bay, and following the Maribyrnong River and its tributaries west and north to flat farming country. The central business district (the original city) is laid out in the famous mile-by-half-a-mile Hoddle Grid, its southern edge fronting on to the Yarra.

History

Melbourne was founded in 1835 by settlers from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). It is built on the land of the Kulin people, the Indigenous inhabitants of the area. It was the capital first of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and then of the separate colony of Victoria. With the discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s, leading to the Victorian gold rush, Melbourne quickly grew as a port and service centre. Later it became Australia's leading manufacturing centre. During the 1880s, Melbourne was the second largest city in the British Empire, and came to be known as "Marvellous Melbourne". Victorian Architecture abounds in Melbourne and today the city is home to the largest number of surviving Victorian Era buildings of any city in the world other than London. Melbourne became Australia's national capital at Federation on 1 January 1901. The first Federal parliament was opened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building. The seat of government and the national capital remained in Melbourne until 1927 when it moved to the new capital city of Canberra. Melbourne continued to expand steadily throughout the first half of the 20th century, particularly with the post-World War II influx of immigrants and the prestige of hosting the Olympic Games in 1956. Even after the political capital moved to Canberra, Melbourne remained Australia's business and finance capital until the 1970s, when it began to lose this primacy to Sydney. Melbourne also developed as a centre of the arts. After a boom in the 1980s Melbourne experienced a largely property market and manufacturing driven slump from 1989 to 1992, with a loss of employment and a drain of population to New South Wales and Queensland. In the 1990s, the Victorian state government of Premier Jeff Kennett (Liberal) sought to reverse this trend with the aggressive development of new public buildings, such as the Melbourne Museum, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (nicknamed "Jeff's Shed"), Crown Casino, and publicising Melbourne's merits both to outsiders and Melburnians. This has continued under the government of current Premier Steve Bracks (Labor).

People

Labor Melbourne's population exploded during the gold rush. From 20,000 inhabitants in 1851, an additional 15,000 arrived almost overnight with the discovery of gold in August 1852 [http://www.sbs.com.au/gold/story.html?storyid=49]. In the following decades of the 1870s and 1880s, Melbourne was Australia's most populous city and led to a spectacular property boom, and exuberance, if not downright arrogance, still much in evidence in the much loved late Victorian architecture. During the 1890s a world economic depression hit Melbourne's overleveraged economy with particular savagery. Much of Melbourne's population loss during the 1890s was the result of the unemployed moving west to seek gold or employment in the burgeoning industries stimulated by gold. As a consequence property prices took decades to recover. The need for a population increase and a labour force saw many British, Yugoslav, Dutch, German, Arab and Maltese migrants arrive after 1945. Large numbers from Italy and Greece arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, to become the largest groups after those from Britain and Ireland. Melbourne has one of the world's largest population of people with Greek ancestry outside Greece. Refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam made Melbourne their home in the 1970s and 1980s and were joined by people from India, the Philippines and Malaysia. The latest wave of immigrants comes from North Africa, particularly Sudan. Although Brisbane and Perth are faster growing cities (but only in percentage terms), and Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the Melbourne statistical division has grown by approximately 50,000 people a year since 2003, more than any other Australian city. Attraction of a large proportion of overseas immigrants and interstate migration from Sydney due to more affordable housing are two recent key factors. In recent years, Melton, Wyndham and Casey, part of the Melbourne statistical division, have recorded the highest growth rate of all local government areas in Australia. Melbourne Population by Year:
- 1836: 177
- 1851: 20,000
- 1854: 300,800 (gold rush)
- 1860: 500,000
- 1895: 900,000
- 1956: 1,500,000
- 1981: 2,806,000
- 1991: 3,156,700
- 2001: 3,366,542
- 2004: 3,559,700
- 2030: 4,500,000 (projected)

