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Do you want any city to be 'primary'? As a resident of a provincial UK city I know how annoying it is when London gets all the attention and we're left with the scraps. Obviously thousands of years of London being the UK's (and at one time the world's) primary city mean that's the way it will always be
Okay look, I live in DC - as in Washington DC on the east coast of the U.S.. And I hear about SYDNEY more often than I do San Francisco - even though Sydney is on the other side of the world and smaller than either Washington DC or San Francisco. I am almost TIRED of hearing about what a great city Sydney is.
That should tell you something. ;-)
Do you work for the Australian embassy or do work with Australia? Cause then that could be the reason.
I really don't believe you. You hear more about Sydney than SF?! For some reason I really doubt that. Now if you said Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, Charlotte etc, I could believe you. San Francisco is easily one of the most talked about cities in this country and you constanly see commercials and what not that are filmed there on TV. Almost everyday I see something in relation to SF be it on the internet, TV, some at work talking about a business trip, etc.
Do you want any city to be 'primary'? As a resident of a provincial UK city I know how annoying it is when London gets all the attention and we're left with the scraps. Obviously thousands of years of London being the UK's (and at one time the world's) primary city mean that's the way it will always be
As I mentioned primary cities in places like north america and australia work differently than in Europe. They don't have the sheer dominance that london does in the UK where the country basically rises and falls with that city but there are still cities that are considered the "top city".
Nothing like a good Sydney vs Melbourne debate to stir up the emotion of Aussies!
I know right! LOL..
Are Aussies allowed to love both?
Full disclosure: I Heart MELBOURNE, I can get over the fact that its in bloody Victoria; and as for a former proud South Aussie.. thats saying a lot about Mel. I like Syd all right, but for someone with an interest in the arts and coffee, I find the NGV hard to beat and the coffee culture of Mel hard to resist.
From an international perspective, we hear more about Syd than Mel.. and thats okay by me. Most yanks can recognize the Opera House and will have a hard time knowing where Federation Square is located if shown a piccy.
Is it not like Madrid - Barcelona, Milan - Rome, Glasgow - Edinburgh, Munich - Berlin, Rio - Sao Paulo etc? Basically both important for different reasons.
In some industries, they both do the same thing, like television production.
From someone who was born and raised in Melbourne (and thinks it's the best city in Australia!), I'll give it to Sydney.. it seems to be the city that most people who don't live in Australia have heard of and it's considered more of a global city than Melbourne.
But Sydney and Melbourne are definitely far more global than Canberra any day, imo.
Do you work for the Australian embassy or do work with Australia? Cause then that could be the reason.
I really don't believe you. You hear more about Sydney than SF?! For some reason I really doubt that. Now if you said Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, Charlotte etc, I could believe you. San Francisco is easily one of the most talked about cities in this country and you constanly see commercials and what not that are filmed there on TV. Almost everyday I see something in relation to SF be it on the internet, TV, some at work talking about a business trip, etc.
Back in the 1990s, DC was in the dump and San Francisco was booming. But ever since the dotcom bust, San Francisco has become rather muted in everyday discussion. In the DC area, we don't hear about SF and other cities in particular as much in part probably because so many transplants have come to the DC area and the economy here has grown so much over the last 10 years. There seems to be more TV shows now about DC as well (especially the investigative type). So, it's all relative and changes with time.
However, Sydney somehow makes it through all that noise and gets all kinds of accolades for quality of life and vibrant economy and whatnot.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 07-11-2012 at 02:16 PM..
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer
Back in the 1990s, DC was in the dump and San Francisco was booming. But ever since the dotcom bust, San Francisco has become rather muted in everyday discussion. In the DC area, we don't hear about SF and other cities in particular as much in part probably because so many transplants have come to the DC area and the economy here has grown so much over the last 10 years. There seems to be more TV shows now about DC as well (especially the investigative type). So, it's all relative and changes with time.
However, Sydney somehow makes it through all that noise and gets all kinds of accolades for quality of life and vibrant economy and whatnot.
In Perth at least I hear more accolades about Melbourne. I think a lot of Aussies have an anti-Sydney bias. A lot of people seem to be moving over to Melbourne, not so much Sydney. But the economies of Victoria and NSW aren't growing like WA, QLD.
