Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
^ and if you go back to australia's earliest colonial days, sydney was where the first permanent european settlement (prison colony) was set up on the australian continent, and was thus australia's very first city.
so sydney and melbourne have been flip-flopping for some time.
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Melbourne passed Sydney in both population and economy not long after its founding due to the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850’s through 70’s.
Today, the two cities are evenly matched economically. For example, of the ten largest Australian corporations by revenue:
Wesfarmers ($69 billion) - Perth
Woolworths ($56 billion) - Sydney
Commonwealth Bank of Australia ($45 billion) - Sydney
BHP ($39 billion) - Melbourne
Westpac Banking Corporation ($38 billion) - Sydney
Rio Tinto ($35 billion) - Melbourne
ANZ Banking Group ($34 billion) - Melbourne
NAB ($32 billion) - Melbourne
Telstra ($28 billion) - Melbourne
NSW Health ($21 billion) - Sydney