Expressing the 'Top-Flex Identity!
In a typical British or Commonwealth city, there usually exist any number of art galleries, historical museums, and local festivities even in the slowest-paced of communities. Even in the British Overseas Territories, such as Bermuda, such national amenities also exist under similar circumstances.
The Gold Coast, a major metropolitan area to the south of the City of Brisbane in the State of Queensland, is most notable for hosting the significant theme parks associated with Australia. Although the theme parks may not be the sole attraction within the city, the public perception is largely determined by the composition of distinct theme parks located in the areas within.
Within the Gold Coast of Queensland, the most notable of the associated attractions include Dreanworld, Sea World, the Spit, the Warner Brothers Movie World, WetโnโWild Gold Coast, the Gold Coast Wake Park, Bond University, the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens, and a number of smaller amenities, including colleges below the university level. Interestingly, the Gold Coast Airport is divided along the state line between Queensland and New South Wales to the south.
The two largest cities in Australia have largely created a historic rivalry from the earliest days of British colonization as a predominantly penal colony in the modern nation of Australia. When most of the region was part of New South Wales, the penal colony had largely determined the communities of Melbourne (in present-day Victoria) and Sydney (remaining with the State of New South Wales). As the two cities have effectively always been relatively close in population, the City of Canberra has become the stopgap city intended to serve the role of the capital city in Australia, with an intentional urban form that prefers gardens throughout the area of the modern Australian Capital Territory enclave of New South Wales.
Both the Cities of Melbourne and Sydney are located along the ocean. However, the specific oceans associated with either city are different, with Melbourne ultimately leading toward the Southern Ocean while Sydney ultimately leads toward the South Pacific Ocean. Melbourne is located on the north shore of Port Philip, where the Sorrento Peninsula out to Fort Nepean separates the community from the Bass Strait and thus from the modern island of Tasmania. In comparison, the City of Sydney is located nearer the Tasman Sea portion of the South Pacific Ocean, with the associated Welsh Bay defining the city.
As of the early morning on January 19, 2026, portions of the Australian coast north of Sydney are impacted by the Narrabeen floods. If you are impacted by the current Narrabeen floods, then please exercise the precautions that have been advised toโand forโyou and your area.
Within the City of Melbourne, the most significant of attractions include, but are not limited to, the Shrine of Remembrance, the King George V Monument, the Immigration Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Skydeck, and a number of urban contemporary art exhibits and installations. The Scienceworks Museum of Victoria and the University of Melbourne are also highly associated with the city and surrounding area.
Located further to the northeast along the coastline of Australia, the South Pacific City of Sydney is most notable for the architecture identified within the Sydney Opera House. Besides the Sydney Opera House, the City of Sydney is also home to the Chau Chak Wing Museum, the University of Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Sydney Tower Eye, the Australian Museum, Mrs. Macquarieโs Chair, and the Hyde Park Barracks, just to name a few. On the west side of the city, Sydney is also home to the Sydney Bus Museum, while the central city is also home to the Australian National Maritime Museum, the SEALIFE Sydney Aquarium, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for urban interests.
Brisbane is a global city located in the State of Queensland in Australia, in which the community is the state capital. The University of Queensland is located in the major city, with additional amenities including the University of Queensland Art Museum, the Brisbane Maritime Museum, the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, the Brisbane Opal Museum, the Newstead House, and the Brisbane Motor Museum, just to name a few.
In addition to the numerous attractions associated with the City of Brisbane mentioned above, the largest city and state capital of Queensland is also home to the Brisbane South (Nathan) Campus of Griffith University, as well as the Citipointe Christian College in suburban Carindale. Like the City of Adelaide in South Australia, Brisbane is not directly located along the open ocean, instead being located along the Brisbane River approaching the Moreton Bay and the Coral Sea.
The City of Adelaide is the largest city in and state capital of the State of South Australia. Located within Adelaide are a number of significant local, regional, national, and even international tourist attractions, as the city represents one of Australiaโs few major cities. The centerpiece of the City of Adelaide is perhaps the Victoria Square; however, Chinatown to the west is another significant portion of the context of the City.
As not just a regional or national city, but a global city in numerous metrics, Adelaide is home to a number of hotels, restaurants, and related amenities that support global tourism, including museums and historical sites on the northeastern side of the city. The South Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia are each located relatively nearby to the University of Adelaide to the east. A number of urban gardens also surround the central city on all sides, beyond the scope of the Victorian Garden, with the outskirts also containing St. Peterโs College and numerous types of entertainment venues, including, but not limited to, the Adelaide Showground.
Though the inner city is not immediately on the coast, the western end of the Adelaide area is located along the St. Vincent Gulf, with Kangaroo Island located at the southern end of the gulf.
The City of Mildura is a regional city located along the Victorian side of the Upper Murray River and representative of a semi-arid portion of the mainland Australian continent. Directly across the Murray is the significantly smaller Town of Buronga in the State of New South Wales. Though the central city area is located in the State of Victoria, the State of New South Wales contains the Mildura Holden Motor Museum and the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens.
In Australia, the correct direction of driving is on the left side of the road. Between Mildura and Buronga, Highway A20 crosses the Murray River by way of the George Chaffey Bridge. Highway A79 also crosses the region, albeit from northwest to southeast, connecting to Highway B79 once the highway crosses the state line into New South Wales. A number of smaller routes, including local roads C255 and C256, are also related to the community.
Both Mildura and the Permian Basin share basic climatological characteristics; however, with the locations in opposite hemispheres, the seasons in Mildura are always the inverse of the seasons in the Permian Basin. While the Permian Basin is associated with the eastern edge of the Trans-Pecos region of the State of Texas, the community of Mildura is associated with the Upper Murray River and specifically with the Victorian side of the river. On the opposite side of the Murray River is the State of New South Wales, though the community directly across into NSW is significantly smaller than the semi-arid/steppe community of Mildura in northwestern Victoria.
