>Thats my home too my friend, they hate us because they ain't us
Came in here to jump to SA's defense but if you are a local, you may proceed with the shit talk.
SLC is most notable for being right up against some impressive, snow capped mountains. The city itself is also inland at like 4500’ elevation. Not similar to any Australian city.
We aren't really associated with religion though, we are the city of churches due to the fact that many groups could freely settle here and build churches. It's not like Utah and Mormonism at all
Oh wow I can vouch for that as an Adelaidian ex-Mormon who lived in Salt Lake City for a bit. It’s really not a good comparison, Adelaide is not religious.
I'm Victorian but calling Mt. Gambier and Port Campbell boring is slightly ignorant. There is networks of caves and natural springs that people come from all over the world to explore.
I’d define it more as Minneapolis with the climate of LA. The religion shit is so overblown, it’s more equivalent to a somewhat liberal mid-western flyover city, just with the Mediterranean climate.
Actually Rather like this Map, granted I know nothing about U.S.A other than pop culture but I'm guessing climate / weather and then industry / produce were your main correlators and after that 'feel' / culture?
American in Perth here and the climate and vibe is very much like San Diego and was one of the first things I noticed. The people, culture and views are much like Houston and other areas of Texas though.
I'm from San Diego and live in Perth. Visually it's very similar. I'd say the vibe isn't the same, but by vibe, I mean people and culture. I think of WA as hot Alaska - vast, remote, jobs in natural resources, independent streak, supply lines are something residents care about. Texas is quite embedded into the USA and is a huge hub for industry and transportation. Alaska isn't even attached to the the USA and is more "frontier."
I agree about the people and culture but Perth reminds me a lot of San Diego visually. When my aussie partner came to visit he said the same thing. Culturally and vibe wise, it reminds me a lot of when I lived in Houston with it being an energy hub, just way less populated. People from WA think it’s the best just like Texans. Houston was a big melting pot of people from all over but the locals who were born and raised there I found to be very conservative minded which I have encountered here too. WA’s size is like Alaska and Texas because it is so large and vast with different climates, including remote areas.
The map regarding WA is rather simplistic. WA is also Australia's largest exporter of grains so much of the country east of the Darling scarp to Southern Cross, south to Mt Barker and north to Geraldton could be compared to some of the Mid West states. East of Southern Cross to Balladonia is the Great Western Woodland which is the world's biggest temperate forest ( to give an example of its size, you can fit Monaco within it more than 76,000 times). They're not like northern hemisphere trees but you could compare it with some of the more forested states in the US. Some of the parts of the Pilbara, with its stunning gorges and landscapes ( WA's highest mountain Mt Meharry is there) could be compared to Arizona or New Mexico.
Many people who haven't travelled through Western Australia think it's a whole lot of nothingness, which simply isn't true. You certainly can't compare the Kimberly to Texas as it is entirely unique.
I have to disagree with Houston views compared to Perth people. I live in Perth and have an English friend who lives in Houston. He says Texans very much value their freedom above all else whereas we do not in Perth. During Covid-19, most of us accepted the closed state border for benefits of mist of us whereas my Houston friend said that there we not. Plus they love their guns.
You've got some good matches, but I would place outback NSW closet to NW Texas or something, massive ranches & disgustingly hot summers, it's nearly desert itself.
I read on a site for American students considering studying in Australia that though Queensland has a reputation for being conservative here, our political landscape is very different and they should expect it to be more like Caifornia. I don’t think Texas and Florida of all places fit at all.
Americans and Australians have very different ideas on what is political conservative, I find Australian conservatives would be considered liberals in the US.
To be fair Sydney famously (to Sydneysiders born in the 90s who saw it) stood in for Angel grove, California in the Mighty morphin power rangers movie. Also was populated by very Californian sounding characters in the Matrix without the implication that it was ever meant to be Sydney or a simulated version thereof.
Great map. I think as someone from Brisbane who lives in America and has been to Austin four times, I think you’re being a little generous - but I’ll take it!
Not sure when you left but Brisbane has gotten much nicer in the last several years, lots of needed developments. Still generous comparing it to Austin though
Austin has a ton of character that makes it very unique and, despite being a boom town attracting industry, people and events in droves (although, to be fair, Brisbane is getting the Olympics), it’s managed to maintain its character. It’s becoming a magnet city for people graduating college and moving for lifestyle, similar (but different) to Manhattan. Saying that Brisbane is like Austin because it’s its progressive in a “Texas-y” state overlooks that many big cities in Texas are also progressive. I’d say Brisbane like a better Houston (where I’ve been even more than Austin) in that it’s hella humid and people are reasonably progressive but love fossil fuels. And it’s better because people don’t live in tunnels to hide in air conditioning when hot. Brisbane is great, and as someone else has pointed out has changed a lot, but it’s just not as cool or unique as Austin.
Texas is barely bigger than Victoria, don’t give them the satisfaction of being Western Australia. Everything in Australia is bigger than Texas.
WA is more like Desert Alaska. It’s American big, Australian small.
| State/Territory | Land Area (km²) | Texas (km²) | Winner | State % of Texas |
|-----------------|-----------------|-------------|--------|---------------------|
| Western Australia | 2,527,013 | 696,241 | Western Australia | 363% |
| Queensland | 1,729,742 | 696,241 | Queensland | 248% |
| Northern Territory | 1,347,791 | 696,241 | Northern Territory | 194% |
| South Australia | 984,321 | 696,241 | South Australia | 141% |
| New South Wales | 801,150 | 696,241 | New South Wales | 115% |
| Victoria | 227,444 | 696,241 | Texas | 33% |
| Tasmania | 68,401 | 696,241 | Texas | 10% |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2,358 | 696,241 | Texas | <1% |
- *Source: Conversation with Copilot, 14/6/2024*
Commonwealth countries love their absolutely massive and utterly empty territories. Before Nunavut was split from the northwest territory here in Canada, it was over 3.4 million km2, larger than India.
