Dude, I left my old job last year and now I have to get a medical clearance before I can start a new one.
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I think this is ârandomâ as can beâŚit sort of fits in with the âSydney v Melbourneâ thread but not quite.
This one will cause quite a bit of consternation and controversy, particularly among those who prefer the Sherrin to the Steeden and their potato cakes to potato scallops. Full disclosure: I am a New South Welshman, a Victoria-phile but also a geography nerd, and what Iâm about to say will make some sense in light of that.
I propose ceding part of East Gippsland to NSW!
Crazy? Maybe, but hear me out. Before all the Victorians cry foul, I propose annexing Merimbula and maybe Eden as an exclave of the Garden State, so that Victorians can have a part of the 25C-in-summer Tasman Sea (a lot of you go there for this very reason).
Now, whenever I visit far East Gippsland, Orbost to Mallacoota, I never feel as though Iâm in Victoria âproperâ. This is down to a few geographic facts:
- The whole region is closer to Canberra, the Monaro and the far South Coast of NSW than it is to Melbourne.
- The southern part of the Monaro tablelands (NSW) drain towards Bass Strait in this part of the world. The most prominent river is of course the Snowy River, entering the sea at Marlo VIC. The Snowy River would be a logical place for the new NSW/VIC border and it almost perfectly lines up with the start of the existing Murray River border (see my map below). Geographically, then, I consider far east Gippsland and the Monaro/South Coast to be in the same region.
- The climate of far east Gippsland has much more in common with the far South Coast of NSW than it does with Melbourne and even western Gippsland. Humid spells in far east Gippsland are common, as are frequent summer thunderstorms and a winter rainfall deficit. This is NSW like. The wet/cloudy winter regime and drier summer actually starts between Sale and Bairnsdale, but I donât want to rip off Victoria that much (@tamago_otoko will back me up on this point).
Hereâs my proposed border along the Snowy River (not exactly drawn):
And another point to addâŚVictoria has already pinched some land from South Australia, see:
(The border should be along the 141st parallel but itâs actually just west of there due to a surveying error; the NSW/SA border to the north is correctly on the parallel. Around the Murray River the borders donât intersect).
Again, itâs just a bit of fun and to be clear- I love Victoria.
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I thought you would have added that Mallacoota is part of the Bega radio licence area too.
Albury, Moama and Wentworth probably should all be officially part of Victoria⌠and Broken Hill part of SA.
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That pretty much flows on from the geography anyhowâŚMerimbula and Eden are the closest major service centres to 'Coota. Iâve even heard session times for Merimbula cinema advertised on 3MGB.
I broadly agree with Albury/Wodonga, Echuca/Moama and definitely Broken Hill (which is SA in all but name). All of these would require less drastic border changes.
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Move the northern border up to the Murrumbidgee and we have a deal.
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Yeah, nah. Iâd gladly give Victoria places like Culcairn and Finley, and even Wagga itself- but then youâd hog almost all of the snow country (if the border was extended east along the 'BidgeeâŚ) NSW is hot enough so it deserves a slice of the Alps.
Intriguely though, the 'Bidgee line would give Victoria a (small) border with the ACT which would perhaps be more befitting of the crappitalâs status as a moderator between NSW and VICâŚ
The Murrumbidgee is much more in keeping with the Barassi line (the true definer of the differences between the two states) than the Murray could ever be.
Iâm a bigger fan of drawing the borders in line to which capital city the various towns âfaceâ. Up here for instance, the centres in Northern NSW like Byron Bay and Grafton turn more towards Brisbane as their local capital than their actual capital all the way down in Sydney. Though on the Far South Coast of NSW itâs probably much of a muchness whether they turn towards Melbourne or Sydney (or Canberra even).
You are however indeed quite correct @dxnerd that the climate border is further west of your proposed Snowy River line, just east of Stratford. Sale gets Victorian weather, Bairnsdale gets NSW weather.
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If you look closely at the fine print inColes ads in NSW, they often say âexcludes Graftonâ. Iâm guessing thatâs because the stores are supplied from Queensland and the specials etc. are aligned to the Sunshine State. There is also a climatic divide between Coffs and Grafton which basically runs along the 30th parallel south. North of 30S basically doesnât get much of a winter and is humid for longer in the warm season.
The Far South Coast very much depends on Canberra for high end services. If you get seriously sick in Bega, you go to Canberra Hospital. Even as far south as Cann River, the closest major service centre is Canberra (there was a map circulating on social media showing the closest capital city to various areas). Canberra is basically the major service centre for all of SE NSW, the Riverina and a small part of eastern VIC.
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who was it that said theres a recording program on chrome that u can record tv shows with? and wasit? @JBar @TV.Cynic was it either of you?
Not me, mate.
It would take quite the incentive package from the Victorian government for people in Albury to even entertain the idea of joining Victoria at the moment.
5 years ago, it might have been a chance, but the border closures and everything during Covid really hurt trust here in both state governments especially with the lack of cooperation at times. Victoriaâs government has (a tad unfairly in my view) copped the greater share of the anger here though. Ironic that having Albury in Victoria would have avoided a lot of these issues but thereâs certainly a sense from people on the Albury side of relief that they were only locked down 3 times compared to 7 times in Wodonga.
Things that would need to be in this package would include (in my view):
-Hourly fast trains to Melbourne (fast enough that Albury to Spencer St can be done in around 2 hours), i.e. a similar level of service to Bendigo or Ballarat
-Incentives to host sporting events at the newly redeveloped sports stadium in Lavington
-A new hospital on the Albury side of the border (youâd be surprised how controversial this is at the moment in the local community)
-A new indoor aquatic centre to complement the 2 outdoor centres in Albury
-A 3rd road link from Albury to Wodonga
On a broader note, I do agree that in the long term, it would make sense to âre-alignâ the states in line with some of the proposals here.
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Orbost is exactly half way between Bungendore and Melbourne taking the Gippsland route (4 hours 20 minutes to both) which sort of gives weight to the contention above. It would be marginally closer to Canberra than Melbourne; Mallacoota/Cann River are definitely closer to Canberra.
Newcastle is the equivalent of Orbost going north from here, so east Gippsland isnât that far away at all when you think of it in those terms. An 80 kW transmitter at Orbost would get in here easily, as Newcastle does.
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If you can get a train service that effectively averages 160 km/h, Newcastle will have some of that too. It takes us 2 hrs 40 mins to do the 165 km rail trip to Sydney. Positively ancient.
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I agree completely. While high speed rail is sadly going to only be a pipe dream I do think there is potential to develop medium speed rail (with top speeds in the low-mid 200s) along certain routes that are in the 200-400km range. Newcastle-Gosford-Sydney-Wollongong and Sydney-Canberra are two of the routes that would make the most sense to me as a top priority.
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Fast rail between Melbourne and Wodonga/Albury may be an easier proposition given that the terrain is favourable once you get over the Kilmore Gap. Sydney to Newcastle and Sydney to Canberra are more challenging in that respect. I agree that âfasterâ rail is the most realistic goal for these corridors.
It would be nice to hop on a bullet train from Bungendore to Newcastle thoughâŚwould make a âDirty Rascalâ burger for lunch do-able 
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what do people use to record tv shows and stuff with?
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I had a Topfield recorder.
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I use my Fetch box, but would just use a hard drive connected to my TV otherwise.
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I record and watch everything on Fetch.
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but what using chrome?