Government

2030 There is no overall governing body for the Melbourne metropolitan area. There is a directly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne, currently Lord Mayor John So, and an elected Melbourne City Council, but these are responsible only for the City of Melbourne, which takes in the central business area and a few adjoining inner suburbs. The Lord Mayor, however, is frequently treated as a representative of the whole city. The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into 30 municipalities, all of which are styled as cities except for five on the city's outer fringes which are styled as shires (see a list of these at Local Government Areas of Victoria). These municipalities all have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions delegated to them by the Victorian state government. These include planning, rubbish collection, beaches, parks and gardens, child-care and preschool facilities, local festivals and cultural activities, services to the elderly, supervision of public health, sanitation and similar matters. Councils levy rates from their residents to pay for these services. The councils are collectively represented by the Local Government Association of Victoria. Melbourne's overwhelming dominance of the state of Victoria's population and economy means the state government is also effectively the city government of greater Melbourne. Most citywide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because three quarters of Victoria's population lives in Melbourne, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to create a rival to the state government. For this reason the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, which had become a powerful semi-autonomous authority, was abolished in 1992.

Education

Several universities are also located in Melbourne, including Deakin University, La Trobe University, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Melbourne, Victoria University of Technology and the St Patrick's campus of the Australian Catholic University. Melbourne has numerous government, independent and other secondary schools. A majority of the oldest schools in Melbourne belong to the Associated Public Schools of Victoria and Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria associations,

Economy

Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria Melbourne is a large commercial and industrial centre. Many of Australia's largest companies, and many multinational corporations (approximately one-third of the 100 largest multinationals operating in Australia as of 2002), are headquartered there. The peak body representing workers in Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, is also headquartered in Melbourne. Melbourne is home to Australia's largest seaport and much of Australia's automotive industry (including the engine manufacturing facility of Holden and the Ford and Toyota manufacturing facilities), in addition to many other manufacturing industries. Most current major infrastructure projects are generally centred on the upcoming 2006 Commonwealth Games, which are to be held in the city. Such projects include the $AUD700 million Southern Cross Station redevelopment, including a $350 million world-class transport interchange facility with $350 million also set aside for office accommodation, residential towers and hotel and also a retail plaza. The project is set for completion in early 2006, before the start of the Games. At the centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games projects is the redevelopment project for the MCG, the stadium set for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. At a cost of $434 million the project involves reconstructing the old Olympic and Ponsford stands. In 2006, Melbourne will play host to the summit of G20 finance ministers G20

Transport

G20] Melbourne is served with a robust public transportation network. It has one of the world's most extensive tram networks, almost 300 bus routes and a train system with more than 15 lines. Like many major cities in the world, Melbourne has an integrated public transport system, however some of its outlying suburbs still face transport difficulties. The Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest container and general cargo port. Melbourne Airport is the nation's second busiest. [http://www.melbtrip.com/ Melbourne Guide to Public Transport] (external link)

Media

Melbourne has two major daily newspapers, The Age and The Herald-Sun. There are three commercial television channels and three public channels. Melbourne has a wide range of radio stations and is the base for the Australia-wide Austereo network.