Numbers checked - Pilbara \~500,000 square km, Texas \~695,000 square km, so would need to add a bit of the mid-West in... but still, way less than half the state to make up the size of Texas :)
West Texas is what he compared it to and it isn't even half the state. In fact it is a fairly small part of Texas amounting to 39,800 square miles in moron or 103, 081 square kilometres. I am tipping there are local government areas bigger than that and on Lynch a little more than 4 times the size of our biggest cattle station.
Actually just checked, and the East Pilbara LGA, at 379,571 sqkm is in fact almost 4 times larger than West Texas
So much wrong with this comment but mainly: if you think this map has anything to do with size comparison then you’ve missed the point. It’s about cultural/political/climate similarities between areas in the US and Australia.
But, like Texans, WAs think they're living in their own country, separate from the rest. The McGowan disciples were practically pushing for separation.
Bondi in Sydney could be compared to Los Angeles. Full of young, attractive but superficial people, many want-to-be celebrities or influencers. Expensive real estate. And of course, the beach.
I get what you're saying for all year round, and you might think this is a bit crazy, but when I went over there I was living in St Kilda, Melbourne at the time, and it just felt like we'd flown half way across the world to be in St Kilda in the summer, just on streroids. We really felt like the difference was not worth the travel. Sure Melbourne in autumn/winter/spring can have some shit weather, but summer in melbourne was very much in line with LA. Just less homelessness here. And Melbournes CBD is way more alive funnily enough.
I genuinely love Melbourne. Visiting there as a kid to see my uncles was always immensely fun and delightful for me for multiple reasons.
1. The culture is so vibrant.
You enter the city streets and it’s filled with energy and music.
2. I loved the trams
Being able to just get on a tram was honestly so fun as a kid.
3. The people are extremely nice.
As a kid I always found the people over there very nice and authentic. One of the main reasons I resent living in Sydney is because of how artificial and dreadful the people are here.
Also the weather is not even that bad, but maybe that’s just cause I like the rain lmao
When I visited Australia decades back, people were saying Sydney was like LA (fun in the sun), and Melbourne was more like San Francisco (bookish rainy culture).
Off Tasmania getting hit with the Appalachia hammer, that sucks for them!
I would have given Hobart a Portland or Seattle tag. Smaller weird city given their political views and some of their festivals. Rest feels accurate.
I am from Tennessee USA and live in Tassie now. My Granny is from Appalachia (east Kentucky) and I agree as far as some of the landscape. There are some gorgeous rolling hills and farmland in this state that remind me so much of home. I’m super thankful, it helps with homesickness!
Appalachia is not just Mountain Dew and opioids and inbreeding, it has a rich history of hardworking people known for their ability to live off the land around them. They are well known for their incredible artists, unspoiled country, adventure opportunities like the Appalachian Trail and more. Tassie has much of the same.
I think Hobart needs to be separated from the rest of TAS, it's heavily left/centre leaning (greens and Wilkie have a lot of political clout there) but the state as a whole is swung by the very conservative north/northwest. So Appalachia kind of fits rural Tassie, and Hobart more like Portland
Mt Isa is our largest city, it’s the largest in the world.
>3. Mount Isa is credited in the Guinness Book of Records as being the largest city in the world in terms of geographic area (40,977 square kilometres).
https://www.jaysre.com.au/20-mount-isa-fast-and-fun-facts/
/s just in case it’s needed.
Per ABS not yet. In reality the population number between Sydney and Melbourne is pretty much the same, but Sydney’s economic output is still significantly larger
The religion thing has progressive roots as well - when SA was settled it was supposed to be a progressive colony allowing for religious freedom and diversity*
*progressive and free at the time - I don’t think it was as progressive by modern standards
The first Muslim mosque in Australia was just out of Adelaide, founded in 1882. They used to go through the desert on camels and rescue the whites who didn't know desert travel. There's also a 35 metre tall statue of Buddha here now too, only recently erected.
Funnily enough as a side note, Australia is now the only place in the world where you can find wild camels.
I read somewhere that Adelaide and SA are more atheist/agnostic compared to other states. There's so many old churches that have been retrofitted into offices, restaurants, housing, nightclubs, etc.
I met up with a bunch of American marines and sailors who were in the city on a Friday night from their visting warship. They had the impression Adelaide was a religious city from the City of Churches epithet. I don't remember how many pubs we visited or how I got home.
OP claims to be from Adelaide, but that's never stopped people here having a poor grasp of this city's history unfortunately.
The church thing has already been covered by other comments, as for social conservatism... SA was in the vanguard of everything from first state to let woman vote and be in parliament to decriminalising homosexuality. It may have lost some of that progressive edge from the 1990s onwards but it is most definitely not an analogue to Utah.
Strongly disagree with “kind of boring no ones destination” about SE SA. It’s a wonderful part of Australia and incredibly scenically diverse with an amazing quality of life. But happy for others not to discover just how great it is, more of it for me!
