Melbourne, Victoria

Welcome to Melbourne, Australia: the most liveable city.

Thirty-two years and two husbands ago, I came to Melbourne as part of an airlift of American teachers for understaffed Australian schools. I’m still in Melbourne and wouldn’t live anywhere else. In 1972, Melbourne was a very different place than now. Though there had been a steady influx of migrants since WW2, the people here were less worldly and suffered from “cultural cringe.” Australians felt inadequate compared to what they called ‘the old or mother country” England. Perhaps, this insecurity arose because the earliest white inhabitants were convicts transported by England to work as slave labor in developing the colony.

Australians have come to be proud of their ancestors who worked their way to freedom and tamed this wild land. These days, Australia is a popular destination for tourists, who always visit Sydney, but rarely take the 900-kilometer journey south to Melbourne. It’s a pity as Melbourne has been voted the most livable city in the world by a Washington survey result on Population crisis.

There’s a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne which reminds me of that between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unlike Sydneysiders, who see themselves as sophisticated, “fast laners,” Melburnians are more laid back and openly friendly. They are sports mad, and they religiously follow “Aussie Rules Football”, which originated in Melbourne. If you’re an American tourist, they’ll chide you that Grid Iron (ie. American football) is for ‘wusses’ as they wear all that protective gear. The Aussie players like to get out there in tight shorts and a singlet (T shirt) and bash hell out of each other. The whole state of Victoria stops for the Football Grand Final, and the whole nation stops for a horse race--the Melbourne Cup.

That is not to say that Melbournians are uncultured because Melbournians are also devoted to the arts. Near the heart of the city, there’s a cultural art/theatre/concert hall complex and newly-renovated National Gallery of Victoria. A new aquarium and museum have just opened up in the city as well. There are smaller fringe theatres, professional and amateur everywhere. During the Melbourne Festival, the city is lit up and vibrant, crowded with people flocking to see the different performing groups. In March, Melbourne hosts the Comedy Festival, which attracts both local and international talent at different venues in the city. I’ve enjoyed many anarchic comedians with names like the “Umbilical Brothers” and “A Dog’s Breakfast” and “Tokyo Shock Boys”. All the traditional musicals like “Cats”, “Evita”, “The Producers” and “Phantom of the Opera” also play in Melbourne to packed theatres.

The food in Melbourne has improved over the last few years. When we first came to Australia, you could have a very thin sandwich and thin milkshake from the Milk Bar, fish and chips from the local shop or steak and chips at the local pub. The migrants have done much to educate Aussie palates . You can get just about any ethnic food—Greek, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian, Indian, Mexican, French and of course Chinese. We even have our own Chinatown, as well as a Chinese mayor. Garlic has become an acceptable ingredient of the Australian diet. Unfortunately, less desirable imports like MacDonald’s, KFC, Red Rooster and Hungry Jack’s, catering for more pedestrian tastes, do their bit for Aussie obesity.

The move towards multiculturalism in Melbourne is never more evident than in the Queen Victoria Market, just north of the city. The market, which has been around for about a 120 years, is a real ethnic mix of stall holders and customers, where you can buy everything from fruit and vegetables, whole pigs to household products, clothes, shoes, toys, and souvenirs. When my brother and sister visited from the US, they couldn’t get enough of the Queen Vic market and loved the good-natured banter and bargaining with multilingual stall holders.

It’s about a 10-minute walk from the market to Melbourne CBD and the Yarra River. Sydneysiders may brag that they have the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor, but Melbourne has the Yarra, a languorous river meanders its way through the heart of the city before spilling into Port Phillip Bay. Before crossing the river on the old Princes Bridge, you can’t miss Flinders Street Station, a Melbourne landmark built in 1910. I always think its large copper dome and stone facade look a bit middle eastern. The soft brown stone façade exudes warmth when it’s floodlit at night as it welcomes you to the heart of the city.

In the day, there’s a cacophony of sounds from the traffic, seagulls looking for food, the clanging bells of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Melbourne trams. The open plaza opposite the station—Federation Square—is quite another sensory experience. This plaza and the surrounding buildings are new and are meant to rival the grandeur of the Sydney Opera House. Instead of the round, sail-like shapes of the Opera House, the geometric shapes of sandstone, zinc and glass shards create an angular thrust. Looking out at the city from the interior of one of these buildings, you find that your view is broken up by the edges of the shards, like looking through a DeKooning painting.

The river’s edge has been developed into a complex of boutique craft shops, restaurants and a food hall called Southgate. Sitting outside at one of the cafes, drinking a cappuccino and watching a tourist boat ripple the reflections of the buildings in the river is my definition of heaven. During the holidays and on weekends, an eclectic collection of buskers gather, like the elderly Viennese violinist playing Classical music, an American group juggling fiery torches and razor sharp swords, Australians, with bodies and clothes painted grey, looking like statues as they stand absolutely immobile. South American musicians playing the ‘flutes of the Andes’ evoke a festive mood, while chalk artists create their amazing, ephemeral masterpieces on the pavement.

Though the main streets of the city get very crowded, Melbourne is surrounded by large parkland areas, the most popular being the Royal Botanical Gardens with its ornamental lake. My husband and I often ride down the bike track that runs along the Yarra to the gardens and, like many other families, have a picnic lunch on the grass. Children toss leftover breadcrumbs to the swans, ducks and eels that inhabit the lake. An added feature of these gardens is the overly prolific flying fox population inhabiting the tree tops in the garden, their large black wings blocking the sun.

Another favorite bike track is a thirteen-kilometer path running beside the bay just south of the city. Pedalling along, we cast our eyes on the flat blue horizon dotted with small sailboats, filling our lungs with sea air and the smell of fried fish and chips. Ahead, you can see the outline of Melbourne’s cityscape. On weekends, the track is crowded with young male skaters stripped to the waist showing off their washboard chests, families pushing baby strollers and wobbly Japanese tourists on rented skates struggling to keep upright.

We often take a detour from the biketrack to St. Kilda, one of the city suburbs on Port Philip Bay. This place has a split personality; at night, St Kilda has traditionally been Melbourne’s Red Light District and hangout of prostitutes. However, in the day, the streets are crowded with young families, singles, Russian migrants and aging Jewish holocaust victims. If you want Continental pastries and delicatessen to die for, this is where you come.

I really do love Melbourne. The colourful, energetic ethnic mix, the homeliness and laid-back friendliness of the people make it much a more attractive and certainly liveable city than Sydney could ever be.

Celia J

Submitted: Saturday 13th March 2004, 1:21 AM

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