Introduction
The Land of the World is inhabited in every corner and even in every far land. Historical and geographical processes divided the Earth into big and small places, into islands and mainlands. Australia is the worlds smallest continent, but nevertheless interesting and beautiful place in the World.
Australia is the country in the southern hemisphere of the World comprising mainland Tasmania and a number of the islands situated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The capital of Australia is Canberra situated in ACT (Australian Capital Territory), but due to its specific historical background and geographical position every state of the continent has its own capital. Total area of the country is 7,741,220 square kilometers. Official language is English but for Australia being multiethnic country different languages and dialects are spoken. And the first city to be discussed is Sydney and it is the most multiethnic city of the continent.
Sydney is the capital city of New south Wales and is the biggest city of the continent. Brisbane is the capital of Queensland.
Historically Australia and its islands were inhabited by the Australian indigenous tribes, which formed the clans as the historians call them, for more than 40,000 years. But due to the processes of colonization Australia became a colony.
First, there was a colony inhabited by the British former prisoners established on 26 January 1788. And the first colony to be established was New South Wales with the capital city Sydney. And starting with this year on more five colonies were established by the Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish settlers, as the population grew and more new areas were being discovered.
So lets get closer to the point of contrasting between two capital cities Sydney and Brisbane.
Sydney
The capital of Australian continent is Canberra, but every of six states, former colonies that is Tasmania, New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, has the capital.
The capital of New South West is Sydney. It is widely known in the world for its places of interest, perhaps even better known than the capital of Australia, Canberra. And whats the more of it, Sydney being a capital of the state, is the largest city of the continent of Australia. Alongside with Sydney being the largest city of Australia it shares the role of the most populous city of the continent. Sydney numbers 4,284,379 inhabitants.
Sydney is widely known for its central business district (CBD), and Opera House , probably the best known place in the world, thanks to media and TV. And concerning business sphere Sydney is the best place to run the business in Australia, no need to look for any other. “Historically, of course, Sydney was the first major city in Australia. It has had a longer time to establish itself as a place to live and a place to do business in”. (Liebke , 2000). But both of them also known owing to the fact that they are located in the Port Jack, the natural harbor of the city. “It’s difficult to ignore the gleaming waters of Sydney Harbour. More formally known as Port Jackson, it is the world’s largest natural harbor” (Latta, 2006).
Besides, the skyline of Sydney is massive and very recognizable for its huge skyscrapers, such as Sydney Tower and central business district. From this point of view Sidney is bordering between old and modern architectural styles presenting its tourists with the houses built at the beginning of the 19th century, located in the Sydneys suburbs, so-called federation houses and terrace houses. And continuing its architectural explorations with the Sydney Opera House, representing probably the most expressionist style of the author, Jorn Utzon. “I like to be on the edge of the possible,” is something Jørn Utzon has said”.
Another prominent and interesting feature about Sidney is its transsexual culture. Every year, at the end of February Sidney is crowded with thousands of people from all over the world watching and celebrating Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Brisbane
Another interesting and beautiful, but no less remarkable Australian capital city is Brisbane.
Brisbane is the capital of the state Queensland and third largest place in Australia. It is located closer to the southeast of the state. It covers the area of 1,141 square kilometers. “This is in reality two cities. Brisbane itself is rather quiet and somewhat old fashioned with many of the older houses built out of wood with a verandah all ’round and elevated on posts to allow the breeze to circulate under them for cooling”. (Beal, 1997, p.1)
Brisbane is the river city, situating on the Brisbane River. The river flows widely and gently through the whole city. It is not just a simple place of interest for the tourist or the decoration of the city, it is a very simple and delightful way to go sightseeing, to tour around the city and to enjoy its cultural, historical, geographical attractions. And certainly there are plenty of them. One can go shopping in the Queen Street Mall or lunching at South Bank Parklands. If the flora and fauna is making great interest then the Botanical Gardens is the place to go along with the Tangalooma to feed the dolphins.” With its impressive colonial history, plant collections and riverside location, the City Botanic Gardens is a much beloved part of the cityscape”.