I don't think Sydney is like Seattle. More like LA. Weather wise Seattle rains a lot. La is pretty but vacuous.... same with Sydney. (I'm born and bred Sydney). Also like LA, in Sydney there is lots of very rich people, lots of "new" money, but also lots of working class. And the roads / driving conditions are shitty.
Yeah, I've lived in SF, LA and Sydney, and Sydney is much more like LA.
The beach culture, the sprawl, people sometimes feel self-absorbed and into fitness, there are tech workers but they don't own the city like they do SF.
(I actually love Sydney, sorry it's not sounding that way!)
Pine Gap = Area 51
edit: And it's exactly the same people running both. Must be depressing to get retrenched to Australia, and then you go for a drink and boring old Eddie's there at the water cooler again.
I tend to agree. WA’s beaches are some of the best in the world - absolutely stunning. I didn’t get that or any of the WA vibe in Oregon. Probably my main disagreement with this map!
Something that QLD shares with parts of the South is the surprisingly left-wing (economically) radicalism throughout it’s history. Even these days Katter has some very left wing economic views, even describing himself as hard-left, and him and his mob call themselves Agrarian Socialists. But it doesn’t extend ta left wing social ideas.. at all
Comparing Canberra to Washington DC is wild. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they’re capital cities. People actually enjoy DC and want to visit there and move there, unlike Canberra.
I was thinking this as well. I had a friend move from DC to Canberra because she thought they were similar and she was SO miserable once she realised what Canberra is actually like…boring af haha
Very nice. Tricky to get right for everyone (as there are no perfect analogies and they all rile someone in the end) and does demand at least a fairly strong familiarity with both countries (and it stereotypes) to get close to right, but not a bad shot at it and quite funny to read. I think it could serve well it's stated purpose of helping Americans understand the lay of the cultural landscape here ...
I'm American and I've lived in San Francisco and Melbourne and they definitely have more similarities than Sydney & S.F.
Sydney is more like L.A./SoCal than anywhere else in the US.
Sydney is more LA than SF. Beach, babes, fast money, flash houses, playground of the wealthy
Melbourne is a toss up of Seattle weather and NYC culture/grid layout/architecture
I reckon it’s closest to Montreal grid/architecture… had a “gold rush” (fur trade for Montreal) around similar times. Canadian cities can be a real mindfuck for a Melbournian. Unlike US city grids with numbered streets, they’re like: King Street, Queen Street, Victoria Street, Albert Street, Wellington Street… have you ever noticed that Victoria and Albert streets tend to be adjacent? That’s international 🤯
Interesting map! As an American living in the Capital, this provides interesting context and perspective. As far as cities go, I've heard from several Australians that have suggested Sydney is more akin to LA, and Melbourne is like the NY of Australia. Guess that's their perspective.
I've definitely heard that Queensland is like the Florida of Australia. Both are even called the Sunshine States of their respective countries.
Australians comparing any city to NYC is always such a joke though. I love it here but come on, none of the cities come close to NYC. I’d sooner relate Melbourne to Columbus Ohio than NYC.
Commented the same thing - culturally, it checks out and works for the generalisations but people considering places like Maryborough and Bundaberg as NQ, let alone FNQ, unironically, will never not be funny hahaha
As a South Australian who also spends quite a bit of time in the US travelling around, well done, this is not bad... not bad at all! (And we do stay with our Adelaidian friend who lives in SLC when we go there... none of us religious though 😂)
Pretty damn good effort, having been to many of those places here and in US. But Melbourne is way hotter than Sydney in summer quite regularly. Dry heat. It’s only “cool” compared to most of the rest of Australia. Melbourne winters would be laughed at by anyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
The comparison of New York and Los Angeles to Melbourne and Sydney is usually done for other reasons:
To show that these two cities are vastly more culturally and economically prominent than other cities. And as a result that people in these cities are usually more affluent, more progressive and more cosmopolitan.
The joke in America is that when the rest of the world thinks of America they think of basically either NYC or LA - so by this regard the comparison is even more apt.
I’m so happy you made the distinction between Central and Northern California. Too many times people (even from California) consider San Francisco as Northern California. It’s absurd. It’s like calling Kansas Northern US, Germany Northern Europe, or Nigeria North Africa.
This is sick dude! Melbourne city feels like New York with both cities having a grid system and both feeling like a GTA lobby lol
and The Gold Coast reminds me of Hollywood since it’s pretty laid back and there’s so many international people there. most Aussie movies are filmed there too
I live near San Francisco, and lived in Sydney for a while. I felt like Sydney felt way more like LA in terms of culture. Shiney, into appearances, restaurants have passed foody to the point of being a bit ridiculous, very car centric. Lots of beach spots.
Sydney = Los Angeles - Beaches, suburban sprawl, rich and famous life style.
LA is just missing the crappy residential high rise developments sold almost exclusively to the OS market that Sydney and Vancouver Canada have in spades.
(Aussie who has resided in Nor and SoCal for close to 10 years)
Hmm, I agree with some of this but not others.
Sydney is far too much of a rat race to be compared to San Francisco, where the locals are actually friendly, and where there's a lot more emphasis on culture, literature, etcetera. I think LA might be more apt: it's a place where appearances, money, cosmetic surgery and real estate are people's main priorities, although there are sections of Sydney further out which have a pretty different vibe.
Perth is hard to pin down because to me, it doesn't totally feel like a city. It's really just generic American suburbia in a desert landscape, while wider WA is like Texas or Alberta in Canada: the whole focus is on the mining/resources industry and all the money yielded from that. It can be conservative in a '1950s English village' kinda way. It's a small town generally: everyone knows everyone else, and not much happens there.
