Victoria

How it all started

• Europeans first came to Victoria in the early 1800s. A small convict settlement named the Sorrento settlement was founded in 1802 but moved to Hobart soon after. The bulk of permanent European occupants arrived in the 1830s.

• In 1836 the colonial government in Sydney named the settlement the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. The area was governed from Sydney until 1851.

• The Port Phillip District had some limited representation from 1843 when the New South Wales Legislative Council (the body that advised the Governor) was increased from 30 to 36 members. Six of these men came from Port Phillip. One was from Melbourne, and five from the rest of what is now Victoria.

• Because the council met in Sydney, it took a lot of time and money for the Port Phillip District members to attend Legislative Council meetings. Also, the Legislative Council usually looked after Sydney first. People in the Port Phillip District began to call for self-government.

• Victoria became a separate colony in 1851. The first legislature was a 30 member Legislative Council which advised the Lieutenant Governor of the colony, CJ LaTrobe. All members were men and twenty of them were elected. The remaining ten were chosen by LaTrobe.

• The first Legislative Council wrote Victoria's constitution. This gave the colony responsible government and a fully elected bicameral parliament. This parliament consisted of a Legislative Council of 30 members elected by property owners, and a Legislative Assembly of 60 members elected by a wider section of the male population, including minor land-owners, rent payers and gold diggers. All men acquired the vote in 1857.

• The federation movement received strong support in Victoria. Melbourne was the most important business, financial and industrial city in Australia. With federation and the end of border duties, Victorians expected they would be able to do more business with the rest of the country. The colony was also home to the Australian Natives Association (an organisation of young men born in Australia) which was the strongest supporter of federation.

• The first Commonwealth Parliament met in Melbourne's Exhibition Building on 9 May, 1901 and then moved to Victoria's Parliament House where it continued to meet until its removal to Canberra in 1927.

About Parliament

• Victoria's Parliament has two Houses. The Upper House is the Legislative Council. The Lower House is the Legislative Assembly. There are important differences between the two Houses. The government of the day is formed in the Lower House. The Upper House is often called 'the House of Review'.

• There are currently 44 Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs), two from each of 22 electoral provinces. MLCs stay in office for two terms of the Legislative Assembly. To ensure that not all the MLCs are changed at once, they are elected on a rotational basis. This means that half the MLCs, one from each province, retire at each general election.

• Members of Victoria's Legislative Assembly are known as MLAs. One MLA is elected from each of the state's 88 electoral districts. MLAs serve a minimum of three and a maximum of four years in office unless re-elected.

• Members of both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly are elected using a preferential voting system.

• Vacancies in either house are filled by holding a by-election in the former Member's electoral district or electoral province.

• DID YOU KNOW Victoria's Parliament was the first in the world to approve the use of the secret ballot for elections? It was used to elect the first Victorian Parliament in 1856.

Who votes?

• Voting in Victorian State elections is compulsory for all citizens aged 18 years and over. Compulsory voting for the Legislative Assembly was passed in 1923 and was adopted for elections in 1927. It was adopted for Legislative Council elections in 1935.

• When 20 members were elected to the first Victorian Legislative Council in 1851, only men who owned a certain amount of land in the colony or who paid substantial rent were allowed to vote.

State Government

• The Victorian Head of State is the Queen who appoints the Governor as her representative. The Governor is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Premier. Since the Australia Act was passed by the Commonwealth Parliament and the British Parliament in 1986, there are no legal links between the Australian State Governors and the Government of England.

• The functions of the Governor fall mainly into three categories constitutional and statutory duties, formal ceremonial duties, and non-ceremonial social duties. One of the Governor's constitutional and statutory tasks is to give the Royal Assent to Bills which have been passed by both Houses of Parliament. This must be done before a Bill can become law.

• The head of the Victorian Government is the Premier. The Premier is the leader of the party or coalition of parties that can command the most votes in the Legislative Assembly.

• The Premier is assisted by a group of Ministers who make up the Cabinet. Ministers, who usually belong to the same party or coalition as the Premier, run a number of government departments, called a portfolio. Together with the Governor and the Premier, the Ministers make up the State's Executive Government.

Local Government

• Victoria has 78 local councils. Each consists of between five and twelve councillors.

• Victoria's local government bodies have the power to make laws called by-laws. They make decisions on local, town or city matters, such as street signs and traffic control; drains, footpaths; sports grounds; childcare centres, libraries; rubbish collection; animal control; building permits; and the collection of local taxes known as rates.

• Voting in local government elections is compulsory for citizens aged 18 and over. Non-residents who own or occupy property in Victoria may also vote in local government elections but it is not compulsory for them to do so.

• Councillors are elected by a preferential voting systems.

State symbols

	The Victorian Coat of Arms was granted in 1910 by King George V of England. It comprises a shield bearing a representation of the Southern Cross supported by two female figures, one holding an olive branch and the other the mythological cornucopia or 'horn of plenty'. These objects are symbols of 'peace and prosperity', which is the state motto.
	The Victorian flag was first proclaimed in February 1870. It was gazetted in 1877 and amended in 1901. It consists of the blue ensign with the State Badge display in the fly of the flag.
	The State Badge shows the Southern Cross and the St Edward's Crown. The design of the badge is changed with the style of crown chosen by the King or Queen of Australia. The last change was made in 1953, after Queen Elizabeth II chose the St Edward's Crown for her Coronation in 1952.
	Victoria's Parliament House is located in central Melbourne and is one of the city's best known landmarks. The site was chosen in 1851, and the large sandstone building was constructed between 1856 and 1893.
	The official colours of Victoria are blue and silver.
	The Common (Pink) heath was made the State Flower Emblem of Victoria in 1958.
	The Helmeted Honeyeater was made the State Bird Emblem of Victoria in 1971.
	The Leadbeater's Possum was made the State Animal Emblem of Victoria in 1971.

Fact file

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Victorian (Self-government from 1856)