This is one state in Australia whose antecedents don't go back to convicts and their gaolers. Instead, the founding fathers of this new territory were gentlemen - diehard monarchists who paid tribute to their reigning monarch by naming it Victoria. The Henty family, a European family from Tasmania, first settled Victoria.  Major Mitchell, the explorer who travelled through Victoria from New South Wales named it Australia Felix or Australia Fair. With reason, Victoria has places of outstanding natural beauty. Australia’s smallest state, Victoria is archetypal of the diverse topography of the parent country encompassing natural wonders like rainforests, rugged mountains, high country plains, semi-arid desert and a dramatic and often bizarre coastline.