During this month

1837 Governor Richard Bourke visits from Sydney and names the settlement on the Yarra River, Melbourne.
1837 Robert Hoddle is appointed surveyor for the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and commences the planning of Melbourne.
1839 George Augustus Robinson becomes Chief Protector of Aborigines in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.
1840 Miss Anne Drysdale arrives from Scotland to become a sheep farmer; the town of Drysdale near Geelong is named after her.
1841 John Walpole Willis becomes the first Supreme Court judge in Port Phillip District, only to be dismissed two years later.
1845 Charles Joseph La Trobe completes two weeks exploration of South Gippsland through difficult terrain, travelling 575 miles (950 km) chiefly on horseback.
1846 Charles Joseph La Trobe lays the foundation stone of Prince’s Bridge.
1846 The Melbourne Hospital is founded with La Trobe as patron. 1848The Melbourne Hospital opens on the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale Streets.
1851 The first census of the new colony of Victoria is undertaken, revealing a total population of 77,345.
1854 Melbourne’s first Town Hall opens; it proves to be inadequate and is replaced by the present building within sixteen years.
1854 The first Australian electric telegraph line opens between Melbourne and Williamstown.
1856 The Melbourne Public Library, now the State Library Victoria, opens.