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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Melbourne is the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is Australia's second largest city in population size with 3.74 million residents. From 1901 to 1927 it was the Australian capital until the purpose built capital of Canberra was completed.

The region of Melbourne was populated by the Aboriginal Kulin nation for at least 40,000 years prior to colonial settlement. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by free settlers and the town flourished during the gold rush.^[1]