Melbourne is home to Australia's three largest corporations, Telstra, BHP Billiton and the National Australia Bank. It is also home to the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the majority of companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Melbourne is also home to some of Australia's biggest sports events including: the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival (including the 'race that stops the nation', the Melbourne Cup), the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Open and the AFL Grand Final. Melbourne hosted the first Olympic Games in the southern hemisphere in 1956, as well as the recent 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne has twice shared top position in a survey by The Economist of The World's Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions such as crime rates and health care, once in 2002 ^[2], and again in 2004. The US's Utne Reader puts it thus: "Add a long tradition of civic pride, communities of new immigrants from around the world, and the best food in Australia, and you have a recipe for what many claim is the hippest city in the Southern Hemisphere" (Nov/Dec 2001).

Melbourne has undergone a major urban 'revival', such that it is sometimes classed as being in a second tier of "world cities"; the GaWC study group in the UK ranks Melbourne, on the basis of relative availability of specialised "advanced services," as a minor (or Gamma) "world city" comparable with cities such as Montreal, Osaka, and Prague. It has one of the highest numbers of international students studying in its universities, after London, New York City, and Paris.

A resident of Melbourne is referred to as a Melburnian.

Melbourne is often referred to as Australia's garden city, and the state of Victoria is officially known as 'the garden state'. There is an abundance of parks and gardens close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways, and tree lined avenues. There are also many parks in the surrounding suburbs of Melbourne, such as in the cities of Stonnington and Booroondara, south east of the CBD.

Melbourne attracts large numbers of tourists. The city's tourism information centre is located at Federation Square. The Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne has many attractions including Captain Cook's Cottage. Along St Kilda Road there are many cultural attractions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Shrine of Remembrance, King's Domain and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the Arts Centre, and Victoria Barracks. Southbank on the southern bank of the Yarra River attracts locals and tourists alike for its mix of dining, shopping and recreational facilities. The Crown Casino entertainment complex can also be found in the Southbank precinct. North of the Central Business District is home the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, the University precinct, Royal Melbourne Zoo, and Melbourne General Cemetary.

There are many tall buildings in Melbourne that include Eureka Tower (300m above street level) and the Rialto Towers (251m above street level). Both buildings feature observation decks and facilities for hosting tourists.

Melbourne hosts a large number of spectator sports. Melbourne's best-known sporting events are the Australian F1 Grand Prix, numerous international Cricket matches, the Australian Football League Grand Final and the Spring Racing Carnival which culminates with the running of the Melbourne Cup horse race at Flemington. Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne's restaurants are numerous, and are generally of high quality and good value. Some of the best restaurants can be found in St Kilda along Fitzroy Street, South Yarra along Chapel Street, Fitzroy along Brunswick Street, Carlton along Lygon St, South Melbourne along Clarendon St, Richmond along Bridge Rd and Victoria St and Collingwood along Smith Street, as well as in the CBD and Southbank precincts. As one would expect from a city its size, Melbourne has a wide variety of pubs, bars and nightclubs, which can be found all over the metropolitan area.

There is a variety of interesting things to see outside Melbourne proper but still within a day trip of Melbourne. Some of the most popular include: Phillip Island (for Little Penguins, time-trial bike racing and rock festivals), the Great Ocean Road (famous for the Twelve Apostles rock formations and whale-watching at Warrnambool), Sovereign Hill (an open air museum recreating life during the Victorian goldrush) and Hanging Rock (an atmospheric volcanic formation, made famous by the book and film, Picnic at Hanging Rock). Melbourne is also surrounded by wine-producing regions, including the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, and the Macedon area.

Source: Wikipedia