This may not be a factual question since it is open to interpretation and individual choice, but I just wanted to know how people in Australia pronounce “Cairns” and “Melbourne”.
Thanks or cheers or whatever you might say in this case!
These are hard to transliterate into American, but try “cay-uns” and “mehl-buhn”, saying them really quickly rather than drawing them out.
It is more “Mel - bun” than “Mel - born”. And not " Bris - bane". It is pronounced " Bris - bin "
Most Aussies i know, including me, say “Cairns” pretty much the same way we say “cans.” Sometimes the slightest hint on an “r” sound will creep in, but when i do that, it’s usually for the benefit of Americans who might not otherwise know what i’m talking about.
And “Mel-bun” is about right, with most of the emphasis on the first syllable.
The first time my American wife accompanied me on a trip to Australia, i had lots of fun listening to her try and pronounce the Aboriginal place names. Try your hand at pronouncing some of these. Some are quite obvious, but others not so much.
The problem with “mel-bun” is that the “l” and “n” would be too pronounced when in fact they are more like throw-away sounds rather than voiced. That’s what I was getting at by putting the “h” in front, to try to soften them. I suppose a linguist would know how to explain it properly.
I believe the correct pronunciations are “Cairns, mate” and “Melbourne, mate”.
Take out the vowel in the last syllable of MEL-bn (and BRIS-bn). That’s pretty typical for Australian place names - emphasise the first syllable, swallow the other vowels. For reference, the capital’s name is pronounced KAN-bruh.
Cairns typically does have an ‘r’ in it, but an American is likely to overemphasise the ‘r’. The ‘air’ bit is pronounced the same way as the mixture of gases.
And Mackay is McK- eye, right?
Try muh-KYE. There’s sort of a hint of m’k-KYE, as though you’re hovering over the middle consonant, but not enough that you’d actually be pronouncing it.
This. If you pronounce it just like “cans”, as **mhendo **suggests, then you miss the very very slight effect that the “air” part of the word has on its pronunciation.
Maybe with some people. But i’ve heard plenty of people where there’s no distinction at all between the two.
For me it seems to depend on the context. If it’s just dropped in the middle of a sentence where i know that there will be no confusion about what i
m talking about, the speed of my speech means that it comes out as “cans.” But if it’s my first mention of the place, and i want to make sure my listener knows what i’m talking about, i’m more likely to use the “air” pronunciation, and sometimes even to over-emphasize it a bit.
The Melbourne locals tend to use “born”, rather than “bin”, which is typical pretentious twaddle. 
For those supporters of the (struggling) Melbourne AFL side this is even more pronounced because it is difficult to shout with outrage “Mel-bin”
I think, unless you live in one or the other, they are both pronounced shithole.
That’s not strictly true, Don’t Ask - there’s really only one problem with Melbourne.
It hasn’t been buried under sixty feet of concrete yet.
I hear both pronunciations. Queenslanders seem more likely to say “Cans”.