Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. The capital city is Melbourne. Victoria is an area basis the smallest state on the mainland and has around 5.4 million inhabitants the second largest population. So Victoria has the highest population density of all Australian states. Victoria is bordered on the north by New South Wales and on the west by South Australia. In the south, Victoria is bordered by the Bass Strait, which separates the mainland from the Australian state of Tasmania.

Geography and Geology

Victoria has a share in four major regions: the Murray Basin in the north, the southern highlands, the Great Dividing Range on the border with New South Wales and the narrow coastal plain in the east. The Great Ocean Road with the rock formation " Twelve Apostles" ( Twelve Apostles ) runs along the south coast.

In addition to the capital city Melbourne with about 3.7 million inhabitants include Geelong ( 154 150 pe), Ballarat ( 80 330 inhabitants) and Bendigo ( 75 857 inhabitants) to the larger cities.

Climate

The climate is influenced Central European and Mediterranean. In the mountains are covered with eucalyptus forests, which can also be covered with snow in the relatively mild winter well. At Mount Buller in the Australian Alps, winter sports are possible. So here is the Kangaroo Leaps and Bounds, a cross-country skiing instead. The highest point is the mountain top of Mount Bogong with 1,986 m above sea level. The area of ​​Victoria comprises 227 420 km2.

On Phillip Iceland near the Mornington Peninsula throughout the year can be seen on little penguins ( Eudyptula minor ) in the context of a well-developed and organized visitor center, whose proceeds will be used to obtain the penguin population.

However, severe heat waves occur. So in February 2009 was the biggest heat wave since the start of weather records partly responsible for the devastating bushfires with 173 fatalities.

After Tasmania Victoria has the most rainfall. The rainfall in the south is significantly higher than in the north with a higher average rainfall in upland areas.

Population

Contrary to expectation, the population was 5,354,042 at the 2011 census, only instead of the forecast of 5,500,000.

Economy

Headquarters

Headquarters

Victoria to New South Wales, the second largest economy in the Australian states. The tertiary sector is the most important economic sector. Around a quarter of workers are employed in service companies or in public service. With the decline of the mining industry and the consequential structural change Victoria has the highest unemployment in Australia ( 2009). Today there are still around 15 % of the workforce employed in the manufacturing industry and less than 1% in mining. Major industries include the automotive industry (Ford, Toyota and Holden ), aluminum production, oil refineries and the defense industry. Center of the manufacturing industry is the capital of Melbourne, followed by Geelong. Victoria also has in the Gippsland region, the world's largest known lignite deposits. The reduction of around 66 million tonnes annually is supplied to the energy. Off the coast of crude oil and natural gas is promoted in the offshore process. In Victoria, the historic center of Australia's gold rush, today's production with a share of around 1 % of national gold production of less importance. The reclamation work in mineral raw materials are prepared by the Agency GeoScience Victoria and supervised by the state.

About 60% of the land area of Victoria is used as agricultural land. Primarily wheat and barley is grown, also tobacco and fruit. Mainly in the north and west of the state 's livestock (pigs and lambs ) are of importance.

The international airport Tullamarine Airport is located 22 km north from the city center of Melbourne.

History

Aborigines since about 40,000 years had been living in what is now Victoria, as in the 1830s the European settlement began particularly of Tasmania from. In 1835, Melbourne was founded. From 1851 Victoria was a separate British colony. Discovery of gold in 1851 at Ballarat and Bendigo triggered a gold rush and, associated with mass immigration ( Europeans and especially Chinese) from. 1901 Victoria became a member of the Commonwealth of Australia. As Queensland Victoria, after Queen Victoria, the then British monarch, named.

Policy

The state of Victoria has a parliamentary form of government based on the Westminster system. The legislature is based on the two-chamber system of the Victorian Parliament, consisting of the Governor as the official representative of the Crown, the House of Representatives (hereinafter Legislative Assembly or Lower House) and the Senate ( called the Legislative Council, or upper house ). The lower house is made up of 88 Mitglieden along with one term of four years. The upper house consists of 40 members with one term of four years together and performs similar functions as the Australian Senate. The Victorian voters send 49 elected representatives in the Australian Parliament in Canberra, 37 of the Australian House of Representatives and 12 in the Australian Senate. Victoria has a 1975 Constitution came into force, however, which is based mainly on the colonial constitution of 1855. As a legislative power, the Constitution authorizes the Victorian Parliament into law decision at the state level. The Victorian Constitution can be amended by the Victorian Parliament. Future constitutional amendments could be carried out by a referendum.

