The City of Melbourne

Wood engravings and accompanying text detailing mid-19th century Melbourne.

“The effect of the gold discoveries in Australia has been strangely to chequer the fortune of the colony, and this is specially evident in Melbourne.” [Accompanying text]

This single leaf was extracted from the Nov. 24, 1855 edition of The Illustrated London News. The top third of the page is dedicated to a bird’s eye view of Melbourne, officially organized less than a decade prior. The discovery of gold in the region in the early 1850s led to a rapid population expansion, with its corresponding problems.

The accompanying text reports there are too many ‘diggers’ going after the shrinking gold deposits. It also details the ongoing construction of a ‘University of noble design’, presents a view of the Melbourne Court House, and describes ‘A Native Australian, of the Warrialda Tribe’. (Note the deliberately Europeanized appearance). The verso shows a city plan of Melbourne in 1837.