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I was just wondering why western australia specifically its coast only has one major city perth, yet its eastern region/coast boasts several along with 90% of the population. Why is it that only Perth developed into a large city? Australia is an island (island-continent to be specific) is there some geographic reason its western side/coast can't sustain any other large cities?
WA never had the development that the Eastern States had. There was just very little interest in settling the state, until Gold ws found in the 1890's.
Last edited by Kangaroofarmer; 05-20-2011 at 07:52 AM..
Water, isolation and lack of future planning all play a role IMO.
Water - We lack the demand for major desalination plants yet we exceed the limit of use of natural reserves.
Isolation - We are the most isolated capital city in the world. Like rock/music bands demonstrate is it worth the extended travel just to play for one city. If it wasn't for our natural resources and our trade link to China etc, we would be a less than 100,000 city.
Lastly
Lack of Future Planning - Our city is basically 80% fuelled by the personal transportation of CARS. We have a below average Public transport system, though the government seems to be trying to fix it, my concerns are that we lack the infrastructure to flourish into a metropolis. We are spread out, and lack density. Instead of building up, we build out. Our public transport system is near its efficiency capacity IMO, and this is the main artery of any major city in the world.
Lack of jobs might have a bit to do with it too. Other than mining, what else is there? Not everyone wants a mining job with the whole FIFO thing. Most head offices are back east, other than mining companies.
Its distance from everywhere else is another factor, imo. I don't know how many times I've had people from elsewhere describe Perth as "oh, it's so far away!". That's a real turn-off for many. After having lived here myself, I feel the same way. Looking forward to being more central to the rest of the world soon.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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A quick look at any map of Australia showing geographical features should make it fairly obvious. Two thirds of the Golden State is arid, even the coast between Carnarvon and near Karratha (although Port Hedland exceeds the technical 250mm/10 inch requirement, rainfall is so concentrated and fleeting that I would class it as desert too. If not for the summer wet it would get almost no rain). The Dutch came back in the 1600s, took one look at those arid red cliffs and decided it wasn't worth the effort to settle it. No doubt it was a good decision, as they wouldn't have lasted long without local knowledge.
The French visited the Swan River estuary shortly before that old Scot Jimmy Stirling and even that was too dry/barren for them. Even after the British settled the Swan River Colony growth was slow and the colony almost went belly up before it got going. Perth's growth was slow until the Gold Rush in the 1890s; in 1890 we had something like 20,000 people, which grew to about 100,000 (vague stats from memory) by the turn of the century. By comparison Sydney and Melbourne were boasting populations of half a million by 1900 and were in the top 10 largest cities in the British Empire! The state's second renaissance came with mining later in the 20th century, upon which the wealth of the state has largely been based.
The northwest coast is very green at the moment.
Carnarvon has a few permanent puddles in low places.
All the spinifex looks deceptively like fresh soft green grass,
but having to walk through it in thongs,
I felt my ankles scratched up after the first 100 metres.
If Western Australia was it's own country, it would be one of the worlds most isolated and dry. Without mining don't know what you could do with it. And it's so vast, that God knows how many more minerals are out there in the middle of nowhere. I read once 90% of the land mass of Australia has never even been formally surveyed.
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