The Premier of Victoria is the head of the political party or coalition that was able to win the most seats in the House of Representatives. More than for example in Germany at the country level, the Prime Minister is considered common face or figurehead for the government and thus the state. Together with his cabinet he represents the legislative power and setting the political agenda for each legislative period (and sometimes beyond). Since the elections in Victoria in November 2010 Ted Baillieu leads a conservative- nationalist coalition government ( Liberal Party and National Party ) with scarce 45 of 88 seats in the House of Representatives.

Administrative divisions

Victoria 's 79 local administrative areas, called Local Government Areas ( LGA), as well as unincorporated areas divided 11 ( unincorporated areas).

Tourism

Popular tourist destinations in Victoria are:

• Melbourne, the city and its attractions Melbourne Museum, Crown Casino, Melbourne Zoo, Eureka Tower, Queen Victoria Market, etc.

• Balconies The Grampians National Park in the country's sparsely populated inner part of Victoria with the spectacular rock overhangs, called
• The Great Ocean Road, a 250 km long coastal road along the Victorian coast between Geelong and Warrnambool
• The historic towns along the Murray River, especially the cities of Echuca and Mildura with water sports facilities and the legendary paddle wheeler
• Surf Coast Highway with Torquay as the center of the Australian surf industry
• The Twelve Apostles, up to 60 meters high standing in the sea limestone cliffs as a spectacular highlight of the Great Ocean Road
• The Victorian Alps as an offshoot of the Australian Alps with numerous ski resorts for winter sports
• Wine regions traverse the entire state
• Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost peninsula with South Point as a point of the Australian mainland, on which the Wilson - Promotory Lighthouse is located.

Transport

Victoria has the highest population density in Australia with distributed across the state population centers. Only the north-west and the region of the Victorian Alps are much more sparsely populated. The population centers are connected by well-developed highways (motorways ). Around Melbourne is the bestausgebaute network of freeways ( toll-free motorways) throughout Australia. VicRoads, the Roads and Traffic Authority of Victoria, is responsible for transport planning, road construction, vehicle registration and driving license award. Many private companies operate in Victoria toll roads.

Rail transport in Victoria developed from the national railway system of the British colony. Nowadays, various private and public transport modes operating on state rail lines. Metro Trains Melbourne operates an extensive, electrified passenger transport system in Melbourne and its extensive suburbs. In a dense network V / Line, a state operator, connects the regional centers of Victoria. The Overland connects on a long-distance route, the metropolitan Melbourne and Adelaide. CountryLink operates the long-distance transport route Melbourne - Sydney. Pacific National, CFCLA ​​and El Zorro operate freight services. In Melbourne, Yarra Trams operates the world's largest tram network with over 249 route kilometers.

The Port of Melbourne is the largest cargo port in Australia and is located in the southwest of the city center at the mouth of the Yarra River. Additional seaports are located in Westernport, Geelong, and Portland. From the Port of Melbourne from the two ferries MS Spirit of Tasmania I and II operate the route to Devonport, Tasmania. Crossing the Bass Strait takes between ten and twelve hours.

The Melbourne Airport ( MEL) located 22 kilometers north- west of Melbourne in the suburb of Tullamarine, hence the more common name Tullamarine Airport. He has two start and runways and four terminals and is open around the clock. The Tullamarine International Airport is the entry gate to the State of Victoria by air and is one of the two hubs of Australia's largest airline Qantas Airways. For Australian low cost airlines Tiger Airways Australia and Jetstar Airways and the two cargo airlines Australian air Express and Toll Priority is the home airport. The Avalon Airport ( AVV) is the second largest commercial airport in Victoria. The airport is known above all for hosting the Australian International Airshow every other year. Other airports in the city of Melbourne Essendon Airport and Moorabbin Airport are. The following other regulated airports have departure times: Hamilton Airport, Mildura Airport, Mount Hotham Airport and Portland Airport. A further 27 small airports with irregular flight times exist in Victoria.

Supply

Energy

Most of the used electrical energy is produced in numerous lignite power plants in the region around the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland. The most common, Hazelwood Power Station produces about 1/4 of the required electrical energy in the state of Victoria. Lignite is the most important raw material in Victoria; more than 66 million tons for the production of electrical energy are degraded annually in the region around the Latrobe Valley. In the region around the Latrobe Valley are the largest known reserves of brown coal in the world.