Melbourne in culture

Austereo Melbourne was strongly associated with the establishment of Australia's visual arts. The Heidelberg School, arguably the first distinctly Australian art movement (in the Western canon, at least), was largely the work of Melbourne-based artists, and many of its most significant works hang in the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne has been the setting for many novels, television dramas, and films. Fergus Hume's international best-seller Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which outsold the Sherlock Holmes stories at the time, was set in Gold Rush era Melbourne. Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory tells the story of Melbourne businessman John West and is set in a thinly-disguised Collingwood, a Melbourne working-class suburb. Perhaps the best-known internationally is Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach. In 1959, it was made into a film starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and directed by Stanley Kramer. The film depicted the denizens of Melbourne quietly slipping off into eternity as the last victims of a global nuclear holocaust. Filmed on location in and around Melbourne (a huge novelty for Melbourne at the time), it is perhaps best remembered for a comment Ms Gardner never made - describing Melbourne as 'the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world', commenting on the dreary conservatism of Melbourne in the late 1950s. The purported quote was invented by journalist Neil Jillett. Similar filming was undertaken when a 2000 television movie remake was produced. In recent years, many more films have been made in Melbourne. Some of the more famous include Mad Max, Chopper, Romper Stomper, featuring a young Russell Crowe as a terrifying Melburnian skinhead; Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy and The Castle. Perhaps better known to a contemporary audience is the daily soap opera Neighbours, set in the fictional eastern suburb of Erinsborough, which presents a 'whitebread' microcosm of suburban Australian life. Other contemporary television shows set in Melbourne include Stingers (a police drama), The Secret Life Of Us, and MDA. Singer Paul Kelly has written several well-known songs about aspects of the city close to the heart of many Melburnians, notably "Leaps And Bounds" and "From St Kilda To King's Cross". Melbourne-born satirist Barry Humphries created his main character Dame Edna Everage as a comedic version of a suburban homemaker. Through her he has performed cutting odes to Melbourne mores and the middle class suburbs of Moonee Ponds and Highett, among others. Although not set in Melbourne, the film Queen Of The Damned was filmed in and around the city. Carols by Candlelight, first held in 1938, is a Christmas tradition held annually at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Culture

Sidney Myer Music Bowl Melbourne is the home of the Australian Ballet and the second home of Opera Australia. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is very highly regarded both at home and internationally. Melbourne was also (arguably) the birthplace of Western art in Australia through the Heidelberg School. The National Gallery of Victoria has Australia's best collection of visual art, particularly early Australian western-tradition art. Several professional theatre companies operate in Melbourne, of which the Melbourne Theatre Company is the best institutionally-supported, and there is a wide range of smaller companies. Melbourne's rock and pop music scene is regarded (particularly by Melburnians) as the liveliest in the country, and has fostered many internationally renowned artists and musicians, with links to AC/DC, Nick Cave, Crowded House, John Farnham, Graeme Bell, Kylie Minogue, and Jet. Melbourne is also home to the largest Australian hip hop scene, generally known as "Melburn" or "The Burn" throughout the unique sub-culture. Obese Records, the leading Australian Hip Hop recording label, was founded in 1995 in Melbourne and is located in Prahran, just off the famous Chapel Street. Melbourne is home to a gritty style of home grown Hip Hop and is home to artists such as Lyrical Commission, Muphin, Reason and Pegz. Live shows constantly occur in the city with open-mic contests and performances by up-and-coming artists held throughout the week at different locations. The dance music scene in Melbourne is the biggest and one of the most lively in Australia. There are dance parties happening almost every night of the year, frequently attracting some of the world's best DJs to the city. The Melbourne Shuffle, a style of dance, had its birth here, and has been evolving ever since. While having a large and vibrant arts and cultural life (notably including the yearly Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival), Melbourne is perhaps best known as one of the most sports-obsessed cities in the world.

Sport

Melbourne is known as Australia's sporting capital. Melbourne is home to nine of the sixteen teams in the Australian Football League, whose five Melbourne games per week attract an average 35,000 people per game. Melbourne is where Australian Football originated and it still the most popular sport in Victoria. The grand final, one of the biggest sporting events in Australia, is played on the last weekend in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a massive arena that has held up to 100,000 spectators. Melbourne Storm, a National Rugby League team, are based at Olympic Park. Olympic Park is also the home of Melbourne Victory, a team in the newly formed Australian soccer competition, the A-League. Melbourne hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments; the Melbourne Cup – the most prestigious handicap horse race in the world; the hugely popular 'Boxing Day' cricket test match held each year from 26-30 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; and the Australian Grand Prix Formula One championship. Melbourne also co-hosted the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, including many pool matches as well as a quarter final – all of which were played at the Telstra Dome. Melbourne has also broken new ground in the major events industry being the first city outside the United States to host the World Police and Fire Games 1995), and the President's Cup golf tournament (1999); and the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the World Cup Polo Championship (2001). The newest major sporting event to be brought to the city will be the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 2007, Melbourne will be the host of the FINA World Aquatics Championships.

