OVER A MILLION

Hokitika Guardian, 10 December 1928, Page 2

OVER A MILLION

MODERN SUPER-CITIES. AUSTRALIA NOW HAS TWO. Melbourne to-day lias a population of at least 1,000,000 persons according to the calculations of the Victorian Govermnent Statist (Mr A. M. Laughton). The estimate is based upon the annual increase off approximately 30,000, which has been shown in the last few years. Mr Laughton anticipated that 1,000000 would lie reached at the end of October The ofiicial census covers all persons living within a radius of ten miles from Elizabeth Street Post Office. The suburban area prescribed hv the Victorian Railway Commissioners has a radius of 20 miles from the post office, and at the end of last year the population within that area was 1,038,885. The boundaries of Greater Melbourne however are very irregular for the city has expanded unequally, and there are many acres of ifarm and market garden properties in the larger city area. The first official recognition that there are more than 1,000,000 persons in the smaller radius is likely to be an adjustment of the boundary line next year. This will bring several suburbs into the metropolitan area, and the population will bo increased by at least 15,000.

FIRST SETTLERS. There is all the glamour of romantic achievement in the survey of Melbourne’s astonishing progress. It is hardly possible to contemplate the population figures Vi thout envisaging the men and women who have played a part in the founding and building of the city. The story of Melbourne, from the primitive huts and rough tracks of the pioneers to the lofty structures, beautiful streets and splendid suburbs of to-day, is comparateively short as the lives of cities go. Probably because Australia is a young country, the young generation is apt to overlook the fact that most of the great cities among which Melbourne is group ed were old cities when there was no trace (or even thought) of settlement upon the banks of the V arra. Melbourne actually began on Tuesday September 1, 1835, when a paity fiom the schooner Eenterprise, which had been brought up tlie.Yarra to about the position of the present Custom House formed their camp and erected the first building on ' the site of Melbourne. John Lancey was in charge of the ex-

pedition, and with him were William Jackson, George Evans, Robert May Marr, and some of their servants. About a fortnight after they had landsome of Batman’s party, including his brother, Henry Batman, came up from the depot at lndepter Head to join them, and in October John Pascoe Fawkner arrived and proceeded to erct an inn house or accommodation. John Batman did not take up his residence at the settlement until April 1836. The site he chose for his dwelling was on the slopes of “Batman’s Hill,” near the river, where now stand thee Spencer Street Railway good sheds. When Mr George Stewart, the police magistrate sent by the Governor of New South Wales (Sir Richard Bourke) from Sydney to report on the new venture, arrived in May, 1836, there were 13 buildings, mostly turf huts grouped together on the banks of the Yarra. CENSUS OF 1836. Air Stewart arrived in the revenue cutter Prince George, and one of his first tasks was to “make a enumeration” of the people. On May 25th, IS--36, it was found that band of first arrivals consisted of 112 males and 35 females, comprising 177 residents of European origin. According to the Victorian Year Book, this was the first official census of what was then known as Port Phillip. The sutlers came from New South Wales and Tasmania. The second census was taken on November 8 of the same year, by order of Captain Lonsdale, who had been appointed police magistrate with instructions to take general charge of the district. On October 5 the brig Stirlingshire had arrived with the remainder of the Government establishment, consisting of a detachment of Captain Lonsdale’s regiment, a principal officer of Customs three surveyors, an officer in charge ol commissariat stores, a small number of Crown prisoners lor public service, and three constables. The November census,gave an increase of 47 persons. Two years later another census showed that the population had grown to 3511. At the end of 1840 it was estimated that there wore 10,291 persons in the Port Phillip district. During each off the years 1840 and 1841 the population was doubled, owing principally to the number of assisted immigrants who arrived. By the end of 1850 the population was 76,162. GOLD SEEKERS OF THE ’FIFTIES. The discovery of gold in 1851 (in which year also separation from New South Wales was achieved) was the greatest factor in populating Victoria.

The discoveries drew thousands of gold seekers from New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania, and later the numbers were swelled by the rush from overseas. The gold discovery changed the whole outlook for .Melbourne. The old Port Phillip phase ended, and the calm pastoral life was changed. The progress of Victoria, which is almost unparalleled in the history of the colonisation of any country, is reflected in the official figures. At the end of 1857 the population numbered 163,135 or more than six times that of 1850. Since those exciting days the population has grown with remarkable rapidity although it has retarded from time to time. The collapse of the “boom” period affected the population considerably, and the discovery of gold in Western Australia drew many Victorians. Thwe has always been rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney m regard to population. Sydney proper has the larger population, although at one time there were more people in .Melbourne. Even to-day one reference book published in London states that Melbourne is “the most populous city in Australia” hut partly atones if or this grave misstatement by mentioning that Sydney is “the principal seaport of Australia” The first population returns showing that Sydney had machcd 1.000,090 were furnished at the end ol 1914, when the population was given as 1,000,500. Sydney authorities state that the population is not based upon a radius of 10 miles, ns is done in Melbourne, but is calculated on the old city boundaries which include several populous suburbs. According to a lending British Year Book, Sydney ranks sixteenth and Melbourne twenty-fifth in a list of the 60 largest cities in the world, although the latest figures available for Sydney are those of 1926 and lor Melbourne of 1925, London (or Greater Lomlnnl with 7,476,168 inhabitants, is the largest city in the world. New York is the second largest with 6,103,384 persons, and Berlin with 4,000,000 is third. Bombay (1,172,953) is' sixteenth, Sydney (1.100,000) is nineteenth, Glasgow (1,034,069) twentieth, and Melbourne (912,130 persons in 19251 is twentyfilth. Although there is no reliable modern comparison of the size of the cities off the British Empire, it is claim cd that Sydney and Glasgow arc almost equal for second place, and Melbourne cannot Ik? far behind.