The 'Melbourne 2030' plan is the Victorian Government's blueprint for the accommodation of an additional one million people in Melbourne by the year 2030. The plan seeks to change the shape of Melbourne radically. The vision is of a compact city in which growth will be concentrated in existing commercial centres (activity centres). Notwithstanding this fundamental departure from the low density pattern of the past, it is claimed that Melbourne's famed 'liveability' will be preserved. This book explores: the intellectual origins of the plan; demographic assumptions behind the plan; the mode of implementation; the likely impact on the built environment; environmental and social consequences; heritage outcomes; and alternative planning options. It also critically examines assumptions about the projected demand for higher density housing, and argues that the plan's 'compact city' vision is unlikely to be achieved because it fails to come to grips with the economic and demographic realities facing Melbourne.

Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister from 1843-1835 and was a kind friend and guide to the young Victoria on her accession. Earlier he was married to Lady Caroline Lamb, the mistress of Byron. He played an important role in the social and political history of England.

Over two years, writer Nick Gadd and his wife Lynne circled the city of Melbourne on foot, starting at Williamstown and ending in Port Melbourne. Along the way they uncovered lost buildings, secret places and mysterious signs that told of forgotten stories and curious characters from the past. Soon after they completed the circle, Lynne passed away from cancer. Melbourne Circle is the story of their journey, a memoir, and a stunning meditation on personal loss. ‘What a gem this book is! Oddity, wonderment, weirdness: these splendid essays reveal a marvellous Melbourne most of us have never encountered before. This is a psychogeography dense with vernacular history, humane detail, and from beneath the shadow of grief, love.’ –­ Gail Jones, author of Five Bells and The Death of Noah Glass ‘‘‘Psychojogging”’ and the pleasures of walking.’ – interview with Hilary Harper on Radio National, Life Matters ‘Marvellous Melbourne: the books that capture our city and its life.’ – The Age/Sydney Morning Herald ‘Melbourne Circle: Walking, Memory and Loss is a very special book. Just read it, and then take to the streets and walk with the same spirit of enquiry.’ – Sophie Cunningham, The Age ‘A beautiful meditation on the streets in which we live, ghosts, love and loss … While there is sadness in this book, Gadd writes with warmth, humour and a generosity of spirit.’ – Stephen Romei, The Weekend Australian ‘An endearing book about enduring love and serendipitous discoveries; of remnants of the past pasted onto old buildings, and the way these ghost signs are portals into another time.’ – The Saturday Paper

A guide to the public statuary of Melbourne, based on two walks around the inner city. Many public monuments are often just accepted as part of the scene, but each statue or memorial has a story to tell whether about the sculptor, or the person or event it commemorates, and all of them represent a small piece of Melbourne history.

The author, a native Australian, covers everything you might want to know about Australia - guaranteed! The places to stay, from budget to luxury, rentals to B&Bs, the restaurants, from fast food to the highest quality, the beachwalks and bushwalks, the wildlife and how to see it, exploring the country by air, on water, by bike, and every other way. Following are a few excerpts from the guide: The gathering of landscapes within the compact state of Victoria seem as if a giant had taken different pieces from around the continent, squashed them together and shaken them up, and then tossed them to let them fall where they may. The awesome, wave-lashed coastal edges are among the state's classic sights, with crumpled pillars of orange rock stacked tall out in the water. Where the shores aren't rough, the beaches are silky and white, as soft and tame as a kitten, with cold but gentle waters. Behind this edge are thick patches of temperate rainforests leading up into drier locales, including inland deserts, an unmade bed of mountain foothills and folds, and smooth river marshes and plains. You'd never expect that much of the terrain here was once actually volcanic, resulting in wild peaks, bluffs, and valleys throughout the center. There's 227,600 sq km of land in the state, and the Great Dividing Range arches through the center of it, with major collections of peaks in the Dandenongs and Macedons. The highest summits are in the east, at 1,986-m (6,514-ft) Mt. Bogong and 1,922-m (6,304-ft) Mt. Feathertop, and snowfields are found throughout the northeastern Australian Alps from June to September. Hemming in the land are 1,800 km (1,116 mi) of coastlines along the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean, with Melbourne and Geelong fronting the central cut inland to Port Phillip Bay. This is a cool state, akin to the Pacific Northwest or the lower New England states of the U.S., with warm summers but chilling, wet winters. Some regions do dip below freezing, namely the northeastern mountains, while the Gippsland highlands in the east and the western Otway Ranges see more rain than anywhere else. Skip a couple hours south or west and you'll hit the arid Mallee region, and the Little Desert and Big Desert national park areas. Farmlands fill in the gaps, where orchards and vineyards are filled with apples, grapes, oranges, and other citrus fruits. Main crops are grains and vegetables, the fields fronting huge dairy farms or sheep and cattle ranches. Tasmania is offshore from Victoria. The name "Tasmania" is one of the world's most intriguing, and it rightfully sounds such as one of the most fascinating places on earth. And, yes, it's a heck of a journey to reach this offshore Australian state - but once you're here, if you're adventurous, you won't want to leave. Indeed, the island state of Tasmania is ripe for adventure. A heart-shaped, mountainous landmass 298 km (185 mi) southeast of the main Australian continent, it's covered with forests, threaded with rivers, and edged by wild, rugged beaches and bays. Its wilderness comprises an international Heritage Site of its own, filled with some of the world's oldest and most unusual plants, animals that are found nowhere else on earth, rock formations that span every geological era, and among the longest underground tunnels ever found. The capital of Hobart, where almost half the island's residents live, is tucked into the southeastern edge, and the sleepy northern ferry town of Devonport brings in visitors from the mainland. No one ventures far, though, which leaves the majority of the island open to exploring and free of crowds, even at the loveliest of national wonders such as Tasman National Park in the southeast, Freycinet National Park in the east, and Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in the west.

The Rough Guide to Melbourne is the ultimate travel guide with clear maps and detailed coverage of all the best attractions Melbourne has to offer. Discover Melbourne's coolest bars and the hippest Melbourne hotels to the immense changes to the fabric of the city itself. Packed with detailed, practical advice on what to see and do in Melbourne, get the lowdown on Melbourne's renowned live music and club scenes and whet your appetite for its restaurants with an insert on its eclectic multicultural cuisine for all budgets. Features include detailed coverage on the lively Melbourne city centre and dynamic outer suburbs; the cafes of Fitzroy, Prahran and South Yarra shopping, and the beaches of St Kilda to wine tasting tours of the Yarra Valley and road trips along the magnificent Great Ocean Road. You'll find authoritative background on Melbourne's history, film and books. Explore all corners of Australia's fastest growing city, with the clearest Melbourne maps, street plans, tram and train maps of any guide. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Melbourne.

For more than a decade, Melbourne has had the fastest-growing population of any Australian capital city. It is expanding outward while also growing upward through vast new high-rise developments in the inner suburbs. With an estimated 1.6 million additional homes needed by 2050, planners and policymakers need to address current and emerging issues of amenity, function, productive capacity and social cohesion today. Planning Melbourne reflects on planning since the post-war era, but focuses in particular on the past two decades and the ways that key government policies and influential individuals and groups have shaped the city during this time. The book examines past debates and policies, the choices planners have faced and the mistakes and sound decisions that have been made. Current issues are also addressed, including housing affordability, transport choices, protection of green areas and heritage and urban consolidation. If Melbourne’s identity is to be shaped as a prospering, socially integrated and environmentally sustainable city, a new approach to governance and spatial planning is needed and this book provides a call to action.