Parks and gardens

FINA World Aquatics Championships Melbourne is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and Victoria as the Garden State, for good reason. There is an abundance of parks and gardens close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways, and majestic tree lined avenues that help make Melbourne one of the world's most livable cities. There are also many parks in the surrounding suburbs of Melbourne such as in the in the bouroughs of Stonnington and Booroondara, south east of the CBD. Victoria - Garden State, was used on Victorian car number plates up to 1995 and many regional towns have well tended botanic gardens, parks and tree lined avenues.

Landmarks and tourist information

Melbourne attracts large numbers of tourists, particularly young backpackers. It also hosts a disproportionately large number of spectator sports. Melbourne's restaurants are numerous, and are generally of reasonable quality and good value. As one would expect from a city its size, Melbourne contains all manner of pubs, bars, and nightclubs. There are a variety of interesting things to see outside Melbourne proper but still within a day trip of Melbourne.

Sister cities

Melbourne has a number of sister cities. They are:
- Osaka, Japan - 1978
- Tianjin, People's Republic of China - 1980
- Thessaloniki, Greece - 1984
- Boston, United States - 1985
- Saint Petersburg, Russia - 1989
- Milan, Italy - 2004
- Galle, Sri Lanka - 2005 (after the 2004 tsunami disaster Melbourne adopted Galle in order to fund the reconstruction of its cricket ground)

References

See also


- List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne
- List of notable Melburnians
- List of Town Halls in Melbourne
- Crime in Melbourne
- :Category:Melbourne streets
- List of Melbourne suburbs, :Category:Melbourne suburbs
- Local Government Areas of Victoria
- Timeline of Melbourne history
- Melbourne tourism
- Hook turn - driving manoeuvre that is common in the inner city area.

External links


-
- [http://www.emelbourne.net.au/ Encyclopedia of Melbourne]
- [http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/index.html Australian Places - A Gazetteer of Australian Cities, Towns and Suburbs]- includes articles on Melbourne and many of its suburbs.
- [http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ City of Melbourne Official Site]
- [http://www.melbourneinfolink.com.au/ Melbourne Accommodation Tourism and Business Directory]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-37.790222,144.933357&spn=0.169258,0.302124&z=5&t=k&hl=en Google Satellite Images]
- [http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/ Walking Melbourne - A Database of Melbourne Architecture]
- [http://www.melbournephotos.net/ MelbournePhotos.net]
- [http://brucema.topcities.com/Melbourne/index.html Melbourne photo by Bruce Ma]
- [http://flickr.com/photos/tags/melbourne Flickr: Photos tagged with melbourne]
- [http://www.nma.gov.au/play/batmania/ Batmania: a fun way to explore the people and events surrounding the foundation of Melbourne] at the National Museum of Australia.
- [http://www.victoria.org.au/ Melbourne and Victorian Information and History] Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in Victoria Category:Coastal cities of Australia Category:Port cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games
- Category:Metropolitan areas ko:멜버른 ja:メルボルン simple:Melbourne

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Origin and history of the name

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern. Legends of an "unknown southern land" (terra australis incognita) date back to the Roman times and were commonplace in mediæval geography, but they were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The Dutch adjectival form Australische ("Australian," in the sense of "southern") was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south as early as 1638. The first English language writer to use the word "Australia" was Alexander Dalrymple in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, published in 1771. He used the term to refer to the entire South Pacific region, not specifically to the Australian continent. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland." New Holland was established on this site.]] The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England. In 1817 he recommended that it be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

