Victoria (Australia) Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to become members of the Victorian Parliament. The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Māori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War. In 1901, Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne had by then become the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between
Coat of arms of Victoria (Australia) Coat of arms of Victoria (Australia) The Coat of Arms of Victoria is the official symbol of the Australian state of Victoria. Victoria was the second state of Australia to gain arms, granted on 6 June 1910 by royal warrant of King George V. The state had been named in 1851 after his grandmother, who was Queen at the time. Following the adoption of the pink heath ("Epacris impressa" Labill.) as Victoria's floral emblem, Queen Elizabeth II signed a royal warrant on 28 March 1974 adding a Compartment from which the heath could grow. Although the rest of the arms