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Sydney and Melbourne
The two largest cities in the country of Australia. And the continent of Australia
Fruit: Nah, man...it’s called Meganesia
Mr. Beat: Mega what?
Fruit: The continent is called Meganesia, man
Mr. Beat: Oh, ok. So yeah, the two largest cities on that continent...and Oceania for that matter
However, Sydney’s (5.2 million) metropolitan area is slightly bigger than Melbourne’s (5 million)
The two cities are about 878 km or 546 miles from each other...about a 9-hour, fairly boring drive.
Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales. Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria.
Both are iconic, cosmopolitan, global cities, but tourists often have a difficult time deciding which one to visit.
Well hopefully this video will help them choose.
According to the most recent Global Liveability Index, put out by The Economist each year, Melbourne is the second most liveable city in the world.
Woah, good job, Melbourne. But Sydney’s not far behind. It’s the fifth.
Hold up, Australia’s got three cities in the top 10? Geez.
Maybe one reason why Melbourne is higher up on that list is because it’s cheaper to live there than in Sydney.
It’s true. Just about everything is more expensive in Sydney.
As I said earlier, Sydney has a larger population, but Melbourne has been growing at a faster rate.
At the current rates IT will be Australia’s largest city in about 20 to 30 years.
More than 40% of all of Australia’s population lives in either the Sydney metro area or the Melbourne metro area.
Despite being smaller, Melbourne has a much higher population density.
Sydney does seem to have a faster pace about it. And it has more traffic.
Sydney is more culturally diverse. 43% of Sydney residents were born in another country, compared with 36% of Melbourne residents.
While English is the official language of both cities, more than 38% of residents in both cities speak a language other than English at home.
A lot of the immigrants in both cities came from China and India.
Melbourne is more religious than Sydney, eh...albeit slightly (25%-24%).
The largest religious group in both cities is Roman Catholic.
The poverty rate is higher in Sydney. (15%-12.6%)
But the unemployment rate is currently lower there. (4.5%-4.9%) And Melbourne has a higher crime rate.
Both are cities by the sea. Sydney sits by the Pacific Ocean, or more specifically the Tasman Sea.
Melbourne sits by the Indian Ocean, or really the Southern Ocean, or more specifically the Bass Strait.
Both cities are short drives away from mountains. Sydney has the Blue Mountains to the west, and Melbourne has the Dandenong to the east.
Many argue Sydney has better weather than Melbourne.
Both have moderate climates due to being right on the ocean. Technically, they are different climate zones, though.
Sydney has a humid subtropical climate, while Melbourne has an oceanic climate.
Sydney has more sunny days, yet also gets quite a bit more rainfall.
And Melbourne gets a little colder than Sydney, and its temperatures can sometimes wildly fluctuate in a short amount of time.
Sydney has a lot more beaches, and their beaches are better.
But Melbourne has a better nightlife, so there’s that.
Based on my research, Melburnians pay less taxes than Sydneysiders.
Melbourne is a bit easier to get around in. You know, its roads form grids. Sydney, not as much.
More Melburnians ride bikes compared to Sydneysiders, and of course they do, because apparently more Melburnians are hipsters than Sydneysiders. Darn hipsters.
But wait, more Sydneysiders walk to work, while more Melburnians drive. Maybe I spoke too soon about the hipster talk.
More Sydneysiders use mass transit. Although, Melbourne has the largest tram network in the world.
We call them streetcars in the United States, but I can dig tram.
Overall, public mass transit in both cities is kind of modest compared to other international cities, but the governments of both cities have ambitious goals for getting residents to use it more.
One reason why both cities are so sprawling is because they both developed much later than most world cities.
They’re youngin’s. Although, Sydney is older than Melbourne. In fact, modern Sydney is where the first Europeans settled in Australia.
Of course, indigenous Australians lived in the areas of both cities for tens of thousands of years before that.
But yeah, Sydney became a city on January 26, 1788.
Melbourne didn’t become a city until 1835. Holy crap, it’s not even 200 years old yet? That’s a little trippy.
The first settlers of Sydney were mostly British convicts. Criminals. Ok, mostly for petty crimes, but still.
Melbourne was started by Batman.
No, not that Batman. That Batman. John Batman, who was born in Australia.
He was an explorer, rancher, and businessman, who made treaties with the indigenous people to acquire the land to start settlement in the area that became Melbourne.
In fact, before it was called Melbourne it was called Batmania for a short while. I can’t make this stuff up. It’s true, ok?
