Australia

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania.^[1] Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,993 km² (3,858 sq mi),^[10] comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities,^[11] and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 5 million (19% of the population of Australia), and its inhabitants are referred to as “Melburnians”.^{[note 2]}

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania.^[8] Located on Australia’s east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west.^[9] Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as “Sydneysiders”.^[10] As of June 2017, Sydney’s estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330^[11] and is home to approximately 65% of the state’s population.^[12]

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital of and the most populated city in the Australian state of Queensland,^[10] and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane’s metropolitan area has a population of approximately 2.5 million,^[1] and the South East Queensland metropolitan region, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3.6 million

Cairns

Cairns is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia.^[7] It is on the east coast of Far North Queensland. The city is the 5th-most-populous in Queensland and ranks 14th overall in Australia.

The population of the Cairns urban area at June 2018 was 152,729,^[1] having grown on average 1.1% year-on-year over the preceding five years.^[1] Based on 2015 data, the associated local government area has experienced an average annual growth rate of 2.3% over the last 10 years.^[9] Cairns is a popular tourist destination because of its tropical climate and access to both nearby tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Darwin

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory of Australia, situated on the Timor Sea. It is the largest city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, with a population of 148,564.^[1] It is the smallest, wettest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End‘s regional centre.

Darwin’s proximity to South East Asia makes it a link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin, extends southerly across central Australia through Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, concluding in Port Augusta, South Australia. The city is built upon a low bluff overlooking the harbour. Its suburbs begin at Lee Point in the north and stretch to Berrimah in the east. Past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwin’s satellite city Palmerston and its suburbs.

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. The demonym Adelaidean is used to denote the city and the residents of Adelaide.

Adelaide is situated on the Adelaide Plains north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between the Gulf St Vincent in the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges in the east. Its metropolitan area extends 20 km (12 mi) from the coast to the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, and stretches 96 km (60 mi) from Gawler in the north to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Named in honour of Queen Adelaide, consort to King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely-settled British province in Australia.^[9] Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide’s founding fathers, designed the city centre and chose its location close to the River Torrens, in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people and known as Tarndanyangga (“place of the red kangaroo”). Light’s design, now listed as national heritage, set out the city centre in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parklands.

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia’s largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory; 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne.

As at June 2018 the population of Canberra was 420,960,^[1] having grown by 2.2% over the preceding 12 months.^[1] As the city has a high proportion of public servants, the Commonwealth Government contributes the largest percentage of gross territory product and is the largest single employer in Canberra, although not the majority employer. Compared to the national averages, the unemployment rate is lower and the average income higher; tertiary education levels are higher, while the population is younger.

Perth

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA). It is named after the city of Perth, Scotland and is Australia’s fourth-most populous city, with a population of 2.06 million living in Greater Perth.^[1] Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain, a narrow strip between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The first areas settled were on the Swan River at Guildford, with the city’s central business district and port (Fremantle) both later founded downriver.

As part of Perth’s role as the capital of Western Australia, the state’s Parliament and Supreme Court are in the city, as is Government House, the residence of the Governor of Western Australia. Perth came seventh in the Economist Intelligence Unit‘s August 2016 list of the world’s most liveable cities^[10] and was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2010 as a Beta world city.^[11] It hosted the 1962 Commonwealth Games.

Perth is divided into 30 local government areas and 250 suburbs, stretching from Two Rocks in the north to Singleton in the south, and east inland to The Lakes. Outside of the main CBD, important urban centres within Perth include Armadale, Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland and Rockingham. Most of those were originally established as separate settlements and retained a distinct identity after being subsumed into the wider metropolitan area. Mandurah, Western Australia’s second-largest city, has in recent years formed a conurbation with Perth along the coast, though for most purposes it is still considered a separate city.