Brisbane is widely known for its city public sculptures. The range of the sculptures can be easily found simply just outdoor. The variety of styles found the reflaction in the statues : beginning with the large and snobbish impressive statue of Queen Victoria and ending with the statues of more innovative and creative style, that is City Roos. The innovative and prominent style of the author, Christopher Trotter, is emphasized by the fact that all the City Roos are made , what do you think of…scrap metal. The representatives of Australian fauna, kangaroos, the symbols of the green continent found the reflection in the city sculptures. “The City Roos sculptures take a look at the creative and classic Australian culture of ‘making do’, and symbolizes the importance of sharing space and communication”.
Raw Audio, that is the name of the Internet TV and Radio station of Brisbane. It is the place for the Brisbane music bands and artist to be heard and shown to have gig, to make set or simply to make some noise.
The Difference
Is there any difference between these two cities? As amongst all the cities of Australia, there is. “Most of them are quite pretty and you will find them quite different from each other, as are many of our larger country towns” (Beal, 1997, p.1).
Of course, these Sydney and Brisbane are prominent and interesting each in its own way. And not taking into account that they are the capitals, they both attract the attention of the tourist from all over the world. Both of them are large and populous. They have their own attractions and sights to go. The cultural and architectural zests are seen in Brisbane and in Sydney as well. The people-aboriginals, coming from the indigenous tribes of Australia and the descendant of the first colonists, there are many of them living in the capitals of the states
Queensland and New South West, Brisbane and Sydney. But still there is the difference between these two cities: beginning with the population and ending with the places to stay.
Historically, Sydney is more populous than its “brother” Brisbane and it comes evident from the history of colonization of the continent. Sydney is older and as an effect is more populous from one hand and multinational from the other. And it is the constant process that different nations new people come to Sydney to settle. The big city with its natural harbors and bays, massive skyscrapers and bright lights lures the settlers from the whole world.
But. Brisbane has something that Sidney definitely lacks. The climate. It is when one beautiful day is continued by the next, perfect one. “Beautiful one day, perfect the next” (Liebke , 2000). It has the Brisbane river – a natural way of going sightseeing. It is no other city or the capital when the monument to the national “icons” of Australia, kangaroos, can be and are found. And if one has not enough money to settle in old and big Sydney, but the desire to settle in Australia is very strong why not do it right in Brisbane. ” Almost half of Queensland’s people live in the Brisbane metropolitan area”. (Encyclopedia article, 2007, p. 39800). Well, and the prices for the property is lower in Brisbane than in Sydney.
And there is no other place just like this one you see right here and right now.
Conclusion
Every country, every state, every town and every city in the world has its own interesting and unique history. That is some historical feature or architectural prominence, some geographical peculiarity like Brisbane and Sydney, Australian capital states, the topic of our research, or some political specific and unique aspect, like, for a example, the constitution in the U.S.A.
Sydney attracts with its natural harbor, Brisbane – with its sightseeings.
Sydney is big, but probably Brisbane is more attractive for someone with its population, less than Sydneys. Sydney is washed by the ocean but there is the Brisbane River in Brisbane.
In this research we tried to specify Brisbane and Sydney as interesting and uncommon aspects of the World geography with their harbors and bays and ports, rivers and national parks, their aborigines, as the term “aborigine” derived exactly from the Australian aborigines. But still there is different in their cultures. And looking through the prism of the World history it becomes evident that all the peculiarities and attractions of Brisbane and Sydney come from their interesting geographical position and historical background. Sydney became multinational due to the process of colonization. And Brisbane is known for its City Roos.
References
Beal, F. (1997). Australia: land of contrasts. PSA Journal, 63(8), 26.
Liebke, D. (2000) Residex. Web.
Latta, D. (2006). Showcase Destinations Sydney, Australia: The Harbour City. The meeting professional.
Staub, M. (2001). Scintillating Sydney – Australia’s New Cultural Revolution. World and I, 16(9), 74.
Brisbane. (2007). Brisbane. The Columbia Encyclopedia. (p. 39800). New York. Columbia University Press.
Australia. (2008). Web.
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