History

England, claiming the land for Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988 for Australia's bicentenary.]] The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day India or Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices and practised subsistence agriculture. The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role. penal colony was Australia's largest penal colony.]] The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. Britain formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease, and forced migration, the removal of children and other colonial government policies, that some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by today's understanding. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius at the time of European occupation. terra nullius ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Ceremonies such as this are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.]] A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854 was an early expression of nationalist sentiment. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was formed from New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the capital from 1901 to 1927). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I; many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action. Much like Gallipoli the Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as a nation defining battle from World War II. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and Britain, but Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942. The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged mass immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself were radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and Britain ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. Although Australian voters rejected a move to become a republic in 1999 by a 55% majority, Australia's links to its British past are increasingly tenuous. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia-Pacific region.

Politics

Whitlam Government was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.]] The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Queen is nominally represented by the Governor-General; although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975. There are three branches of government.
- The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate (the Red house), and the House of Representatives (the Green house); the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who in practice exercises little or no power over the Parliament.
- The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the executive councillors); in practice, the councillors are the prime minister and ministers of state, whose advice the Governor-General accepts, with rare exceptions.
- The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986. The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population. In the Senate, each state, regardless of population, is represented by 12 senators, with the ACT and the NT each electing two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; typically only half of the Senate seats are put to each election, because senators have overlapping six-year terms. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms Government, with its leader becoming Prime Minister. There are three major political parties: the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens, Family First and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses, although their influence has been marginal. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate, the first time that a party (or coalition of governing parties) has done so while in government in more than 20 years. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory in each state and territory and at the federal level.

States and territories

Voting is compulsory Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government. Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles. Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States, through the ANZUS pact and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Much of Australia's diplomatic energy is focused on international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the US–Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current chief is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In 2005–06, the defence budget is A$17.5bn.

Geography and climate

Angus Houston Australia's 7,686,850 km² (2,967,909 mi²) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 25,760 km (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 km² or 3,146,057 mi² (excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory). Climate is highly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, the flattest, and has the oldest and least fertile soils. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. The northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, has a vegetation consisting of rainforest, woodland, grassland and desert. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,250 mi). The world's two largest monoliths are located in Australia, Mount Augustus in Western Australia is the largest and Uluru in central Australia is the second largest. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 m (9,006 ft).

Flora and fauna

Heard Island of the wallaby is currently being sequenced; when the sequencing is completed, it will be a major contribution to marsupial biology.]] Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework used for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems, 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the World on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Environmental Sustainability Index.]] Most Australian plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including the eucalypts and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna), and a host of marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, wombat, and birds such as the emu, cockatoo, and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people that traded with Indigenous Australians around 4000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; many more have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Economy

Thylacine Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2005 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. In recent years, the Australian economy has been resilient in the face of global economic downturn. Rising output in the domestic economy has been offsetting the global slump, and business and consumer confidence remains robust. Australia's emphasis on reform is another key factor behind the economy's strength. In the 1980s, the Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating, started the process of modernising the Australian economy by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and deregulating the financial system. Since 1996, the Howard government has continued the process of micro-economic reform, including the partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. Substantial reform of the indirect tax system was achieved in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax, which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that still characterises Australia's tax system. The Australian economy has not suffered a recession since the early 1990s. As of July 2005, unemployment was 5.0% with 10,030,300 persons employed. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, comprises 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural-resources represent only 3% and 5% of GDP, respectively, but contribute substantially to Australia's export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States, South Korea and New Zealand. Areas of concern to some economists include the chronically high current account deficit and also high levels of net foreign debt.

