City history
From traditional Naarm to standard time adoption in 1895 and famous landmark clocks, Melbourne's history reflects a rich story of geography, trade, and precision timekeeping.
Chapter one
Indigenous name
"Place / The Bay"
Naarm (also spelled Narrm) is the traditional Kulin Nation name for the area encompassing the Melbourne central business district and Port Phillip Bay, home to the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung peoples for tens of thousands of years.
Place / The Bay
Traditional name in Kulin languages for the Melbourne CBD area and surrounding Port Phillip Bay.
Derived from local Aboriginal terms
An early informal name used by European settlers, likely adapted from Indigenous place names in the region.
Town of John Batman
A colloquial nickname derived from Tasmanian squatter John Batman, who established an unauthorized settlement in 1835.
Named after William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
Officially named in March 1837 by New South Wales Governor Sir Richard Bourke in honor of the British Prime Minister.
Chapter two
On February 1, 1895, Victoria enacted standard time based on the 150th meridian east of Greenwich (UTC+10), replacing individual local mean solar time calculations across the colony.
Victoria observed daylight saving time for the first time during World War I as part of a national effort to conserve fuel and energy.
Daylight saving time was reintroduced across Australia during World War II under Commonwealth defense powers from 1942 to 1944.
Victoria reintroduced annual daylight saving time for the 1971–1972 summer season, establishing Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT, UTC+11) during warmer months.
Southeastern Australian jurisdictions synchronized their daylight saving schedule to run from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April.
Chapter three
A bluestone tower was constructed at Point Gellibrand in Williamstown, serving from 1861 as a daily 1:00 PM timeball signal for maritime chronometers in Hobson Bay.
The Melbourne Observatory was established in Kings Domain to conduct astronomical observations and supply Victoria with accurate daily time signals via telegraph.
The completion of the Flinders Street Railway Station building prominently featured an array of train departure clocks above the entrance, giving rise to the famous phrase 'Meet me under the clocks.'
Australia introduced the automated telephonic speaking clock service, allowing Melburnians to obtain precise standard time over the phone by dialing Tim.