Melbourne, Australia 2024

For 10 years, from 1851, Melbourne’s population boomed from 77,000 to 540,000 due to its gold rush which was second in size only to California’s.

The Yarra River is one of Victoria’s iconic waterways.

Melbourne’s main Central Business District is a grid, parallel to the Yarra River with the main streets being a wide 99 feet each. The small connecting streets, called little streets were used for supplies and servicing. Now they make for extremely cute alleyways and arcades full of exciting places to eat, drink and shop.

The Block Arcade is one of the most famous and where the fancy ladies of a bygone era shopped regularly.

Huge, elegant banks were built to attract that wealth, but many went broke in 1893 due a major banking crisis.

Flinders Street Station is Australia’s oldest train station. Still it is has over 1,500 trains and 110,000 commuters passing through daily.

Hitching posts were commonplace during the19th and early 20th centuries.