Due to the regional physical- geographical conditions there are in Victoria one of the best wind power potential in Australia, especially along the southern coast and in the higher regions. Therefore, there are the most wind parks on the south coast and around the cities of Ballarat, Ararat and Hamilton. The total capacity of the wind farms in Victoria in 2011 was 428 MW. Currently, numerous wind farms are under construction or planning. This will generate a total output of 3,600 MW in the future.

Water

The water supply in Victoria is based primarily on a system of dams and reservoirs in the center of the state. The currently under construction seawater desalination plant in Wonthaggi in southern Victoria is scheduled for completion in late 2011. The plant is to be an integral part of water supply from Victoria and in particular of Melbourne with a capacity of 150-200 gigaliters per year after its completion. Construction of the facility is to be understood as a response to the repeated water shortages in the 2000s. However, the construction of the facility in public is still not without controversy.

Sports

The state of Victoria is known for its distinct sports culture. The capital city of Melbourne was repeatedly referred to as the sports capital of the world.

Victoria is the home of Australian rules football, also known as Aussie Rules or Footy. Only ten of the seventeen clubs of the Australian Football League are based in Victoria. The annual AFL Grand Final will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and is regarded as the world's best attended club championship event.

In Melbourne, the Summer Olympics of 1956, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games were held. Each year in January, takes place in Melbourne, the Australian Open, the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments, instead. The Australian Grand Prix is performed as a motorsport event since 1928. Since 1985 he has held a Grand Prix in the Formula 1 World Championship, and is home to the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne since 1996. In most cases, it marks the season opener of the Formula -1. In the Crown Casino in Melbourne, known as Aussie Millions Australian Poker Championship takes place. With a total prize money of $ A over seven million in 2006 it was the poker tournament with the highest total prize money in the southern hemisphere.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, one of the biggest horse racing events in the world and one of the largest sporting events in the world takes place every year in the Australian spring from October to November. Highlight is the six million A $ the Melbourne Cup represents the importance of horse racing is so great that the Melbourne Cup Day ( Austragungstag of Cups) in Melbourne and the surrounding area is an official holiday.

The Surf Coast Shire on the south coast of Victoria is considered Surfer stronghold on the Australian south coast. The coastal towns of January Luc, Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne and Torquay here form a starting point for beach and surf tourists. This particularly Torquay is famous for its surfing beaches, especially Bells Beach. In Bells Beach is used as part of the ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro held annually. From Torquay known producers of the surf industry, such as Rip Curl and Quiksilver originate worldwide. In Lorne Surf Coast Shire on the south coast of Victoria held the first weekend in January the Lorne Pier to Pub Swim instead, the largest organized ocean swim in the world with a swim of 1.2 miles and about 4,300 participants. '

Education

There are nine universities in Victoria. The oldest, the University of Melbourne, exists since 1853 and is also the second oldest university in Australia ( according to the University of Sydney ). The Monash University, the second oldest university of Victoria, is Australia's largest university with over 56,000 students enrolled. Both universities are represented in the Group of Eight, an association of eight leading Australian universities. In 2008, a total of 264,000 students were enrolled, with a share of over 30% of international students at the Universities of Victoria. A - high by German standards - accounting for one third of the students enrolled in economics courses.

• Australian Catholic University ( ACU), Melbourne, among others
• Deakin University ( DEAKIN ), Geelong, Melbourne
• La Trobe University ( LA Trobe ), Melbourne
• Monash University ( MONASH ), Melbourne and Others
• RMIT University ( RMIT ), Melbourne
• Swinburne University of Technology ( SWINBURNE ), Swinburne, among others
• University of Melbourne ( MELBOURNE ), Melbourne
• University of Ballarat ( BALLARAT ), Geelong, Ballarat
• Victoria University (VU), Melbourne

Culture

Events

The Australian International Airshow, Avalon Airshow also, is a bi -annual air show at the Avalon Airport, located between Melbourne and Geelong. It takes place since 1988 and, according to organizers the biggest air show of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The event is a mix of aerobatics presentations and the presentation of (mostly ) military aircraft.

Kitchen

Personalities

• Vanessa Amorosi, singer
• Brody Dalle, singer and guitarist
• Kimberley Davies, Actress
• Malcolm Douglas, wildlife filmmaker and crocodile expert
• Liam Hemsworth, actor
• Luke Hemsworth, actor
• Chris Hemsworth, actor
• Jack Hibberd, playwright and author
• Rupert Murdoch, media entrepreneur
• Dannii Minogue, singer and actress
• Kylie Minogue, singer and actress
• Dieter Salomon, Mayor of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau
• Peter Singer, philosopher