Demographics

current account deficit Most of the estimated 20.4 million Australians are descended from 19th- and 20th-century immigrants, the majority from Britain and Ireland. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I , spurred by an ambitious immigration program. In 2001, the five largest groups of the 27.4% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. Australia’s population has increased by about 60 times since European settlement. The self-declared indigenous population—including Torres Strait Islanders, who are of Melanesian descent—was 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1977 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education and life expectancies for males and females that are 17 years lower than those of other Australians. Perceived racial inequality is an ongoing political and human rights issue for Australians. human rights.]] In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country. Australia has maintained one of the most active immigration programs in the world to boost population growth. Most immigrants are skilled; the quota includes categories for family members and refugees. English is the official language, and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English. According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and all but 20 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.02%) people. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people. The Australian Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state; there is no state religion. The 2001 census identified that 68% of Australians call themselves Christian: 27% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic and 21% as Anglican. Five per cent of Australians identify themselves as followers of non-Christian religions, and 26% as non-religious. Like many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is much lower than this; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, about 7.5% of the population. School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia between the ages of 6–15 years (16 years in South Australia and Tasmania), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities, and although several private universities have been established, the majority receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians between the ages of 25 and 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications.

Culture

apprenticeship.]] The primary basis of Australian culture up until the mid-20th century was Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal music, dance and art have a palpable influence on contemporary Australian visual and performing arts. Australia has an active tradition of music, ballet and theatre; many of its performing arts companies receive public funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each capital city, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, first made prominent by the renowned diva Dame Joan Sutherland; Australian music includes classical, jazz, and many popular music genres. Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of colonial Australia, as embodied in early literature, resonates with modern Australia and its perceived emphasis on egalitarianism, mateship, and anti-authoritarianism. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is recognised as one of the great English-language writers of the 20th century. Australian English is a major variety of the language; its grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English, overlaid with a rich vernacular of unique lexical items and phrases, some of which have found their way into standard English. Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and SBS), three commercial television networks, three pay TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Australia's film industry has achieved critical and commercial successes. Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2005, Australia is in 31st position on a list of countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (9th) and the United Kingdom (28th) but ahead of the United States. This ranking is primarily due to the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia. Most Australian print media in particular is under the control of either News Corporation or John Fairfax Holdings. John Fairfax Holdings Sport is an important part of Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities; 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling and swimming. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia has hosted the 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics, and has ranked among the top five medal-takers since 2000. It has also hosted the 1938, 1962 and 1982 Commonwealth Games, and will host the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Australian rules football is one of the most popular national sports, albeit it, one that is only played in Australia; players gain some international prominence through International Rules which is an annual meeting between the Australian code and Irish Gaelic Football. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and élite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest rating television programs include the summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football competitions.

Related topics

References

Gillespie, R. (2002). Dating the first Australians. Radiocarbon 44:455-472
Smith, L. (1980), The Aboriginal Population of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra
Tatz, C. (1999). [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch/rsrch_dp/genocide.htm Genocide in Australia], AIATSIS Research Discussion Papers No 8, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Windschuttle, K. (2001). [http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/sept01/keith.htm# The Fabrication of Aboriginal History], The New Criterion Vol. 20, No. 1, September 20.
Bean, C. Ed. (1941). [http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/ww1/1/index.asp Volume I - The Story of Anzac: the first phase], First World War Official Histories 11th Edition.
Australian Electoral Commission (2000). [http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/when/referendums/1999_report/index.htm 1999 Referendum Reports and Statistics]
Parliamentary Library (1997). [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1997-98/98rn25.htm The Reserve Powers of the Governor-General]
Australian Government. (2005). [http://www.budget.gov.au/ Budget 2005-2006]
Department of the Environment and Heritage. [http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/about-biodiversity.html About Biodiversity]
Macfarlane, I. J. (1998). [http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_oct98/bu_1098_2.pdf Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century]. Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, October
Parham, D. (2002). [http://www.pc.gov.au/research/confproc/mrrag/mrrag.pdf Microeconomic reforms and the revival in Australia’s growth in productivity and living standards]. Conference of Economists, Adelaide, 1 October
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Labour Force Australia. Cat#6202
Australian Bureau of Statistics. [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/1a79e7ae231704f8ca256f720082feb9!OpenDocument Year Book Australia 2005]
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2003). Advancing the National Interest, [http://www.dfat.gov.au/ani/appendix_one.pdf Appenidix 1]
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001 Census, [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@census.nsf/ddc9b4f92657325cca256c3e000bdbaf/7dd97c937216e32fca256bbe008371f0!OpenDocument A Snapshot of Australia]
Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affiars. (2005). [http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/06evolution.htm The Evolution of Australia's Multicultural Policy]
Parliament of Australia, Senate (2005). [http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/legcon_ctte/expats03/ Inquiry into Australian Expatriates]
[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083 NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance], National Church Life Survey, Media release, 28 February 2004
Australian Film Commission. What are Australians Watching?, [http://www.afc.gov.au/gtp/freetv.html Free-to-Air, 1999-2004 TV]
Australian Bureau of Statistics, [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/68180154bf128d91ca2569d000164365?OpenDocument Population Growth - Australia’s Population Growth]