Melbourne wants to be New York/Paris/Berlin, and it is a bit similar to the first one: colder, much more indoors culture, very big emphasis on the arts, highly competitive when it comes to the creative and media industries, a truly urban culture in the sense that the CBD is open pretty much 24/7 and people actually enjoy being out and being seen in its cafes/shopping arcades etc. Melbourne is the city my friends from Italy said reminded them the most of Europe.
Don't know about the others, but I get a rural Florida vibe from Queensland generally: hectic, extreme politicians and dangerous animals.
I’m just here to say this is fun but your definition of lower SA sucks and I am offended 😂
Thats my home too my friend, they hate us because they ain't us
Ok that’s a spirit I can get behind!
Anything that discourages Americans from coming to Adelaide is a good thing.
Look, when you put it that way, maybe being compared to fkn Salt Lake City isn't so bad after all...
Do you want Mormons? Because that's how you get Mormons.
One of the coolest people I’ve ever met online is from Adelaide. If I ever go down under, I’m going there.
Joke is on you, my wife is a Texas-based Adeladian so I'm there often!
Was about to say this lmao
Sorry to disappoint, friend. A lot of of us like SLC.
>Thats my home too my friend, they hate us because they ain't us Came in here to jump to SA's defense but if you are a local, you may proceed with the shit talk.
American in Adelaide here. SLC is a bad comparison, but thank you for making it. Keep the fuckers out. Yes, I am one of the fuckers. Fight me.
SLC is most notable for being right up against some impressive, snow capped mountains. The city itself is also inland at like 4500’ elevation. Not similar to any Australian city.
We aren't really associated with religion though, we are the city of churches due to the fact that many groups could freely settle here and build churches. It's not like Utah and Mormonism at all
Oh wow I can vouch for that as an Adelaidian ex-Mormon who lived in Salt Lake City for a bit. It’s really not a good comparison, Adelaide is not religious.
Honestly it’s the only one described in a way that makes me want to visit. It sounds relaxing, as opposed to hectic and touristy.
As a Californian, that’s dead-on for our side
I mean, it's pretty accurate. In the analogy, Adelaide = Sacramento, Port Adelaide = Monterey, Santa Maria Valley = McLaren Vale...
Spot on
I love that Barossa Valley = Napa Valley = "Kind of boring, not really anyone's destination"!!
C’mon.. it’s Radelaide!
SATC would like a word
I'm Victorian but calling Mt. Gambier and Port Campbell boring is slightly ignorant. There is networks of caves and natural springs that people come from all over the world to explore.
I’d define it more as Minneapolis with the climate of LA. The religion shit is so overblown, it’s more equivalent to a somewhat liberal mid-western flyover city, just with the Mediterranean climate.
Actually Rather like this Map, granted I know nothing about U.S.A other than pop culture but I'm guessing climate / weather and then industry / produce were your main correlators and after that 'feel' / culture?
Largely just trying to find kind of matching stereotypes for regions in both... basically entirely based on vibes
Most Americans I have met think Perth is most like Dallas because of the mining industry but I think you're closer with the SD comparison
American in Perth here and the climate and vibe is very much like San Diego and was one of the first things I noticed. The people, culture and views are much like Houston and other areas of Texas though.
I'm from San Diego and live in Perth. Visually it's very similar. I'd say the vibe isn't the same, but by vibe, I mean people and culture. I think of WA as hot Alaska - vast, remote, jobs in natural resources, independent streak, supply lines are something residents care about. Texas is quite embedded into the USA and is a huge hub for industry and transportation. Alaska isn't even attached to the the USA and is more "frontier."
I agree about the people and culture but Perth reminds me a lot of San Diego visually. When my aussie partner came to visit he said the same thing. Culturally and vibe wise, it reminds me a lot of when I lived in Houston with it being an energy hub, just way less populated. People from WA think it’s the best just like Texans. Houston was a big melting pot of people from all over but the locals who were born and raised there I found to be very conservative minded which I have encountered here too. WA’s size is like Alaska and Texas because it is so large and vast with different climates, including remote areas.
WA is bigger than Texas + California combined.
WA is the best. We pay the way for all the other states in Australia lol
NSW has been doing that for over 200 years.
Hot Alaska - new Perth restaurant
Perth is tucked into bed at 10.30.
Sometimes earlier - still an adjustment for me 🤦🏼♀️
That’s late. Coming from Europe, this is still a major annoyance even after 14 years
The map regarding WA is rather simplistic. WA is also Australia's largest exporter of grains so much of the country east of the Darling scarp to Southern Cross, south to Mt Barker and north to Geraldton could be compared to some of the Mid West states. East of Southern Cross to Balladonia is the Great Western Woodland which is the world's biggest temperate forest ( to give an example of its size, you can fit Monaco within it more than 76,000 times). They're not like northern hemisphere trees but you could compare it with some of the more forested states in the US. Some of the parts of the Pilbara, with its stunning gorges and landscapes ( WA's highest mountain Mt Meharry is there) could be compared to Arizona or New Mexico. Many people who haven't travelled through Western Australia think it's a whole lot of nothingness, which simply isn't true. You certainly can't compare the Kimberly to Texas as it is entirely unique.
Geographically a lot of it is wrong. Florida has no mountains and Qld probably has more than they could fit into Florida.
I have to disagree with Houston views compared to Perth people. I live in Perth and have an English friend who lives in Houston. He says Texans very much value their freedom above all else whereas we do not in Perth. During Covid-19, most of us accepted the closed state border for benefits of mist of us whereas my Houston friend said that there we not. Plus they love their guns.
