1.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
2.
Parliament
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In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative, elected body of government. Generally a modern parliament has three functions, representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government, historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. The term is derived from Anglo-Norman parlement, from the verb parler talk, the meaning evolved over time, originally any discussion, conversation, or negotiation, through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by the monarch. By 1400, it had come to mean in Britain specifically the British supreme legislature, various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. The Sicilian Parliament, whose first assembly was convened in 1097, the Icelandic Althing, year 930, but only including the main chiefs. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, however, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy, the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, the Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura is analogous to the parliament, however, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist, under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, the first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose, however, the Witan, along with the folkmoots, is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament. As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who rented great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy and this is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament, only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I, like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments, in 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm
3.
Neoclassical architecture
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Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form, it is a style derived from the architecture of classical antiquity, the Vitruvian principles. In form, Neoclassical architecture emphasizes the wall rather than chiaroscuro, Neoclassical architecture is still designed today, but may be labelled New Classical Architecture for contemporary buildings. In Central and Eastern Europe, the style is referred to as Classicism. Many early 19th-century neoclassical architects were influenced by the drawings and projects of Étienne-Louis Boullée, the many graphite drawings of Boullée and his students depict spare geometrical architecture that emulates the eternality of the universe. There are links between Boullées ideas and Edmund Burkes conception of the sublime, the baroque style had never truly been to the English taste. The most popular was the four-volume Vitruvius Britannicus by Colen Campbell, the book contained architectural prints of famous British buildings that had been inspired by the great architects from Vitruvius to Palladio. At first the book featured the work of Inigo Jones. Palladian architecture became well established in 18th-century Britain, at the forefront of the new school of design was the aristocratic architect earl, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, in 1729, he and William Kent, designed Chiswick House. This House was a reinterpretation of Palladios Villa Capra, but purified of 16th century elements and this severe lack of ornamentation was to be a feature of the Palladianism. In 1734 William Kent and Lord Burlington designed one of Englands finest examples of Palladian architecture with Holkham Hall in Norfolk, the main block of this house followed Palladios dictates quite closely, but Palladios low, often detached, wings of farm buildings were elevated in significance. This classicising vein was also detectable, to a degree, in the Late Baroque architecture in Paris. This shift was even visible in Rome at the redesigned façade for S, by the mid 18th century, the movement broadened to incorporate a greater range of Classical influences, including those from Ancient Greece. The shift to neoclassical architecture is conventionally dated to the 1750s, in France, the movement was propelled by a generation of French art students trained in Rome, and was influenced by the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. The style was adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden. A second neoclassic wave, more severe, more studied and more consciously archaeological, is associated with the height of the Napoleonic Empire, in France, the first phase of neoclassicism was expressed in the Louis XVI style, and the second in the styles called Directoire or Empire. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron created palatial Italianate interiors for the German-born Catherine II the Great in St. Petersburg, indoors, neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum. These had begun in the late 1740s, but only achieved an audience in the 1760s
4.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
5.
Spring Street, Melbourne
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Spring Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. It runs roughly north-south and is the easternmost street in the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, Spring Street is famous as the traditional seat of the Government of Victoria, as well as being central to many of the states major cultural institutions. The streets name is used as a metonym to refer to the states bureaucracy. Spring Street is also notable for its impressive Victorian architecture, including Melbourne Parliament House, the Old Treasury Building, the Windsor Hotel, the street is thought to be named for Baron Thomas Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne. An alternate theory is that the name is due to the wattle trees in full bloom during Richard Bourkes visit. The street runs from Flinders Street in the south to Victoria Street, nicholson Street begins as an offshoot of Spring Street slightly south to its intersection with Lonsdale Street. Spring Street has a number of notable buildings and important gardens. The buildings floor plates are in the shape of a shell as it was the Australian Head Office of Royal Dutch Shell, Spring Street forms the western border of the Treasury Gardens. Gordon Reserve, a triangle of parkland featuring heritage listed statues, is also located on Spring Street. Another small Chinese garden, known as the Tianjin Garden, is located at the northern end of Spring Street. It is a symbol of Melbournes close friendship with its city, Tianjin. A number of tram routes run along Spring Street for all or part of its length, including the City Circle Tram, route 48 and route 96. Parliament railway station, connecting to most suburban Melbourne train lines as part of the underground City Loop, lies directly beneath and parallel to Spring Street
6.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
7.
Government of Victoria
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The Government of Victoria, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Victoria. The Government of Victoria, a constitutional monarchy, was formed in 1851 as prescribed in its Constitution. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, Victoria has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, under the Australian Constitution, Victoria ceded legislative and judicial supremacy to the Commonwealth, but retained powers in all matters not in conflict with the Commonwealth. Victoria is governed according to the principles of the Westminster system, Executive power rests formally with the Executive Council, which consists of the Governor and senior ministers. Victorias public service has a reputation as one of the best in Australia, Victorian Ministry List of Victorian government agencies Local government areas of Victoria Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Government of Victoria website
8.
