Melbourne grew from a sheep camp on Wurundjeri land in 1835 into the richest city on earth by the 1880s, funded by Victorian gold. Three days trace that arc: penal-era bluestone, Marvellous Melbourne's boom façades, and the migrant suburbs that rebuilt it after 1945.
The First Peoples exhibition covers 65,000+ years of Kulin Nation occupation of the Birrarung valley, with possum-skin cloaks, the Yalukit Willam story and the 1835 Batman 'treaty'. Museum open 9am-5pm daily, Carlton Gardens.
Birrarung Marr ('river of mists side of the river') holds the Federation Bells and a canoe scar tree, plus the Kulin seasonal markers. This bend of the Birrarung was a Wurundjeri camping and eel-fishing ground long before Batman landed.
Built 1858-62 by 19-year-old J.J. Clark to store gold hauled in from Ballarat and Bendigo. The basement bullion vaults, with original iron doors, now house the 'Built on Gold' exhibition. Open Sun-Fri 10am-4pm, Spring Street.
Founded 1854 and one of the first free public libraries in the world. The 1913 octagonal domed reading room was the largest reinforced-concrete dome on earth when built. Ned Kelly's armour is displayed in the Changing Face of Victoria gallery.
Bluestone cell blocks built 1841-64 where 133 people were hanged, including Ned Kelly on 11 November 1880. The gallows beam, death masks and Kelly's armour cast remain in situ. Open 10am-5pm daily, Russell Street.
Granite column topped with gilded '888' — eight hours labour, eight recreation, eight rest. Marks the 21 April 1856 stonemasons' walk-off from the University of Melbourne site, the first sustained eight-hour day won anywhere in the world.
Opened 1934 to commemorate Victorians who served in WWI, funded by public subscription during the Depression. At 11am on 11 November a shaft of sunlight crosses the Stone of Remembrance. Galleries of Remembrance hold 800+ objects. Open 10am-5pm.
The Yorkshire cottage of Captain James Cook's parents, built 1755 in Great Ayton, dismantled brick by brick and shipped to Melbourne in 253 cases for the 1934 centenary. Reassembled with cuttings of the original ivy.
An 1847 Italianate-Regency mansion held by the Armytage family for 95 years, sold to the National Trust in 1959 with its contents intact. The kitchen wing, laundry and servants' quarters show the labour behind a squatter fortune. Weekend tours.
Trading since 1878, the market's Sheds A-F stand over Melbourne's first burial ground, where roughly 9,000 people were interred from 1837. Around 6,500 remain beneath the car park, including John Batman. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays.
Five floors in an 1890s warehouse in the oldest continuous Chinatown in the Western world, settled from 1854 by Guangdong goldfield migrants. Holds Dai Loong, the 92-metre processional dragon, and a walk-through goldfields recreation.
Trades Hall, begun 1859 on land granted for a workers' institute, is the oldest continuously operating union building in the world. Bullet holes from the 1915 anti-conscription era mark the stairwell; the Solidarity Hall bar now trades inside.