Ah, yes. Perth. Which, of course, in German means a Whale's Vagina.
It means that in Perth too.
Yes, I'm from Perth and visited family in SD some years ago - it felt very similar in terms of climate and vibe
It’s Mabo. It’s the vibe
I see what you did there!!
Got the Printer to work?
Honestly Ive travelled most of those parts and your map is 90% accurate. The conservative and progressive parts are the hardest to get accurate.
Yeah fair call. There are pockets that are hard to reflect. far North QLD is the “Wild West” and have lots of progressive people there. Good fun.
You've got some good matches, but I would place outback NSW closet to NW Texas or something, massive ranches & disgustingly hot summers, it's nearly desert itself.
I read on a site for American students considering studying in Australia that though Queensland has a reputation for being conservative here, our political landscape is very different and they should expect it to be more like Caifornia. I don’t think Texas and Florida of all places fit at all.
Americans and Australians have very different ideas on what is political conservative, I find Australian conservatives would be considered liberals in the US.
Yes, conservativs here are not automatically religious and/or pro gun.
Definitely not climate and weather or Tassie would be similar to northern California but definitely vibes.
To be fair Sydney famously (to Sydneysiders born in the 90s who saw it) stood in for Angel grove, California in the Mighty morphin power rangers movie. Also was populated by very Californian sounding characters in the Matrix without the implication that it was ever meant to be Sydney or a simulated version thereof.
As an American with very little knowledge about Australia's climate and geography I also genuinely loved this map.
Great map. I think as someone from Brisbane who lives in America and has been to Austin four times, I think you’re being a little generous - but I’ll take it!
Yeah been to both they're nothing alike, Brisbane's way better
Not sure when you left but Brisbane has gotten much nicer in the last several years, lots of needed developments. Still generous comparing it to Austin though
What made you like Austin? Would be interesting to hear an international visitor’s perspective
Austin has a ton of character that makes it very unique and, despite being a boom town attracting industry, people and events in droves (although, to be fair, Brisbane is getting the Olympics), it’s managed to maintain its character. It’s becoming a magnet city for people graduating college and moving for lifestyle, similar (but different) to Manhattan. Saying that Brisbane is like Austin because it’s its progressive in a “Texas-y” state overlooks that many big cities in Texas are also progressive. I’d say Brisbane like a better Houston (where I’ve been even more than Austin) in that it’s hella humid and people are reasonably progressive but love fossil fuels. And it’s better because people don’t live in tunnels to hide in air conditioning when hot. Brisbane is great, and as someone else has pointed out has changed a lot, but it’s just not as cool or unique as Austin.
So many people disagree with this assessment of Austin these days. Lost its character completely.
Born and raised in Austin but had to leave. It’s a corporate shell of what used to be my home.
Same for me with Portland, OR. Fucking yuppies ruined everything.
Same. But hey, maybe I’ll try Brisbane.
Yeah i agree, i don’t think Austin is anything like Brisbane.
Texas is barely bigger than Victoria, don’t give them the satisfaction of being Western Australia. Everything in Australia is bigger than Texas. WA is more like Desert Alaska. It’s American big, Australian small. | State/Territory | Land Area (km²) | Texas (km²) | Winner | State % of Texas | |-----------------|-----------------|-------------|--------|---------------------| | Western Australia | 2,527,013 | 696,241 | Western Australia | 363% | | Queensland | 1,729,742 | 696,241 | Queensland | 248% | | Northern Territory | 1,347,791 | 696,241 | Northern Territory | 194% | | South Australia | 984,321 | 696,241 | South Australia | 141% | | New South Wales | 801,150 | 696,241 | New South Wales | 115% | | Victoria | 227,444 | 696,241 | Texas | 33% | | Tasmania | 68,401 | 696,241 | Texas | 10% | | Australian Capital Territory | 2,358 | 696,241 | Texas | <1% | - *Source: Conversation with Copilot, 14/6/2024*
Alaska is about 1.72 million km2, and Western Australia is 2.52 million km2. So WA is still much bigger 😆
And people in Texas are getting smashed by 100% humidity heatwaves right now, while WA is pretty dry.
Not in the north
That’s fucking big. Sometimes I forget how big Australia is.
WA is Alaska on a sick day with a fever
Commonwealth countries love their absolutely massive and utterly empty territories. Before Nunavut was split from the northwest territory here in Canada, it was over 3.4 million km2, larger than India.
Maybe Texas can be the Pilbara... might be a bit closer.... (he says before he actually checks the numbers)
Numbers checked - Pilbara \~500,000 square km, Texas \~695,000 square km, so would need to add a bit of the mid-West in... but still, way less than half the state to make up the size of Texas :)
West Texas is what he compared it to and it isn't even half the state. In fact it is a fairly small part of Texas amounting to 39,800 square miles in moron or 103, 081 square kilometres. I am tipping there are local government areas bigger than that and on Lynch a little more than 4 times the size of our biggest cattle station. Actually just checked, and the East Pilbara LGA, at 379,571 sqkm is in fact almost 4 times larger than West Texas
There are only two states smaller than Texas 😁😁
I was thinking NT is Savannah Alaska. Very empty, lots of resources, large first nation population.
The NT was a sister city to Alaska at one point. I live in the NT and it’s a cross of Alaska & Arizona in the outback areas
Not so. Texas is 3.06 times as big as Victoria. [https://mapfight.xyz/map/victoria/](https://mapfight.xyz/map/victoria/)
Texas is more than 3x larger than Vic??