Knight & Kerr
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Knight & Kerr was a business partnership established in the 1850s between John George Knight and Peter Kerr. They were architects appointed with the responsibility for the design of noted public buildings in Melbourne, Australia, John Knight and Peter Kerr were also both members of The Royal British Institute of Architects. John George Knight was born in London in 1826 and he studied as an architect but worked for and was trained by his father, engineer John Knight. Peter Kerr, born in Aberdeen in 1820, worked with architects such as Sir Charles Barry, known for his work on the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Knight and Kerr both migrated to Australia in 1852, Knight first worked in the Public Works Department and soon after, along with Kerr, joined Thomas Kemp’s private practice until 1855, when Kemp returned to England. However, Knight & Kerr still continued their relationship as partners and continued to design buildings such as Parliament House, D’Estaville. The partnership was continued until around 1860 where Knight ventured out of architecture, Knight took part in assisting the Victorian Exhibition in 1861 until 1866 where he became secretary for the Victorian division. In between, around 1865, Knight was selected as a lecturer in engineering at the University of Melbourne before migrating to the goldfields in the Northern Territory in the 1870s. From there he worked his way up from Chief Warden of the Goldfields, to Stipendiary Magistrate and he died there two years after. Peter Kerr continued with the design of buildings in Melbourne, such as the Law Courts, Government House, Post Office. Shortly before his death in South Melbourne in 1912, Kerr also designed the extension of buildings, Queens Hall. Parliament House is one of Melbourne’s best-known buildings of public importance. It served as Australia’s Federal until the early 20th Century before the construction of the Temporary Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, Parliament House is a Classical Roman Revival construction in the Doric order and references a Roman Forum emulated through its placement upon a stepped pedestal. Colonial Engineer, Charles Pasley, was responsible for the building of Parliament House. However, in 1856, the task was reassigned to two architects in his office, Peter Kerr and John George Knight, construction of the Library was completed in 1860. This sandstone erection connected the two buildings in a ‘U’ shape, with the Library at the rear of the composition facing St Patrick’s Cathedral. Further construction works were halted until 1876, when a Parliamentary Select Committee decided to work on the building. The last built component of Parliament house was completed in 1888, in 1859 Knight and Kerr were contracted to build the DEstaville homestead for Sir William Stawell, Victoria’s first Attorney General and later Chief Justice of the Colony
9.
John George Knight
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John George Knight, was an architect and Administrator of the Northern Territory, Australia. Knight was born in London the son of John Knight, a stone, Knight became an engineer and for a time was superintendent of works for his father. He arrived in Melbourne, Australia in February 1852 and after a week on the goldfields, although earning a large salary, Knight did not stay long in the public service. On resigning he began to practise as an architect in partnership with a Mr Kemp, a third partner, Peter Kerr, was added to the firm, but Kemp soon afterwards returned to England. The original design of Parliament House, Melbourne was entrusted to Knight and Kerr, Knight was the senior partner and there seems to have been a tradition that the design was really his. Thirty-five years later the writer of Knights obituary notice in the South Australian Register who appeared to speak with knowledge said, is a monument to Mr Knights artistic genius and his cleverness in planning its construction. Peter Kerr was then appointed architect and prepared a new design for the west facade, Knight ceased practising as an architect in or about the year 1860, and in 1861 organized an exhibition held in Melbourne of the Victorian exhibits for the London exhibition of 1862. Knight took these exhibits to London and arranged them most successfully, in 1866 he again arranged an exhibition in Melbourne of articles from Victoria which were sent to Paris for the exhibition of 1867, with Knight as secretary of the Victorian section. About this period he was appointed a lecturer in civil engineering at the University of Melbourne. In 1873 Knight entered the service of the South Australian government and became secretary, accountant, architect and he was subsequently chief warden of the goldfields, and filled a variety of other positions before becoming stipendiary magistrate, and finally in July 1890, government resident at Palmerston. Knight died in bed at the residence on Sunday evening,10 January 1892, of a severe asthma attack, following a long illness of bronchitis. Knight was survived by three sons, two married daughters and his wife, who was living in London. He was a man of much geniality of temper and great ability, with a special talent for organizing. To a friend who could not understand how a man of his ability could allow himself to be buried so long in a place like Palmerston, Knight replied that he liked the climate and enjoyed the life there. He appears to have not merely a magistrate and administrator, but an arbitrator in all disputes. Nightcliff Media related to John George Knight at Wikimedia Commons Serle, Percival
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