Melbourne as "Melburnians". The city was founded on 30 August 1835, in what was the British colony of New South Wales, by free settlers from the colony of Van Diemen’s Land. It was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837 and named in honour of the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847, after which it became the capital of the new colony of Victoria in 1851. In the wake of the 1850s Victorian gold rush, the city entered the "Marvellous Melbourne" boom period, transforming into one of the most
Lady Caroline Lamb Lady Caroline Lamb Lady Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby; 13 November 1785 – 25 January 1828), known as the Honourable Caroline Ponsonby until her father succeeded to the earldom in 1793, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and novelist, best known for her work Glenarvon, a Gothic novel. She is also known for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812. Her husband was The Hon. William Lamb, who later became Viscount Melbourne and Prime Minister. However, she was never the Viscountess Melbourne because she died before Melbourne succeeded to the peerage. She was the only daughter of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough,