While it has definitely scored points by reducing public debt and improving the credit rating of the state, critics point out that out-sourcing or privatizing public services does not necessarily always translate into greater efficiency, and even more importantly, that Victoria’s economic growth has been achieved at a very high social cost.
However, Melbournians never tire of pointing out, in all modesty, that they have the incredible fortune to inhabit “one of the world’s most liveable cities”. Melbourne may lack a truly stunning natural setting or “in-your-face” sights but with its subtle charms it is a city that grows on you, one that is undeniably a very pleasant place to live, and enjoyable to visit too. Magnificent landscaped gardens and parks in the English style provide green spaces near the centre, while beneath the skyscrapers of the Central Business District (CBD), an understorey of solid, Victorian-era facades ranged along tree-lined boulevards presents the city on a more human scale. The air of approachability is further enhanced by the numerous arcades, lanes and alleys in which are hidden some of the country’s best cafés, pubs and speciality shops.
At the time of writing an extensive and ambitious redevelopment programme is underway which will change the feel of the city – if only by the sheer magnitude of the projects. A host of new public buildings and the new Federation Square by the Yarra just south of the CBD celebrates the centenary of the Australian federation, and will be followed in the next decade by the redevelopment of the Docklands precinct west of the CBD. From this area of unused docks and rotting old warehouses a brand new city will rise, complete with hotels, office and apartment buildings, department stores, marinas and other leisure facilities. This, if nothing else, will at long last put Ava Gardner’s much cited remark from 1959 to rest. She came here to film On the Beach and reputedly summed up her impression: “It’s a story about the end of the world, and Melbourne sure is the right place to film it.”
Actually, change came to Melbourne way before the nineties. Large-scale immigration since World War II has, in a sense, brought the world to Melbourne, shaking up the formerly self-absorbed, parochial WASP mindset for good. Whole villages have come here from Lebanon, Turkey, Vietnam and all over Europe, most especially from Greece, furnishing the well-worn statistic that Melbourne is the third-largest Greek city behind Athens and Thessaloniki.
The European influence is perhaps most obvious in winter, as ancient wooden trams rattle past warm cafés and bookshops, and promenaders dress stylishly against the chill. Not surprisingly, the immigrant blend has transformed the city into a foodie mecca, where tucking into a different cuisine each night – or new hybrids of East, West and South – is one of the great treats. Sport too, especially Aussie Rules Football, is almost a religion here. The Melbourne Cup in November is a public holiday celebrated with gusto, and the city’s fine sporting venues, many left over from the 1956 Olympics, are well used. Melbourne’s strong claim to being the nation’s cultural capital is well-founded: laced with a healthy dash of counterculture,
Melbourne’s artistic life flourishes, culminating in the highbrow Melbourne Festival in the last two weeks in October, and its slightly more offbeat (and shoestring) cousin, the Fringe Festival. The city also takes pride in its leading role in Australian literary life, based around the Writers’ Festival in August. Throughout the year, there are heavyweight seasons of classical music and theatre, a wacky array of small galleries, and enough art-house movies to last a lifetime.
Melbourne Suburbs
Café society finds its home to the north among the alternative galleries and secondhand shops of Fitzroy, and to the south in St Kilda, which has a trendy but raucous nightlife, and the added advantage of the beach. On Lygon Street in Carlton, which fuelled the Beat Generation with espresso, there are now as many boutiques as bookshops and art centres. Grungy Richmond, to the east, can claim both Vietnamese and Greek enclaves, and a diverse music scene in its many pubs, while across the river is the place to shop until you drop: wealthy South Yarra, flanked by self-consciously groovy Prahran and snobby Toorak.
Browsing through markets and shops, cruising across Hobsons Bay, sampling the world’s foods and, of course, sipping espresso are the primary attractions of the suburbs, but if you want to firm up your itinerary with something more concrete, make for the Metro! Craft Centre, just outside the city centre in North Melbourne, the well-designed Zoo in Carlton, or Scienceworks, a hugely enjoyable interactive museum in Spotswood. Also of interest is the Museum of Modern Art at Heide in Bulleen and, a bit further along in the same direction, Eltham with its artists’ colony of Montsalvat.
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