Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and largest city of the state of Victoria, and the second largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of 3.8 million in the Melbourne metropolitan area (June 2004) and 69,670 in the City of Melbourne (which covers only the central city area). The city's name is pronounced as either {{IPA|/?mel.b?n/}} or {{IPA|/?mæl.b?n/}}. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "we gather strength as we go". Melbourne was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927.

Sister cities

Melbourne has a number of sister cities. They are:

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• Osaka, Japan - 1978
• Tianjin, People's Republic of China - 1980
• Thessaloniki, Greece - 1984
• Boston, United States - 1985
• Saint Petersburg, Russia - 1989
• Milan, Italy - 2004
• Galle, Sri Lanka - 2005 (after the 2004 tsunami disaster Melbourne adopted Galle in order to fund the reconstruction of its cricket ground)