Portal:Victoria

The VICTORIA PORTAL Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology V/Line A class, and Pacific National XR class diesel locomotives. Rail transport in Victoria, Australia, is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government owned railway lines. Victorian lines use 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge, with the exception of a number of standard gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) freight and interstate lines, a few experimental 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge lines, and various private logging, mining and industrial railways. Railways were privately owned and operated, until the State Government established the vertically integrated Victorian Railways in 1883. This remained until corporatisation occurred in the 1980s, followed by privatisation in the 1990s. Passenger services today are operated by Connex Melbourne in suburban Melbourne with electric multiple units, and V/Line in regional Victoria with diesel trains. Freight services are operated by Pacific National and other private operators such as El Zorro, Specialised Container Transport and QRNational. The rail network radiates from the state capital, Melbourne, with two main interstate links to Sydney and Adelaide, as well as major lines running to regional centres, upgraded as part of the Regional Fast Rail project. The rail network reached a peak in 1942 but steadily declined, as branch and cross country lines were closed up to the 1980s. The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale Streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 1.5 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook. Wilfrid Kent Hughes Sir Wilfrid Selwyn Kent Hughes KBE, MVO, MC (12 June 1895 – 31 July 1970) was an Australian soldier, Olympian and Olympic Games organiser, author and federal and state government minister. Kent Hughes was born in Melbourne to an upper middle-class family. He was set to attend the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship when he enlisted in the army on the outbreak of World War I. After his discharge from the army, Kent Hughes attended Oxford and represented Australia in athletics as a hurdler at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. Upon the completion of his degree at Oxford, Kent Hughes returned to Australia, seeking a career in politics. Elected to the Victorian state parliament in 1927, Kent Hughes sat with the conservative Nationalist Party of Australia, rising to the position of Deputy Premier of Victoria. Kent Hughes proved to be a controversial figure in politics, and was never afraid to publicly espouse his personal beliefs, such as an admiration for fascism, of which he had a poor understanding. ...that the locality of Boinka, Victoria, (pictured) which has area population of 28 people, celebrates Melbourne Cup Day each year despite being located 496 kilometres from Melbourne? ...that although Paul MacGillivray's main interest was natural history, he was also the president of the Medical Society of Victoria and a member of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria? ... that the Rural City of Marong, a local government in Victoria, voted itself out of existence in 1994 after the Kennett Liberal government introduced legislation designed to void a Supreme Court injunction preventing its amalgamation? ...that the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in Victoria features a collection of busts of all 25 predecessors of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd? edit Template:/box-header Queensland Northern Territory Western Australia South Australia New South Wales Victoria Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Visit Australia Portal What are portals? List of portals Featured portals