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Australian regional rivalries
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Australian regional rivalries
Australian regional rivalries refers to the rivalries between Australian cities, states and territories or regions.
There has been a long-standing rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest cities in Australia – 39.9% of Australia's total population live in either Greater Sydney or Greater Melbourne. The rivalry between the cities was the reason that neither Melbourne (the largest city at the time, and again the largest city by contiguous urban area in 2023) nor Sydney (the oldest city) was chosen as the capital of Australia when the nation was federated in 1901. The rivalry was so fierce that neither city would accept the other as the capital. Due to this disagreement, section 125 of the Australian Constitution specified that Melbourne would initially serve as the seat of government on a temporary basis, while the permanent capital of the new Commonwealth must be located within New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney. This city became Canberra. Melbourne operated as the seat of parliament from 1901 until 1927, when Canberra's historic Parliament House was opened, remaining in use until it was replaced with the current Parliament House in 1988. Various Commonwealth governmental bodies continued to operate principally from Sydney or Melbourne after 1927. Most civil service departments were moved to Canberra in the 1950s, and the High Court of Australia was finally moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1980.
Rivalry and differences between the colonies were features of life in pre-federation Australia. There was a real rivalry between the most powerful colonies, New South Wales and Victoria, on trade matters. Each believed that the new nation should follow their trade model. New South Wales had a policy of free trade where all goods coming that came into the state were not subject to tariffs. Victoria had an opposite policy of protectionism with tariffs imposed on goods coming into the state from other colonies. This rivalry delayed the process of federation; eventually the two colonies agreed that trade between the colonies would be tariff free, but tariffs would be placed on goods from overseas (excluding the British Empire).
The Melbourne-Sydney Rivalry is heavily represented in sport. Sydneysiders first adopted Rugby football and started the professional NRL competition and the Australian Rugby League Commission, while Melburnians invented Australian rules football and started the professional AFL competition. While both sports have extended their popularity beyond their own state, the historic and spiritual centre of both sports has remained in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, and neither city has been quick to embrace the other city's dominant football code. However, there is a strong rivalry between each city's biggest A-League teams, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory FC, with matches between the two sides known as "The Big Blue". Finally, there is also a growing rivalry between the ANZ Championship netball teams the New South Wales Swifts (previously Sydney Swifts) and Melbourne Vixens (previously Melbourne Phoenix). Also, there is a rivalry between the Sydney Kings and Melbourne United in Basketball (NBL).
Sydney, with a population of 5.23 million, is the largest city in Australia, and has been named the world's best city eight consecutive times by Condé Nast Traveler. Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia with a population of 4.94 million, and has been named seven consecutive times world's most liveable city by The Economist. It has been called the sporting capital of Australia. While Sydney was overtaken by Melbourne in terms of domestic tourism income in 2007, Sydney still remains the leading tourism destination for international tourists.
Founded 47 years after Sydney, Melbourne was established by free settlers, and the colony of Victoria never possessed any convict settlements; however, Sydney's original founding was based upon convicts and was the first British settlement in Australia. Today Sydney still maintains the most historic settlement site in Australia, called 'The Rocks'. Melbourne transformed rapidly thanks to the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, and became Australia's largest and most important city by 1865. This golden age, referred to as 'Marvellous Melbourne', was crushed by the Australian banking crisis of 1893 and resulting depression, and Sydney overtook Melbourne as the largest Australian city in the early 20th century. Sydney's infrastructure development is hampered by its challenging geography. By 2020, current trends indicated Melbourne would become the most populous city in Australia by 2026.
The rivalry between the states of New South Wales and Queensland has gone on since the Separation of Queensland in 1859.
This rivalry has been played out through sport over the years. There was a strong push for representative football matches between the two colonies which led to the first matches in 20 August 1884 (in Australian rules football) resulting in a draw however New South Wales quickly became dominant. Such was the power of the rivalry that when the newly formed Northern Rugby Union scheduled annual matches in 1886 which Queensland won resoundingly that the entire colony switched to Rugby union from the following year. Likewise when the Queensland Rugby League formed, the 1908 Interstate rugby league series becoming an annual contest and quickly resulted in rugby league becoming dominant football code in the state. In Queensland, there has been a general ill-feeling over the number of sports people leaving their home state for New South Wales, particularly rugby league footballers who left to play for the richer Sydney clubs.[citation needed] These players would then play against Queensland in interstate matches.[citation needed] In 1980, as a solution to this problem, the State of Origin series was created to allow Queensland players to play for their original state, and an immediate stop was put to New South Wales' dominance at the time.[citation needed] This sporting contest played three times a year now exemplifies this rivalry, dominating the media and public attention in both states during the series.[citation needed]
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Australian regional rivalries
Australian regional rivalries refers to the rivalries between Australian cities, states and territories or regions.
