What about Melbourne, gardens abound?
Those who would like to live in a city with plenty of gardens should check out Melbourne for their future home. Melbourne was built in those delightful days when town planners believed every family should have a quarter of an acre to go with their home. This meant that as the city grew, it sprawled out more than up, and to make it even better, the subsequent suburbs were provided with tram and train services.
Thus Melbourne became known as garden city and the state of Victoria where it is found, The Garden State. This is not only due to the larger house blocks of course, but also the numerous parks, gardens and tree-lined avenues that grace the city. Melbourne once laid claim to being the world’s richest city. This was well after its humble beginnings as a small pastoral establishment on the banks of the Yarra River. Due mainly to the Victorian gold rush and immigration, Melbourne was established as Australia’s largest city between the years of 1865 and 1902. It was also the second largest city in the British Empire for most of the 1880’s.
Oddly enough Batman – not the superhero, but John Batman who subsequently returned to Tasmania before seeing to any buildings, bought the area from eight tribal elders. Before he could return, another shipload of people from the Enterprize arrived and decided to settle there. Luckily Batman agreed to share the area with them. The village that resulted was known by various names – such as Bearbrass – before Melbourne was finally settled on. This was to honour the British Prime Minister of the time, John Lamb, who was 2nd Viscount of Melbourne.