Melbourne. Geography and Demographics

1. Melbourne

Geography and
Demographics

2. Introduction

Melbourne is the capital and most
populous city of the Australian
state of Victoria, and the second
most populous city in Australia and
Oceania. Its name refers to an
urban agglomeration of 9,993 km2
(3,858 sq mi), comprising a
metropolitan
area
with
31
municipalities, and is also the
common name for its city centre.
The city occupies much of the
coastline of Port Phillip bay and
spreads into the hinterlands
towards the Dandenong and
Macedon ranges, Mornington
Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a
population of 5 million (19% of the
population of Australia), and its
inhabitants are referred to as
"Melburnians".

3. Geography of Melbourne

Melbourne is in the southeastern part of mainland Australia, within the
state of Victoria. 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. The southeastern suburbs
are situated on the Selwyn fault which transects Mount Martha and
Cranbourne.
Melbourne extends along the Yarra River towards the Yarra Valley and the
Dandenong Ranges to the east. It extends northward through the
undulating bushland valleys of the Yarra's tributaries—Moonee Ponds
Creek (toward Tullamarine Airport), Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and
Plenty River—to the outer suburban growth corridors of Craigieburn and
Whittlesea.

4.

Yarra River

5.

Dandenong Ranges

6. Geography of Melbourne

The city reaches southeast through Dandenong to the growth corridor of
Pakenham towards West Gippsland, and southward through the Dandenong
Creek valley and the city of Frankston. In the west, it extends along the
Maribyrnong River and its tributaries north towards Sunbury and the
foothills of the Macedon Ranges, and along the flat volcanic plain country
towards Melton in the west, Werribee at the foothills of the You Yangs
granite ridge south west of the CBD. The Little River, and the township of
the same name, marks the border between Melbourne and neighbouring
Geelong city.
Melbourne's major bayside beaches are in the various suburbs along the
shores of Port Phillip Bay, in areas like Port Melbourne, Albert Park, St
Kilda, Elwood, Brighton, Sandringham, Mentone, Frankston, Altona,
Williamstown and Werribee South. The nearest surf beaches are 85
kilometres (53 mi) southeast of the Melbourne CBD in the back-beaches of
Rye, Sorrento and Portsea.

7. Map of Melbourne

8. Demographics of Melbourne

In 2018, the population of the Melbourne metropolitan area was 4,963,349.[190]
Although Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the population of the Melbourne
statistical division has grown by about 70,000 people a year since 2005. Melbourne has now
attracted the largest proportion of international overseas immigrants (48,000) finding it
outpacing Sydney's international migrant intake on percentage, along with having strong
interstate migration from Sydney and other capitals due to more affordable housing and cost of
living.
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 could
overtake Sydney in population by 2028. The ABS has projected in two scenarios that Sydney
will remain larger than Melbourne beyond 2056, albeit by a margin of less than 3% compared
to a margin of 12% today. Melbourne's population could overtake that of Sydney by 2037 or
2039, according to the first scenario projected by the ABS, primarily due to greater internal
migration losses assumed for Sydney. Another study claims that Melbourne will surpass
Sydney in population by 2040.

9.

0.5% of the population, or 24,062 people, identified as Indigenous Australians
(Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.
Melbourne has the 10th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan
areas. In Greater Melbourne at the 2016 census, 63.3% of residents were born in
Australia. The other most common countries of birth were India (3.6%), Mainland
China (3.5%), England (3%), Vietnam (1.8%) and New Zealand (1.8%).

10. Language

As of the 2016 census,
62% of Melburnians speak
only English at home.
Mandarin (4.1%), Greek
(2.4%), Italian (2.3%),
Vietnamese (2.3%), and
Cantonese (1.7%) are the
most common foreign
languages spoken at home
by residents of
Melbourne.

11. Religion

Melbourne has a wide range of
religious faiths, the most
widely held of which is
Christianity. This is signified
by the city's two large
cathedrals—St Patrick's
(Roman Catholic), and St
Paul's (Anglican). Both were
built in the Victorian era and
are of considerable heritage
significance as major
landmarks of the city. In recent
years, Greater Melbourne's
irreligious community has
grown to be one of the largest
in Australia.

12. Religion

Over
180,000 Muslims
live in Melbourne.
Muslim religious life in
Melbourne is centred on
more than 25 mosques
and a large number of
prayer rooms at
university campuses,
Australian Muslims Celebrate 50 Years of
workplaces and other Melbourne Mosque with Adhan
venues

13. Religion

As of 2000, Melbourne had the
largest population of Polish
Jews in Australia. The city was
also home to the largest
number of Holocaust survivors
of any Australian city, indeed
the highest per capita outside
Israel itself.
Reflecting this vibrant
community, Melbourne has a
plethora of Jewish cultural,
religious and educational
institutions, including over 40
synagogues and 7 full-time
parochial day schools,along
with a local Jewish newspaper.