History UsefulNotes / OtherAustralianTownsAndCities

** Unfortunately, many Australians don't know about the former, even though it was the only time the war actually reached Australian soil.
*** Actually, the only time it reached mainland Australian soil. Christmas Island was occupied by the Japanese.
*** There were several air-raids on Northern Australia, notably on Broome.

* Alice Springs, that place right in the middle of the map. Surprisingly larger and greener than most tourists expect, but it's still mainly a tourist and Aboriginal town, frequented for travellers on their way to Uluru.

*** According to the '11 census Ballarat is larger (146,000 as opposed to Bendigo's 139,000).

* The largest inland city in New South Wales: is either Maitland (pop 60 000) or Wagga Wagga (46 000). Wagga is technically smaller, but some (Waggarinos, or whatever noun they have for themselves) say Maitland doesn't count due to being only 20 minutes inland.

* Speaking of Albury, its first mayor [[NamesTheSame was named]] [[Creator/JimmyFallon James Fallon]].

** And Perthians are quite proud of the fact that they're closer to Singapore than they are to Sydney

* New Norcia, The only [[HolyCity Monastic City]] in Australia, A Benedictine Community known for their impressive culinary skills, and for being such a ridiculously good stargazing spot the UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} built a Deep Space Antenna there.

** Also, unlike most of the other state capitals Brisbane is not split across multiple local governments (Sydney is split across 31 for example), Brisbane is governed by a single, city council making it Australia's largest local government by population. This is because the Queensland government ''really'' likes combining smaller local governments into larger entities. Most of the other towns on the list have gone through similar processes with the most recent being 2011 (though Brisbane itself and Ipswich were spared ''that'' time)

** Fun fact: large portions of Ipswich sit over an old abandoned coal mine (it's why the city was founded in the first place). The mine was abandoned because of an accident that set the coal seam ''on fire''. And its still burning (or smouldering anyway. It doesn't get much oxygen).
** Also the home of RAAF Base Amberly, the largest, by area, military airfield in the Southern Hemisphere, though a lot of that is empty space). Former home of the F-111 fighters.

* Mount Isa, aka The Isa, once the largest city in the world by area according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Situated in the state's northwest and supported by mining lead, silver, copper and zinc. The town's skyline is dominated by incredibly tall chimneys, which have a semi-iconic status in representations of the place.

* Only one city/town in this area, Canberra, the capital city of Australia. It is located "exactly" between Sydney and Melbourne ("exactly" here being an apparently new definition of the word that Sydney snuck in when no-one was looking), after a spat over which should be the capital of Australia. In the end, the wise decision of "neither" was made and politics was quarantined off into the middle of nowhere so it wouldn't spread. Since most Australian cities are on the coast, building yet another coastal one as the capital would have taken business away from the others, so it was placed about 100 km inland. It's shaped like a giant bullseye, and it has roundabouts fucking ''everywhere.'' It was built on a sheep paddock (which should tell you something about Australia), and is generally considered boring due to being a pre-built city that lacks the population to fill it out. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin Lake Burley Griffin]], the giant lake at the centre of the city, is completely artificial. The wildlife doesn't seem to mind, though.

* Pretty much the main thing Canberra has going for it is its ''ridiculous'' number of universities concentrated within a tiny area - it's practically a ten minute drive between any two of the biggest three, the University of Canberra, the Australian Catholic University, and the Australian National University. The practical upshot is a fairly elevated sense of rivalry; on Facebook, flame wars between UC and ANU students are incredibly common on both universities' profiles, with neither side proving that their "superior" education is paying off.

** And also a little place called Port Arthur, home to the single largest mass shooting with a single assailant in recorded history. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik Until 2011, anyway.]]

* The Torres Strait islands, home to the other major group of [[UsefulNotes/FirstAustralians Indigenous Australian people]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Torres Strait Islanders.]] They've been campaigning to secede from the state of Queensland and have their own territory for yonks.

* Lord Howe Island, an absolutely beautiful, pristine island that's home to the world's southernmost Coral Reef, Kentia palms and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Howe_Island_stick_insect world's rarest bug]]. It also has [[http://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Mycena_chlorophanos_MO-77351.jpg glow in the dark mushrooms]]. [[RuleOfCool Seriously]].

* Perth, the city synonymous with bogans and miners. Famous for being ''really'' far away from every other capital city, it's also home to Music/{{ACDC}} and Music/{{Pendulum}}.

* Marble Bar, known for being so incredibly hot that even the rest of Australia gapes in horror. It's known to get up to ''49.2 °C (121 °F)'' and got a world record of the longest consecutive days of maximum temperatures that went for ''160 days''.

* Perth, the city synonymous with bogans. Famous for being ''really'' far away from every other capital city, it's also home to Music/{{ACDC}} and Music/{{Pendulum}}.

** Fun trivia fact: Perth is almost exactly antipodal to (i.e. "where you'd end up if you dug a tunnel through the center of the Earth from") Bermuda.

* Townsville, the 'capital city' of the North folks. Sure, Cairns has all the shopping... and tourists... and fun things. But Townsville's still bigger! It's also the largest garrison city in Australia, and it's home to a hideous hotel dubbed the 'sugar shaker' after its shape. It also has a huge white stick-figure of Literature/TheSaint painted on the giant stone hill in the middle of town. If you need to ask why anyone would rappel down a sheer cliff to paint a giant stick-figure, [[CrazyIsCool you don't understand Australia]].

* Mandurah, a southern suburb of Perth or the second-largest city in WA (see Geelong). Famous for its dolphins, crabs and for being the fastest-growing city in Australia at the TurnOfTheMillennium.

