# Think of a city in Australia (that isn't Sydney) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223 "2015-10-11T00:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/21 "2015-10-11T01:40:38Z")
Voted for Melbourne, but I should’ve gone with **Coober Pedy** since it’s the best city name ever. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/22 "2015-10-11T01:50:47Z")
Brisbane, with Cairns in second place. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/23 "2015-10-11T02:05:28Z")
I used to have a pen pal in Collie. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/24 "2015-10-11T02:24:23Z")
Wagga Wagga is always the first one I think of. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/25 "2015-10-11T02:27:40Z")
I thought of a city not listed, Fremantle. I suppose the reason for that is the Tom Selleck movie _Quigley Down Under_. He landed at Fremantle. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/26 "2015-10-11T02:59:08Z")
Newcastle (for fairly obvious reasons). Note that, strictly speaking, Canberra is not a city, even though most people think of it as a city, since it’s not incorporated as a city. Local government functions in Canberra are carried out by the Australian Capital Territory government. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/27 "2015-10-11T03:01:17Z")
Melbourne is usually the first city I think of, before Sydney even, as I have family there. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/28 "2015-10-11T03:07:40Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I used to have a pen pal in Collie. Pen pal too, when I was 11, in Perth. Wonder what happened to him. Pumpkin farmer? Eaten by dingoes? Also, Perth Amboy, NJ, is only an hour away from me. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/29 "2015-10-11T03:21:50Z")
I thought of Ballarat. Probably only because it came up in conversation earlier this evening (yesterday evening now, I suppose). ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/30 "2015-10-11T03:42:33Z")
Perth. Which I know nothing about. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/31 "2015-10-11T04:02:52Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Melbourne because we have a Doper here with that as his location. There’s a few Dopers from Melbourne! We even did a Melbourne Dopefest way back in (errrr, maybe 2003??) Help me out here **Eliahna**! It was in a cafe at the corner of Brunswick St and Cecil St in Fitrzoy?? 😛 Anyway, I’m no longer a Melburnian, having moved a whole 100km away, so I now come under the jurisdiction of the biggest non-capital city in Australia, Geelong. So, Geelong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/32 "2015-10-11T04:05:40Z")
Oh, and just by-the-by, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are not cities, but ‘regions’. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/33 "2015-10-11T04:06:06Z")
Melbourne, because a big part of my company is there. But I would have assumed the popular answer would be Canberra, 'cos, you know, it’s the capital of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/34 "2015-10-11T04:21:33Z")
Formula One fan here, so… ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/35 "2015-10-11T04:43:18Z")
Cairns, followed by Alice Springs - which probably doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/36 "2015-10-11T04:46:26Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > I thought of Ballarat. Probably only because it came up in conversation earlier this evening (yesterday evening now, I suppose). Ballarat was mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes story, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/37 "2015-10-11T06:03:03Z")
Melbourne, because that’s where _Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries_ is set. Oh, and also it’s where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/38 "2015-10-11T06:08:45Z")
Melbourne, because I’ve known a few Aussies from there. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/39 "2015-10-11T06:16:51Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Oh, and just by-the-by, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are not cities, but ‘regions’. Half right: [Gold Coast](http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/default.html) is in fact a city – the second-largest city in Australia, going on the population of local government areas, with the City of Brisbane being the largest. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223/40 "2015-10-11T06:20:27Z")
Melbourne. Because I can literally see it from my back yard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-city-in-australia-that-isnt-sydney/734223.md?page=3)