From Herald Sun:
Melbourne’s population surpasses the whole of Queensland
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Melbourne set to overtake Sydney within 6 years. Earlier than predicted.
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I find this level of pettiness hilarious
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And yet public transport ridership in Melbourne is 2/3rds that of Sydney. Melbourne better prepare.
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I think Melbourne is better spread or laid out geographically than what Sydney is and I think they have a better road network too. I don’t think public transport will be that big an issue there as a result.
Yeah for some reason Melbourne always seems a lot easier to get around than Sydney. Better roads, flatter, more spread out. They might be the same size now but Sydney always seems much bigger.
It probably helps that Melbourne was originally a planned city, while Sydney was not.
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Easier to plan a city when it’s all flat, hence it has a nice grid of arterial roads etc. Adelaide is arguably even better in this sense
Sydney (and Brisbane) have poorer geography to contend with, hence the less preferable road network layout
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Agree. Brisbane feels a lot like Sydney while Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne feel similar.
The harbour is a real obstacle too, as is the Brisbane river. The Yarra and Torrens, not so much.
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And the Mt Coot-tha mountains being so close to the city hinders any meaningful expansion to the north west and west of Brisbane.
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Same reason Sydney can only expand to the West correct?
Yes, though the Blue Mountains are much further out from the Sydney CBD compared to Mt Coot-tha from Brisbane
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You’re forgetting the Adelaide Hills, and the Onkaparinga Hills along the southern beaches of Adelaide, but I agree that the coastal plain where most people live is pretty flat. The Adelaide Hills aren’t too far from the CBD though, unlike the Dandenongs for Melbourne and the Blue Mountains for Sydney.
True, but Adelaides population is little more than half of Brisbane’s, so the impact of the Hills in limiting population growth hasn’t been felt as much. It has a more even spread of population as a result.
Yes plus the rest of it is flat. Brisbane is hilly across most of the metro. The Adelaide Hills do make a nice backdrop though.
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Melbourne (also Adelaide) was a city designed to represent a modern European city in the 1830s. Pretty impressive that with only a few 100 settlers, they could foresee a large metropolitan city forming.
After the holddle grid was formed, the small settlement expanded with large open boulevards/parks connecting the inner suburbs
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Although Port Phillip Bay was surely seen as a natural site for a city.
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Most likely, but it didn’t offer freshwater, hence why settlement was settled on the banks of the Yarra River.
Though it’s interesting how most of Melbourne’s growth has gone south east rather than south west as far as the bay is concerned.
There still appears to be a lot of land that could be built on between Werribee and Geelong.
The east was always perceived to me more liveable with better rainfall for gardens etc. The West became more industrial with dryer vegetation etc.
The Werribee/Melton side is now the fastest growth corridor in the country. Along with the North.
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