It is the year*2012, not 1982. We have what's called internet. People can research any city in the world with a touch of a button.
Everyone I have spoken to overseas has heard of Melbourne. India is a country of 1 billion people. It is a cricket-mad nation. Melbourne hosts Australia's most famous match, the Boxing Day test match. So there's 1 billion people right there who know Melbourne. Melbourne also hosts the Australian F1 Grand Prix. How many F1 fans are there around the world? However many there are, you can add that to the 1 billion. How many tennis fans are there around the world? Because Melbourne also hosts the Australian Open, one of four grand slams in the world. How many golf fans are there? Because Melbourne has hosted the Presidents Cup twice and had exclusive rights to Tiger Woods. How many horse racing fans are there? Because the Melbourne Cup is one of the biggest horse races in the world. How many poker fans are there? Because Melbourne hosts Australia's biggest international poker events. Do you get my point or should I continue?
My point is, no one denies that Sydney is more known internationally, but if you think Melbourne is not starting to gain prominence or is not known, then you are in denial.*
The question is, which city is the primary city in Australia? Recent research shows that Syd-Melb and Melb-Syd is the fifth busiest air route in the world. Basically, neither city can do without the other. They are so intertwined when it comes to industry, commerce and finance that they can't be divorced. For if they were divorced, there would be a national meltdown. National companies almost always have head offices in one and regional offices in the other. Melbourne has two of the biggest banks plus Australia's biggest company, BHP. Australia's biggest telco, Telstra, is also headquartered there, plus numerous others.*
Melbourne is also the epicentre of Australia's biggest domestic football league, the AFL. The AFL is what draws the biggest blockbusters, games which draw close to 100,000 people several times a year at Australia's biggest stadium. The AFL has the glamour and money that it's Sydney counterpart, the NRL, can only dream of. Grand Final week in Melbourne is awesome. The lunches, the parade, the football shows, the atmosphere on the streets, the build up, the game itself, quite simply, there is no better place in the WORLD to be in that week.*
And in case no one overseas is aware, Melbourne does have beaches Granted, they are not the best beaches, but they are swimmable in the summer months, and if you drive 3 hours out, you have one of the most famous surf beaches in the world, Bells Beach, which appeared in the Patrick Swayze movie.
People who live overseas really need to come to Australia and check out all cities. You will then see that Sydney and Melbourne are almost neck and neck, and then there's daylight, followed by the others. If it was a yacht race, Sydney would be in front but Melbourne would be coming home with a wet sail. Come to Australia and check it out for yourself.*
Whether it is a perception overseas or not, Melbourne is a force to be reckoned with in Australia. Its *population is growing faster, its metro area is bigger, its buildings are taller, its cbd is becoming bigger, it has the bigger sporting events, it is Australia's undisputed king in IT, logistics and medicine/science/research. If not for Melbourne, Australia would come to a standstill. Most of the exports that come to Australia go through Melbourne. Melbourne has the biggest distribution centres which then distributes goods to significant parts of the country.*
And because of its new conference centre, Melbourne seems to have gotten more of the international conferences in the past few years. In fact, I recently read that Melbourne hosted a science conference in which some theory was discovered, the theory apparently being the holy grail of science discoveries.*
Melbourne is also as multicultural as they come and is considered the sporting, dining, shopping and arts capital of Australia. But hey, I get the fact that it doesn't have a big bridge sitting hard up against its CBD and for that reason alot of people won't recognise it, so Sydney is better known. But who cares? Melbourne is considered more liveable and has been voted the world's most liveable city numerous times, and by more than one org.
*But despite all of this, the only stat that really matters is the international migrant intake, ie people voting with their feet, and that's where Melbourne is giving Sydney a severe spanking. That tells me that for whatever reason, more people simply prefer Melbourne.*
Come to Melbourne you overseas people and judge it for yourself. Both cities are great. One is better known, but neither is a primary city in Australia.
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Granted, they are not the best beaches, but they are swimmable in the summer months, and if you drive 3 hours out, you have one of the most famous surf beaches in the world, Bells Beach, which appeared in the Patrick Swayze movie.