External links


- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Australia Wikitravel guide to Australia]
- [http://www.gov.au/ Australian Government Entry Portal]
- [http://www.australia.gov.au/ Commonwealth Government Online]
- [http://www.immi.gov.au/ Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)]
- [http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/australia/index.html DFAT: Country Information]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-27.000000,133.000000&spn=38.871300,61.703613&t=h&hl=en Satellite images of Australia] (Google Maps)
- [http://www.nla.gov.au/ National Library of Australia]
- [http://www.nma.gov.au/ National Museum of Australia]
- [http://www.australia.com/ Official Australia Tourism Website]
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/ Bureau of Meteorology]
- [http://www.m2006.com.au/ Official website of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games] A Category:Continents Category:Island nations Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies Category:Oceanic countries zh-min-nan:Ò-tāi-lī-a ko:오스트레일리아 ms:Australia ja:オーストラリア simple:Australia th:ประเทศออสเตรเลีย

1894

1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 7 - W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
- January 8 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois causes a good deal of damage.
- January 9 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard (Lexington, Massachusetts).
- February 15 - 04:51 GMT, French anarchist Martial Bourdin attempts to destroy the Royal Greenwich Observatory, London, England with a bomb.
- March 1 - Thomas McGreevy, Canadian politician and contractor, is released from prison after serving time for defrauding the government
- March 12 - For the first time Coca-Cola is sold in bottles.
- March 15 - Anarchist Jean Pauwels dies in a Madeline church in Paris when his bomb explodes in his pocket
- March 25 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C.
- May - outbreak of bubonic plague in the Tai Ping Shan area of Hong Kong. The disease killed a total of 2,552 people in the territory that year
- May 1 - Coxey's Army arrives in Washington D.C.
- May 11 - Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a "wildcat" (without union approval) strike in Illinois.
- May 14 - Meteor shower in Southern France
- May 14 - Blackpool Tower opened in Blackpool, Lancashire, England
- June 22 - Dahomey becomes French colony
- June 23 - International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
- June 24 - Assassination of Sadi Carnot, president of France
- July 4 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
- August 1 - Declaration of war between the Qing Empire of China and the Empire of Japan, over their rival claims of influence on their common ally, the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. The event marks the start of the first Sino-Japanese War.
- November 16 - Turkish troops kills 6000 Armenians in Kurdistan
- September 1 - Great Hinckley Fire: A forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota kills more than 400 people.
- September 4 - In New York City, 12,000 tailors strike against sweatshop working conditions.
- October 15 - Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying - Dreyfus affair begins
- 30 October - Domenico Menegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.
- November 1 - Russian Tsar Alexander III dies and is succeeded by his son Nicholas II.
- November 16 - Turks kill 16.000 Armenians in Kurdistan
- December 18 - Women in South Australia become the first in Australia to gain the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament.
- December 21 - Mackenzie Bowell becomes Canada's fifth prime minister.
- Western countries give up their extraterritorial rights in Japan
- Tower Bridge in London opened for traffic