Between 1790 and 1816, Sydney regularly got caught up in the Australian Frontier Wars, or the series of violent clashes between indigenous nations and British settlers in Australia.
Meanwhile, Melbourne was a much more peaceful, low-key place. That is, until a freaking gold rush.
After someone discovered gold in Victoria in 1851, a gold rush caused Melbourne to quickly grow.
Within months, its population doubled, becoming Australia’s biggest city by 1865.
However, more folks had also moved to Sydney due to the gold rush.
Also, Sydney invested more than Melbourne in building up its cultural institutions and public buildings. In other words, it attracted greater investment.
In the late 1800s, both cities tended to grow outwards, much like cities would in the 1900s, which is why later they both became so car dependent.
Melbourne got hit pretty hard by a big depression in the 1890s.
Still, by the end of the century, it was Melbourne, not Sydney, that some said was the richest city in the world.
Right before Australia officially became a federation on January 1, 1901, the two cities fought to become the new country’s capital city.
Both argued that THEY were the superior city and deserved to be the capital.
Unable to solve the argument, they compromised, creating a capital city out of scratch to sit between the two cities.
That city is Canberra, but it wasn’t completed until 1927. So which city got to be the temporary capital until then?
Melbourne, and Melburnians will likely let you know that.
By World War II, Sydney’s population had caught back up with Melbourne, once again becoming the largest city in Australia.
Speaking of World War II, Japanese submarines attacked Sydney during it but they never attacked Melbourne.
After the war, both cities grew quickly once again as their economies diversified and immigration increased.
Today, though, Melbourne is once again the city creating more jobs.
Major industries in Sydney today include finance, manufacturing, and tourism. Major industries in Melbourne include also finance, as well as healthcare and information technology.
Sydney’s big iconic landmark is the Sydney Opera House, of course, but perhaps lesser known is Melbourne’s big iconic landmark, Flinders Street Station.
Other attractions in Sydney include the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, Hyde Park, the Sydney Tower Eye, and the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Other attractions in Melbourne include Queen Victoria Market, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Shrine of Remembrance, Federation Square, and The Archway.
While researching for this video, the Melburnians consistently let me know THEIR food selection was far superior to Sydney.
Sydneysiders, be sure to correct them in the comments below.
Let’s see. What else?
I really do think there are more hipsters in Melbourne. Art is everywhere in the city.
Everywhere you turn there are brightly painted murals and live music, whether it be in bars, coffee shops, or on the street.
The alternative scene is bigger in Melbourne. And, in my humble opinion, it has more innovative bands.
When I think of Melbourne, I think of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Avalanches, or Cut Copy.
When I think of Sydney, I think of AC/DC or INXS. Don’t get me wrong- two great bands, but not as innovative.
Both cities have hosted the Olympics, but Melbourne beat Sydney to it by 44 years.
Melbourne is known as the sporting capital of Australia since it hosts the Australian Open, the Australian Grand Prix, and the Australian Football League Grand Final.
However, Sydney hosts the National Rugby League Grand Final. Rugby is ridiculous
ly popular in Australia, by the way.
What about professional sports teams?
Well, for the AFL, there are the Melbourne Demons and North Melbourne Kangaroos and the Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants.
For the NRL, there’s the Melbourne Storm. Sydney has two NRL teams- the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs.
What a great name for a team. Rabbitohs?
For the NBL, or National Basketball League, there’s the Melbourne United and the Sydney Kings.
It’s not just sports rivalries, though, folks. There is a lot of trash talking between Sydney residents and Melbourne residents, which is one reason why I made this video.
People have been suggesting this one to me quite a bit, actually.
The two have been competing with each other for more than 150 years.
Speaking of competing, to all of you tourists...have you decided which one you want to visit yet?
No? Did I make it worse? Well dangit. Ayy...then I guess you’ll just have to visit both.
This is my first Compared video to be sponsored. Heck yeah, man. Thanks to Skillshare.
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Thanks to my Australian YouTube friends
Jade from the channel Up and Atom
and Toby from the channel Tibees
for helping me make this video.
Also, a shout out to Christopher Ryan
who lives in Melbourne
and helped me also with this video.
He's a long-time supporter of the channel.
So what did I get right? What did I get wrong? I love hearing about all my mispronunciations.
And which is better? And feel free to talk trash in the comments below
as always. Which two cities should I compare next?
And that's way too many questions. What am I, a lawyer?
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