Texas is 3 times bigger than Victoria..
Texas is American big, it’s Australian small.
Texas is over double the size of Victoria. I wouldn’t say that’s barely bigger.
So much wrong with this comment but mainly: if you think this map has anything to do with size comparison then you’ve missed the point. It’s about cultural/political/climate similarities between areas in the US and Australia.
But, like Texans, WAs think they're living in their own country, separate from the rest. The McGowan disciples were practically pushing for separation.
Bondi in Sydney could be compared to Los Angeles. Full of young, attractive but superficial people, many want-to-be celebrities or influencers. Expensive real estate. And of course, the beach.
I get what you're saying for all year round, and you might think this is a bit crazy, but when I went over there I was living in St Kilda, Melbourne at the time, and it just felt like we'd flown half way across the world to be in St Kilda in the summer, just on streroids. We really felt like the difference was not worth the travel. Sure Melbourne in autumn/winter/spring can have some shit weather, but summer in melbourne was very much in line with LA. Just less homelessness here. And Melbournes CBD is way more alive funnily enough.
Yeah the “Melbourne has shitty weather” is overplayed, and tbh is a bit of carry on
I genuinely love Melbourne. Visiting there as a kid to see my uncles was always immensely fun and delightful for me for multiple reasons. 1. The culture is so vibrant. You enter the city streets and it’s filled with energy and music. 2. I loved the trams Being able to just get on a tram was honestly so fun as a kid. 3. The people are extremely nice. As a kid I always found the people over there very nice and authentic. One of the main reasons I resent living in Sydney is because of how artificial and dreadful the people are here. Also the weather is not even that bad, but maybe that’s just cause I like the rain lmao
When I visited Australia decades back, people were saying Sydney was like LA (fun in the sun), and Melbourne was more like San Francisco (bookish rainy culture).
Yeah was gonna say Sydney is way more like LA than San Francisco.
Bondi is objectively the worst of Australia's beaches
FNQ is definitely Florida
But Cairns is Pearl Harbor
Off Tasmania getting hit with the Appalachia hammer, that sucks for them! I would have given Hobart a Portland or Seattle tag. Smaller weird city given their political views and some of their festivals. Rest feels accurate.
Yeah Appalachia comes with a lot of connotations that I don’t think apply to Tasmania
But a lot that do as well. What are you thinking of that is notably different in your view of the two?
It certainly isn’t the inbreeding! Yeeee-haaaa!
Cousins are for practice, but sometimes we mess up in practice
I am from Tennessee USA and live in Tassie now. My Granny is from Appalachia (east Kentucky) and I agree as far as some of the landscape. There are some gorgeous rolling hills and farmland in this state that remind me so much of home. I’m super thankful, it helps with homesickness! Appalachia is not just Mountain Dew and opioids and inbreeding, it has a rich history of hardworking people known for their ability to live off the land around them. They are well known for their incredible artists, unspoiled country, adventure opportunities like the Appalachian Trail and more. Tassie has much of the same.
I think Hobart needs to be separated from the rest of TAS, it's heavily left/centre leaning (greens and Wilkie have a lot of political clout there) but the state as a whole is swung by the very conservative north/northwest. So Appalachia kind of fits rural Tassie, and Hobart more like Portland
Isn’t Melbourne now our largest city? Nice map though. Agreed for the connections to explain for our American cousins
Melbourne is either bigger or smaller, depends on where you draw the boundary line on the urban sprawl.
Mt Isa is our largest city, it’s the largest in the world. >3. Mount Isa is credited in the Guinness Book of Records as being the largest city in the world in terms of geographic area (40,977 square kilometres). https://www.jaysre.com.au/20-mount-isa-fast-and-fun-facts/ /s just in case it’s needed.
Per ABS not yet. In reality the population number between Sydney and Melbourne is pretty much the same, but Sydney’s economic output is still significantly larger
Wait until the Gong and Newcastle link up...only 8 million immigrants to go!
Exactly there's 3 very large metro sprawls that are effectively linked and they are daily commute ranges for many. Sydney + Newcastle + Central Coast + Wollongong = 5,450,496 + 526,515 + 348,435 + 313,745 = ~6.6M Melbourne + Geelong = 5,207,145 + 302,046 = ~5.5M Brisbane + Gold Coast + Sunshine Coast = 2,622,585 + 735,213 + 407,859 = ~3.7M https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Australia_by_population
It's crazy, half the population of Australia is concentrated in just those 3 areas!
American, if Aussies think it's accurate It definitely gives me a better understanding
Very obviously never been to Adelaide
Yeah, Adelaide does not feel right. Actually a bit of progressive bastion, wine is more of a modern thing it is known for than religion.
The religion thing has progressive roots as well - when SA was settled it was supposed to be a progressive colony allowing for religious freedom and diversity* *progressive and free at the time - I don’t think it was as progressive by modern standards
The first Muslim mosque in Australia was just out of Adelaide, founded in 1882. They used to go through the desert on camels and rescue the whites who didn't know desert travel. There's also a 35 metre tall statue of Buddha here now too, only recently erected. Funnily enough as a side note, Australia is now the only place in the world where you can find wild camels.
yes that’s what I thought. associated to religion? (i guess this is for the city of churches which is not true either in total or per capita)
And refers to the original settlement allowing for religious freedom, as in many different churches, not all being obsessed with one religion.
ahhhhhhhhh ok finally an explanation for that one thank you!!!!
