It always makes me cringe with second hand embarrassment when people compare Melbourne to Europe without irony; that people think Australian cities are even comparable to some of the major European ones makes me snort. Apparently the differences between Sydney and Melbourne — in culture, fashion, music, lifestyle – are vast and many.
I’m no snob, I love Australia, I love Sydney, and Melbourne charmed me when I visited, but to be quite honest they’re both much of the same, really. (I.e. There are wankers in both cities.) The only difference is Sydney has the ‘big city’ feel that I crave in a city, which gives it more of a dynamism; but it also comes with many of the big city problems.
Regardless, this rivalry does reveal something about the Australian consciousness which I think is a shame: this desire to be something else, to be comparable to something else. Sydney is apparently a global city — so much so it’s been dubbed the ‘Harbour City’. Melbourne would rather die than be compared similarly to its popular, older sister and has decided she’ll forge its own identity as the younger, ‘precocious’ sibling with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove.
You know it's true. And Tasmania is Alice.