There has been a long-standing rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest cities in Australia – 39.9% of Australia's total population live in either Greater Sydney or Greater Melbourne. The rivalry between the cities was the reason that neither Melbourne (the largest city at the time, and again the largest city by contiguous urban area in 2023) nor Sydney (the oldest city) was chosen as the capital of Australia when the nation was federated in 1901. The rivalry was so fierce that neither city would accept the other as the capital. Due to this disagreement, section 125 of the Australian Constitution specified that Melbourne would initially serve as the seat of government on a temporary basis, while the permanent capital of the new Commonwealth must be located within New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney. This city became Canberra. Melbourne operated as the seat of parliament from 1901 until 1927, when Canberra's historic Parliament House was opened, remaining in use until it was replaced with the current Parliament House in 1988. Various Commonwealth governmental bodies continued to operate principally from Sydney or Melbourne after 1927. Most civil service departments were moved to Canberra in the 1950s, and the High Court of Australia was finally moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1980.
Rivalry and differences between the colonies were features of life in pre-federation Australia. There was a real rivalry between the most powerful colonies, New South Wales and Victoria, on trade matters. Each believed that the new nation should follow their trade model. New South Wales had a policy of free trade where all goods coming that came into the state were not subject to tariffs. Victoria had an opposite policy of protectionism with tariffs imposed on goods coming into the state from other colonies. This rivalry delayed the process of federation; eventually the two colonies agreed that trade between the colonies would be tariff free, but tariffs would be placed on goods from overseas (excluding the British Empire).
The Melbourne-Sydney Rivalry is heavily represented in sport. Sydneysiders first adopted Rugby football and started the professional NRL competition and the Australian Rugby League Commission, while Melburnians invented Australian rules football and started the professional AFL competition. While both sports have extended their popularity beyond their own state, the historic and spiritual centre of both sports has remained in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, and neither city has been quick to embrace the other city's dominant football code. However, there is a strong rivalry between each city's biggest A-League teams, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory FC, with matches between the two sides known as "The Big Blue". Finally, there is also a growing rivalry between the ANZ Championship netball teams the New South Wales Swifts (previously Sydney Swifts) and Melbourne Vixens (previously Melbourne Phoenix). Also, there is a rivalry between the Sydney Kings and Melbourne United in Basketball (NBL).
Sydney, with a population of 5.23 million, is the largest city in Australia, and has been named the world's best city eight consecutive times by Condé Nast Traveler. Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia with a population of 4.94 million, and has been named seven consecutive times world's most liveable city by The Economist. It has been called the sporting capital of Australia. While Sydney was overtaken by Melbourne in terms of domestic tourism income in 2007, Sydney still remains the leading tourism destination for international tourists.
Founded 47 years after Sydney, Melbourne was established by free settlers, and the colony of Victoria never possessed any convict settlements; however, Sydney's original founding was based upon convicts and was the first British settlement in Australia. Today Sydney still maintains the most historic settlement site in Australia, called 'The Rocks'. Melbourne transformed rapidly thanks to the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, and became Australia's largest and most important city by 1865. This golden age, referred to as 'Marvellous Melbourne', was crushed by the Australian banking crisis of 1893 and resulting depression, and Sydney overtook Melbourne as the largest Australian city in the early 20th century. Sydney's infrastructure development is hampered by its challenging geography. By 2020, current trends indicated Melbourne would become the most populous city in Australia by 2026.
The rivalry between the states of New South Wales and Queensland has gone on since the Separation of Queensland in 1859.
This rivalry has been played out through sport over the years. There was a strong push for representative football matches between the two colonies which led to the first matches in 20 August 1884 (in Australian rules football) resulting in a draw however New South Wales quickly became dominant. Such was the power of the rivalry that when the newly formed Northern Rugby Union scheduled annual matches in 1886 which Queensland won resoundingly that the entire colony switched to Rugby union from the following year. Likewise when the Queensland Rugby League formed, the 1908 Interstate rugby league series becoming an annual contest and quickly resulted in rugby league becoming dominant football code in the state. In Queensland, there has been a general ill-feeling over the number of sports people leaving their home state for New South Wales, particularly rugby league footballers who left to play for the richer Sydney clubs.[citation needed] These players would then play against Queensland in interstate matches.[citation needed] In 1980, as a solution to this problem, the State of Origin series was created to allow Queensland players to play for their original state, and an immediate stop was put to New South Wales' dominance at the time.[citation needed] This sporting contest played three times a year now exemplifies this rivalry, dominating the media and public attention in both states during the series.[citation needed]