Births

January-March


- January 1 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (d. 1974)
- January 20 - Walter Piston, American composer (d. 1976)
- January 30 - King Boris III of Bulgaria (d. 1943)
- January 31 - Isham Jones, American jazz musician (d. 1956)
- February 1 - John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
- February 8 - Ludwig Marcuse, German philosopher (d. 1971)
- February 10 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
- February 11 - Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer (d. 1974)
- February 11 - Isaac Kolthooff, chemist
- February 14 - Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
- February 28 - Ben Hecht, American playwright, and film writer (d. 1964)
- March 17 - Paul Green, novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (d. 1981)
- March 19 - Moms Mabley, American comedienne (d. 1975)

April-June


- April 10 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist, Gandhian, and educationist (d. 1983)
- April 13 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)
- April 15 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
- April 17 - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Soviet politician (d. 1971)
- April 26 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (d. 1987)
- May 11 - Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
- May 16 - Walter Yust, American encyclopædia editor (d. 1960)
- May 27 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (d. 1961)
- May 27 - Dashiell Hammett, American author (d. 1961)
- May 31 - Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
- June 5 - Roy Thomson, Canadian publisher (d. 1976)
- June 9 - Nedo Nadi, Italian fencer
- June 14 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1924)
- June 23 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)

July-September


- July 9 - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- July 18 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (d. 1940)
- July 19 - Khawaja Nazimuddin, second Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1965)
- July 26 - Aldous Huxley, English author (d. 1963)
- August 3 - Harry Heilmann, baseball player (d. 1951)
- August 28 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (d. 1981)
- September 2 - Joseph Roth, Austrian writer (d. 1939)
- September 13 - J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (d. 1984)
- September 13 - Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (d. 1953)
- September 15 - Jean Renoir, French film director (d. 1979)
- September 24 - Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (d. 1968)

October-December


- October 5 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (d. 1948)
- October 7 - Del Lord, Hollywood director (d. 1970)
- October 14 - E. E. Cummings, American poet (d. 1962)
- October 15 - Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
- October 25 - Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (d. 1954)
- November 2 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamics engineer (d. 1976)
- November 24 - Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (d. 1978)
- November 26 - Norbert Wiener, American mathematician (d. 1964)
- November 29 - Lucille Hegamin, American singer and entertainer (d. 1970)
- December 17 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
- December 20 - Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)

Unknown date


- Chaim Soutine, Russian-born painter (d. 1944)

Deaths


- January 1 - Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, German physicist (b. 1857)
- February 4 - Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone (b. 1814)
- February 6 - Maria Deraismes, French feminist (b. 1928)
- February 11 - Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera, composer
- June 3 - Karl Eduard Zachariae, German jurist and expert on Byzantine law (b. 1812)
- October 24 - Tsar Alexander III of Russia (b. 1845)
- November 20 - Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
- November 25 - Solomon Caesar Malan, Swiss-born orientalist (b. 1812)
- December 3 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author (b. 1850)
- December 9 - Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (b. 1821)
- December 12 - John Sparrow David Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)

Marriages


- January 21 - Lillian Russell & Giovanni Perugini
- May 31 - Joe Keaton & Myra Keaton
- June 7 - C. Oliver Iselin & Hope Goddard
- June 22 - Harry Houdini & Mrs. Harry Houdini
- July 9 - J.M. Barrie & Mary Ansell
- August 28 - Anna Larssen Bjørner & Jens Otto Gyntelberg Larssen
- September 11 - Richard Strauss & Pauline de Ahna
- September 13 - Decima Moore & Cecil Ainslie Walker-Leigh
- November 26 - Tsar Nicholas II & Tsarina Alexandra

Fictional events of the year

Sherlock Holmes returns to London from "The Great Hiatus". Category:1894 ko:1894년 ms:1894 simple:1894 th:พ.ศ. 2437

Metcard

The Metcard is the