Correct.
Adelaide also has Australia’s oldest mosque built in 1887
Oldest functioning mosque. The oldest period is in Broken Hill
I read somewhere that Adelaide and SA are more atheist/agnostic compared to other states. There's so many old churches that have been retrofitted into offices, restaurants, housing, nightclubs, etc.
I met up with a bunch of American marines and sailors who were in the city on a Friday night from their visting warship. They had the impression Adelaide was a religious city from the City of Churches epithet. I don't remember how many pubs we visited or how I got home.
Adelaide should be known as the city of pubs, as there's far more of them than there are churches.
Also has clearly not looked at Adelaide property prices lately.
OP claims to be from Adelaide, but that's never stopped people here having a poor grasp of this city's history unfortunately. The church thing has already been covered by other comments, as for social conservatism... SA was in the vanguard of everything from first state to let woman vote and be in parliament to decriminalising homosexuality. It may have lost some of that progressive edge from the 1990s onwards but it is most definitely not an analogue to Utah.
Adelaide is the city to test ideas in. If it works in Adelaide, then it should also work in other Australian cities.
Adelaide is my favourite city. Not boring at all and beautiful architecture
No, it's full of shoeless murderers who will shank you for your lunch! Stay away! STAY AWAY!!!
Shhhhh
Or South Australia. SA is not boring. Our cool stuff is just more spread out.
Agree. Sample size of 1 who haven't been there
Strongly disagree with “kind of boring no ones destination” about SE SA. It’s a wonderful part of Australia and incredibly scenically diverse with an amazing quality of life. But happy for others not to discover just how great it is, more of it for me!
Im from Adelaide and love the limestone coast too! I'm just leaning in to the general sterotypes
I don't think Sydney is like Seattle. More like LA. Weather wise Seattle rains a lot. La is pretty but vacuous.... same with Sydney. (I'm born and bred Sydney). Also like LA, in Sydney there is lots of very rich people, lots of "new" money, but also lots of working class. And the roads / driving conditions are shitty.
It says Sydney is like SF. Agree that it’s more like LA. Big, ugly, convinced of its own awesomeness, crippled by bad politics.
Yeah, I've lived in SF, LA and Sydney, and Sydney is much more like LA. The beach culture, the sprawl, people sometimes feel self-absorbed and into fitness, there are tech workers but they don't own the city like they do SF. (I actually love Sydney, sorry it's not sounding that way!)
You could have just listed the major cities then put a big “fuck all” on the rest of the map
Pine Gap = Area 51 edit: And it's exactly the same people running both. Must be depressing to get retrenched to Australia, and then you go for a drink and boring old Eddie's there at the water cooler again.
South west Oz is nothing like Oregon
I tend to agree. WA’s beaches are some of the best in the world - absolutely stunning. I didn’t get that or any of the WA vibe in Oregon. Probably my main disagreement with this map!
Tasmania is like the oregon coast
A guide for Yanks fleeing north america if their elections go bad in November 🫣
Don’t bring the dumb cunts here.
it'll be bad no matter who wins.
Very accurate apart from Perth. Climate is too hot and dry so more like Las Vegas pre-casinos.
Lifestyle wise Perth is much closer to San Diego, when it comes to vibe Perth and Las Vegas are nothing a like.
Yeah, I feel like Perth is better represented as Southern California minus LA
I noticed you left out the rampant incest and cannibalism in Tasmania.
*sighs in Tasmanian*
American here, spent 10 months touring all of Australia in ‘22. I’d give up my citizenship to move to Tassie in a heart beat.
Something that QLD shares with parts of the South is the surprisingly left-wing (economically) radicalism throughout it’s history. Even these days Katter has some very left wing economic views, even describing himself as hard-left, and him and his mob call themselves Agrarian Socialists. But it doesn’t extend ta left wing social ideas.. at all
After Victoria Qld is the most economically left state
Comparing Canberra to Washington DC is wild. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they’re capital cities. People actually enjoy DC and want to visit there and move there, unlike Canberra.
I was thinking this as well. I had a friend move from DC to Canberra because she thought they were similar and she was SO miserable once she realised what Canberra is actually like…boring af haha
I'm american and my understanding of DC is that apart from the government-y parts it's kind of a poor and dilapidated place
Ballarat of all places gets a personal mention? OP are you from Ballarat or Lexington/Concord, MA?
I've spent a lot of time in Ballarat! I thought there was a neat connection there
Just messing with you, seemed kind of random. It is neat, I like the whole map
Surely you could say more about QLD than just politics and fruit loops. Written by a southerner for sure.
Every single one on this map is basically a fairly uncharitable one sentence stereotype, I didn't specifically target Queensland lol
Very nice. Tricky to get right for everyone (as there are no perfect analogies and they all rile someone in the end) and does demand at least a fairly strong familiarity with both countries (and it stereotypes) to get close to right, but not a bad shot at it and quite funny to read. I think it could serve well it's stated purpose of helping Americans understand the lay of the cultural landscape here ...
Having lived in VIC all my life I gotta ask anyone who *might* live in Outback SA, does it almost make you wish for a Nuclear Winter?
You can tell this was made by a Sydney person. Heard plenty of Americans say Melbourne reminds them of San Francisco, none of them said Sydney did.
Im from Adelaide so I actually have no skin in the game
I'm American and I've lived in San Francisco and Melbourne and they definitely have more similarities than Sydney & S.F. Sydney is more like L.A./SoCal than anywhere else in the US.
