Australia and the World Past and Present

One of my favorite descriptions of the difference between Australian cities comes from Donald Horne’s ‘The Lucky Country’.

It was first published in 1964 so it is somewhat dated. However there remains kernels of truth in what he wrote. Horne himself notes that these descriptions are also a bit of fun and that Australians shouldn’t take too much offense at these portraits.

He writes “Sydney dreams of surfing, fishing, sailing, swimming in calm bays, laying stretched out in the sun, absorbing heat into the marrow”. Indeed the climate in Sydney is amenable to these outdoor activities. The city is described as not being not particularly interested in an upper-class ‘Society’. Being the first and the most populous city, Sydney has the confidence of an older brother. It doesn’t feel that it needs to compete with the other capital cities.

In Melbourne “people are said to be milder, less aggressive than in Sydney; they are also said to be more cliquish and group-conformist”. Melbourne is my home city. I’m not sure what to make of the assertion about cliquishness. Maybe it is. Maybe its not. Sydneysiders do seem more brash and outgoing. There may be a certain reserve in Melbourne. Melbournians often say that there is more ‘culture’ than in Sydney. Is it the climate again? Does the colder and wetter weather drive us indoors and stir our creative imaginations? Horne notes that Melbourne is the center of Australian commerce.

Now to Brisbane and my favourite line “Brisbane…is a city with its jacket off and its sleeves rolled up.” I still get this feeling whenever I arrive in Brissie. It is a city of tropical heat. A city of Jacaranda trees. Beer flows freely. National companies may be represented here but few have their head office here.

Now to Adelaide. “a gracious city of wide boulevards, grass squares and colonial buildings’ and without the “convict strain”. It is a point of pride among those from Adelaide that it wasn’t established as a convict outpost like some of the other cities. Said in a joking way, but people from outside Adelaide may detect a little unconscious smugness. It is a truly beautiful city. Rather isolated, quaint. A nice place to find a good work-life balance. A fine place to raise a family. Those looking for greater opportunities for the career will move to bigger cities. Adelaide is a place that you can park your can on the beach and have a picnic from the boot of your car.

Perth. “Perth is relaxed, hospitable, a world of fishing, backyard beer parties and nice gardens”. Perth stands like a sentinel on the Indian Ocean. The rest of the world seems far away as does the rest of Australia for that matter. “In Adelaide they distrust the ‘East’ but Perth distrusts Adelaide, too.” There is a grain of truth to this. It may surprise those in other countries (and many east coasters too), but WA didn’t want to join the other states in federating in 1901. Every few years there is talk in WA charting its own course as a separate country. Certainly the state of Western Australia is many times larger than many countries around the world. Few in people but well-endowed in minerals. Many West Australians hate that much of their mineral wealth is redistributed to other states. There forever believe that the rest of the country either doesn’t understand them or isn’t interested in them, or both.

Horne writes of Hobart “Hobart started life on the frontier and then went to sleep.” It seems a little unfair to Hobart. A little. An early convict settlement. Buffeted by Antarctic winds. The people are hardy and quiet. Hobart has witnessed a revival in recent times. Mainlanders are making a sea change or tree change and are breathing new life into Hobart. Some are climate change migrants seeking refuge from the hotter parts of Australia. Hobart is a city of gambling savants, art museums and a gourmet foodies paradise.

Canberra is the artificial city. Government departments pretending to be a metropolis. People often talk about the ‘Canberra bubble’. It only exists as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne because they wouldn’t let the other one have the national parliament. So now we have our national parliament in the coldest plain in Australia, nestled among the sheep and kangaroos. Canberrans are highly-educated and socially left of your left hand. Many Canberrans are government employees, highly-paid and feel justified in running the country. Some are intolerant and impatient with the views of the fellow Australians outside of the bubble.

Horne’s Darwin is “a gambling, drinking town of pearl buyers, trepang fishermen and crocodile hunters, sprawling in the heat beside the Arafura Sea. In 1942 Japanese bombers blew most of it away and some of its people looted what was left and drove off towards the desert. Now it is a city of neat houses on stilts”. Darwin is tropical – more than any other city. Its proximity to Asia has influenced its history. It is a city of extremes. A city of occasional cyclones. A city of shorts and shirts that stick to your back from sweat. Unlike many of the other cities there is distinct wet and dry season here. I feel sorry for the people of Darwin. It is the one place in Australia that you should be able to go to the beach and jump in the ocean to cool off. The presence of crocodiles means this is out of the question. Darwin is also more indigenous than most other Australian cities.

Donald Horne wrote about 11 cities. He also included Wollongong, Newcastle and Broken Hill. As I have chosen to focus on the state and territory capitals I’m afraid that they haven’t made the cut here – sorry guys.