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Happy birthday dear Melbourne…

August 30, 2010 By James Clark 3 Comments

Melbourne Day Birthday Cake

…Happy birthday to you.

The 30th of August is Melbourne Day, and today Melbourne was 175 years old.

Although Melbourne Day is an official day, it’s not an official holiday, so it’s not celebrated with gusto. Most people don’t know about it. If you were to pick a true Melbourne Day it would probably be Melbourne Cup day. It’s the horse race that stops the nation, and we get a day off for that one.

Melbourne Day Flags and St Pauls Cathedral

There were various celebrations on around the city, and the one thing I wanted to see was the replica of the Tall Ship Enterprize. It’s not very tall, but it’s still special. This was the ship that brought European settlers on the northern bank of the Yarra River on the 30th of August, 1835.

Enterprize at Melbourne Docklands

While free admission to the Enterprize was excellent, the freebie of the day award would surely go to the Melbourne Day Coffee Cups, a useful and oh so appropriate Melbourne themed giveaway.

Melbourne Day Coffee Cups

“I’m from Batman” – What Melbourne might have been called

John Batman -  Melbourne
[John Batman – Melbourne]

Melbourne was named after the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Sometimes I wonder what might have been if Melbourne was named after one of the first European explorers to land on the Yarra river, John Batman.

Us Melburnians could have been be saying that “I’m from Batman”. We might have been known as “Batmaniacs”.

As it stands I’m happy with the name Melbourne. A few years either side and Melbourne could have been called Peel or Disraeli. “I’m from Peel” or “I’m from Disraeli” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as eloquently as Melbourne.

Filed Under: Travel Blog Tagged With: australia, coffee, festivals, holidays, melbourne, vic

Comments

  1. Christian says

    August 30, 2010 at 8:20 pm

    The world is full of crap freebies but those coffee mugs look awesome – nice design, nice colours! Happy birthday…

    Reply
  2. Andi says

    August 31, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Happy Birthday Melbs, oh how I love thee! I’m glad you were born.

    Reply
  3. sanagas says

    June 14, 2012 at 1:48 am

    I’ve actually been to 2 previous Melbourne Cups and can’t wait to visit this November. Hope to see you soon, Melbourne! 

    Reply

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

I’m currently based in Vietnam, writing about transport and infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

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