* Byron Bay, Australia’s fastest-growing culture centre, is home to numerous bands trying to make it big, camper vans on its beaches housing said bands and a vintage train that runs on solar energy. Unfortunately, it’s also home to hipsters and anti-vaxxers. The occasional celebrity is known to buy a home (or two) there.

* Gold Coast, the country's largest non-capital city by a mile, has almost all the major theme parks in Australia: Dream World, Warner Bros Movie World, Sea World, and Wet n' Wild Water World. It used to have hot meter maids in golden bikinis, but instead it now has oldies and screaming brats. Its also the setting of ''Series/H2OJustAddWater''. Surfers Paradise in the City of Gold Coast is one of the locations found in ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Horizon 3''.

* Toowoomba, the state capital of drug use and homophobia. [[SarcasmMode Whoo!]] The third largest inland city in Australia. Famous for suggesting the use of recycled water... reclaimed from sewage for drinking water. Also famous for its annual festival "Carnival of Flowers", though a lengthy drought and a flash flood or two forced its cancellation once or twice.

* On that note there's the state's second largest city, Geelong (which is a wholly separate city, as much as some would like to convince you otherwise). It's best known for being between Melbourne and the coast, having an oil refinery, having the state's largest prison, and being royally screwed over during the gold rush when false maps were printed showing Melbourne closer to the goldfields.

* Perth, the city synonymous with bogans. Famous for being ''really'' far away from every other capital city, it's also home to Music/{{ACDC}}.

* Beerwah, a small town in the Sunshine Coast area about 80 km/50 miles north of Brisbane and home to Australia Zoo, made famous by [[Series/CrocodileHunter Steve Irwin]].

* Townsville, the 'capital city' of the North folks. Sure, Cairns has all the shopping... and tourists... and fun things. But Townsville's still bigger! It's also the largest garrison city in Australia, and it's home to a hideous hotel dubbed the 'sugar shaker' after its shape. It also has a huge white stick-figure of Literature/TheSaint painted on the giant stone hill in the middle of town. If you need to ask why anyone would rappel down a sheer cliff to paint a giant stick-figure, [[CrazyAwesome you don't understand Australia]].

* Toowoomba, the state capital of drug use and homophobia. [[SarcasmMode Whoo!]] The third largest inland city in Australia. Famous for suggesting the use of recycled water... reclaimed from sewage for drinking water. Also famous for its annual festival "Carnival Of Flowers," though a lengthy drought and a flash-flood or two forced its cancellation once or twice.

* Townsville, the 'capital city' of the North folks. Sure, Cairns has all the shopping... and tourists... and fun things. But Townsville's still bigger! It's also the largest garrison city in Australia, and it's home to a hideous hotel dubbed the 'sugar shaker' after its shape. It also has a huge white stick-figure of The Saint painted on the giant stone hill in the middle of town. If you need to ask why anyone would rappel down a sheer cliff to paint a giant stick-figure, [[CrazyAwesome you don't understand Australia]].

* Beerwah, a small town about 80 km/50 miles north of Queensland and home to Australia Zoo, made famous by [[Series/CrocodileHunter Steve Irwin]].

* Bundaberg, the home of Bundaberg Rum and...not much else.

* The Gold Coast has almost all the major theme parks in Australia: Dream World, Warner Bros Movie World, Sea World, and Wet n' Wild Water World. It used to have hot meter maids in golden bikinis, but instead it now has oldies and screaming brats. Its also the setting of ''Series/H2OJustAddWater''. Surfers Paradise in the City of Gold Coast is one of the locations found in ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Horizon 3''.

* Darwin, the smallest capital city in Australia, with a population of around 121,000. Bombed by the Japanese during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974]]. It was rebuilt both times.

* The Central Coast, a region consisting of a number of cities and suburbs between Sydney and Newcastle stretching along the coast; accordingly, it has a ''lot'' of beaches. It was officially counted as part of Sydney or Newcastle before 2005. Home of the pop punk group Music/ShortStack.

* [[UsefulNotes/AustralianWorldHeritageSites The Blue Mountains]] is located on the route between UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} and Bathurst. Contains {{Scenery Porn}} and {{Eiffel Tower Effect}} due to its landscape like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia) Three Sisters]].

* Launceston, in the state’s north, is the second-largest city in the state. Theoretically, it’s a three-hour drive from Hobart, but the continued roadworks on the Midland Highway make it more than that. Known for poetry festivals, the City Park monkeys and being dead even on a Saturday night.

* [[UsefulNotes/AustralianWorldHeritageSites The Blue Mountains]] is located on the route between UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} and Bathurst. Contains {{Scenery Porn}} and {{Eiffel Tower Effect}} due to its landscape like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia) Three Sisters]].
* Don't forget Wollongong - it's the third largest city in the state but due to its close proximity to Sydney [[note]]It's about 80km/50miles or an hour's drive south [[/note]] leads to it being forgotten or counted as a part of the larger city. committed

*** Actually there were several air-raids on Northern Austrlia, notably on Broome

** Perth is actually classified as the most isolated city in the world. Probably not helped (psychologically) that the Easterners still think that the locals live in tin sheds.

* Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia. Home of the Golden Guitar (with no strings) and... very little else. Annually overrun with tourists during the Country Music Festival, but an utter hole the rest of the year. Once regaled as 'The City of Lights' for being the first city in Australia to have widespread electrical lighting, but virtually forgotten in modern times. Large enough that people notice it, small enough that people realise there's very little to notice. SoOkayItsAverage in city form, as some call it.

* Don't forget Wollongong - it's the third largest city in the state but due to its close proximity to Sydney [[note]]It's about 80km/50miles or an hour's drive south [[/note]] leads to it being forgotten or counted as a part of the larger city.

* Darwin, the smallest capital city in Australia, with a population of around 121,000. [[TheWoobie Bombed by the Japanese]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974]]. [[IronWoobie It was rebuilt both times]].