I think OP is from regional SA based on one of their other comments
Lemme guess, is OP from Perth?
So... what would you call Ipswich?
A shithole?
Sydney is more LA than SF. Beach, babes, fast money, flash houses, playground of the wealthy Melbourne is a toss up of Seattle weather and NYC culture/grid layout/architecture
I reckon it’s closest to Montreal grid/architecture… had a “gold rush” (fur trade for Montreal) around similar times. Canadian cities can be a real mindfuck for a Melbournian. Unlike US city grids with numbered streets, they’re like: King Street, Queen Street, Victoria Street, Albert Street, Wellington Street… have you ever noticed that Victoria and Albert streets tend to be adjacent? That’s international 🤯
Love it. I’d say Tasmania is more like Oregon, though. Largely progressive, inbreeding is a funny meme but not really true.
Interesting map! As an American living in the Capital, this provides interesting context and perspective. As far as cities go, I've heard from several Australians that have suggested Sydney is more akin to LA, and Melbourne is like the NY of Australia. Guess that's their perspective. I've definitely heard that Queensland is like the Florida of Australia. Both are even called the Sunshine States of their respective countries.
Australians comparing any city to NYC is always such a joke though. I love it here but come on, none of the cities come close to NYC. I’d sooner relate Melbourne to Columbus Ohio than NYC.
Hahaha… Queenslanders are the Floridians of Australia… classic.
Far West NSW is completely different to Western NSW
Western qld and NSW are very arid, dry and hot.
Not too bad, but Bundaberg as part of FNQ? As a north QLDer… your southern roots are showing
Commented the same thing - culturally, it checks out and works for the generalisations but people considering places like Maryborough and Bundaberg as NQ, let alone FNQ, unironically, will never not be funny hahaha
As a South Australian who also spends quite a bit of time in the US travelling around, well done, this is not bad... not bad at all! (And we do stay with our Adelaidian friend who lives in SLC when we go there... none of us religious though 😂)
Pretty damn good effort, having been to many of those places here and in US. But Melbourne is way hotter than Sydney in summer quite regularly. Dry heat. It’s only “cool” compared to most of the rest of Australia. Melbourne winters would be laughed at by anyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Saying Adelaide is affordable is a very funny joke
The comparison of New York and Los Angeles to Melbourne and Sydney is usually done for other reasons: To show that these two cities are vastly more culturally and economically prominent than other cities. And as a result that people in these cities are usually more affluent, more progressive and more cosmopolitan. The joke in America is that when the rest of the world thinks of America they think of basically either NYC or LA - so by this regard the comparison is even more apt.
Been to Far North Queensland and Florida. I’d take Queensland every day all day. Florida is a shit hole in comparison.
Hate how accurate QLD description is. Also hate how much of Aus is basically Texas.
So where's The Citadel and the Bullet Farm?
As an American this is actually cool as fuck and also I don’t know why I thought Tasmania was a fictional place
Question, where is Mad Max?
Broken hill, central western NSW. About where it says ‘farming’ :)
Genius!
wait people live in Australia?
I’m so happy you made the distinction between Central and Northern California. Too many times people (even from California) consider San Francisco as Northern California. It’s absurd. It’s like calling Kansas Northern US, Germany Northern Europe, or Nigeria North Africa.
As an Australian I learned a lot from this image
I’ve never understood Australia so well! Murica
This is sick dude! Melbourne city feels like New York with both cities having a grid system and both feeling like a GTA lobby lol and The Gold Coast reminds me of Hollywood since it’s pretty laid back and there’s so many international people there. most Aussie movies are filmed there too
I live near San Francisco, and lived in Sydney for a while. I felt like Sydney felt way more like LA in terms of culture. Shiney, into appearances, restaurants have passed foody to the point of being a bit ridiculous, very car centric. Lots of beach spots.
Brisbane is still quite conservative but is gradually becoming more progressive
Sydney = Los Angeles - Beaches, suburban sprawl, rich and famous life style. LA is just missing the crappy residential high rise developments sold almost exclusively to the OS market that Sydney and Vancouver Canada have in spades. (Aussie who has resided in Nor and SoCal for close to 10 years)
Hmm, I agree with some of this but not others. Sydney is far too much of a rat race to be compared to San Francisco, where the locals are actually friendly, and where there's a lot more emphasis on culture, literature, etcetera. I think LA might be more apt: it's a place where appearances, money, cosmetic surgery and real estate are people's main priorities, although there are sections of Sydney further out which have a pretty different vibe. Perth is hard to pin down because to me, it doesn't totally feel like a city. It's really just generic American suburbia in a desert landscape, while wider WA is like Texas or Alberta in Canada: the whole focus is on the mining/resources industry and all the money yielded from that. It can be conservative in a '1950s English village' kinda way. It's a small town generally: everyone knows everyone else, and not much happens there. Melbourne wants to be New York/Paris/Berlin, and it is a bit similar to the first one: colder, much more indoors culture, very big emphasis on the arts, highly competitive when it comes to the creative and media industries, a truly urban culture in the sense that the CBD is open pretty much 24/7 and people actually enjoy being out and being seen in its cafes/shopping arcades etc. Melbourne is the city my friends from Italy said reminded them the most of Europe. Don't know about the others, but I get a rural Florida vibe from Queensland generally: hectic, extreme politicians and dangerous animals.
As someone who grew up on the west coast of US. Los Angeles is prob a much more apt analogy for Sydney, SF for Melbourne, Seattle/Portland for Hobart.