Though both the Mildura area and the Permian Basin may have similar climactic features, the cultural distinction is as dramatic as would be expected between continents. While the community of Mildura is typically identified as a frontier settlement along the Upper Murray River and as a gateway to the Outback further northwest, the Permian Basin has no such Outback region to connect to. Rather than connecting to fully desert communities, the Permian Basin is predominantly identified as a basin for oil extraction and the resulting corporate greed.
Australia, as a nation, has been set up so that, with the exception of the capital city, Canberra, every regional capital is also the largest city for the respective region as well as the primate city. Queensland might have the lowest primacy coefficient, but the Gold Coast community remains around one-third the population size of Brisbane. Even more dramatically, for instance, are communities such as Mildura compared to Melbourne in the State of Victoria and Bunbury compared to Perth in Western Australia.
Highway 1 in Australia represents not just the principal highway representing the country, but also the longest highway route of both the nation and of all nations globally. Only two (2) highway routes are longer, and both are international: the Pan-American Highway and Asian Highway 1. Even then, both of these routes have discontinuities, the Pan-American due to the Dariรฉn Gap and Asian Highway 1 due to the Sea of Japan. Notwithstanding the discontinuities, the Pan-American Highway north of the Dariรฉn Gap and the continental portion of Asian Highway 1 (west from South Korea) are each longer continuous segments of highway than Highway 1 in Australia, though the Australian highway contains a loop with a few accessory routes, including a spur to Darwin and a separate portion for the island state of Tasmania.
Of the United States, Canada, and Australia, not a single one of these nations contains a national capital overlapping the largest city within their respective territories. In the United States, the capital is Washington, DC; while the largest city is New York. For Canada, the respective cities are Ottawa and Toronto, though the latter is a provincial capital city (for Ontario); and for Australia, the cities are Canberra and Sydney, respectively, though Melbourne is only slightly smaller than Sydney by population.
In the United States, state capital cities overlapping the largest cities within their respective states are quite rare, and the same can also be said for many provinces in Canada. In the territories further north in Canada, primate city dynamics exist to greater extents, including the communities of Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit within the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut; though the last community is already more isolated from elsewhere within the Arctic archipelago.
In Australia, almost all capital cities at the subnational level can be considered โprimateโ cities, though the national capital, Canberra, cannot be. The capital cities in Australia include Hobart, Tasmania; Sydney, New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; Brisbane, Queensland; Adelaide, South Australia; Darwin, Northern Territory; and Perth, Western Australia. While the Australian Capital Territory is often mistaken as being coterminous with the City of Canberra, the โgarden cityโ structure idealized for Australia actually results in suburban town areas, largely to the south of Canberra, also being included within ACT.
While Australian capital cities at the subnational level always correlate with the largest cities in their respective states and territories, the national capital, Canberra, is not. Canberra was specifically planned as the capital city out of consistent disputes between the coastal Cities of Melbourne in modern Victoria and Sydney in New South Wales. Unlike the Australian setup, the American and Canadian setups often lack such correlations or centralized power dynamics. For Canada, the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quรฉbec, and New Brunswick contain provincial capitals independent of the largest cities in each province. The other provinces not listed use the largest provincial cities as their respective capitals.
For the United States of America, the States of Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin all use capital cities separate from the largest cities in their respective states. While the aforementioned thirty-two states use capital cities outside the largest cities in their respective states, the eighteen other states are notable for more centralized power dynamics, often resulting in the political outcomes commonly associated with Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The following post contents will refer to the national and subnational capital cities associated with the United States, Canada, and Australia, though the Territories of the United States will be represented in a separate article in the near future:
While New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ is often identified as the edge of the world from a Eurocentric model, as well as an extreme location relative to the Greenwich Prime Meridian, the nation remains a legitimate entity whether or not the land is recognized on the world map.
Australia ๐ฆ๐บ, on the other hand, represents the โmainlandโ of the Oceanian continent, plus accessory islands Tasmania and Kangaroo Island identified as within the โmainland.โ While the coastal regions of Australia can be particularly humid, the vast majority of New Zealand is easily identified as even more humid.
While much of the eastern Australian coast maintains a stable population base and higher density than the interior of the nation and continent, select regions just slightly further inland are effectively at more of a suburban density, specifically because of the climatological differences between the immediate coastal areas and interior regions.
Australia is predominantly a desert nation, not by population, but by area. The vast majority of the nation is at least semi-arid, with large portions of the region fully arid in climatology. Even though Antarctica ๐ฆ๐ถ is technically also a desert in most cases, Australia is more of an inhabited desert, even though the nationโand continentโwere each relatively recently settled by Aboriginal Australians and later colonized by European powers, without significant penetration from Europeans into the Australian interior due to hostile territory.
Today, the vast majority of Australia ๐ฆ๐บ, both as a nation and as a continent, is notable for having a desert or semi-arid climate, including all of Northern Territory except the northern areas, all of Western Australia except by the Timor Sea and around Perth, all of South Australia except for coastal regions including Adelaide, and the western and central portions of New South Wales and Queensland. Only Victoria and Tasmania are sizable states without a significant desert area, though the northwestern portion of Victoria is occasionally semi-arid. The Australian Capital Territory also lacks a desert or semi-arid climate.
Australia ๐ฆ๐บ is a sovereign state representing the entire โmainlandโ area of Oceania, otherwise known as โAustralia,โ particularly in Anglophone contexts. Within Australia, the City of Canberra serves as the national capital, though much of the nation is hostile to human settlement, particularly within the Australian interior and the northern end of the nation. As the only nation in the world to truly span a continent, if Australia could be referred to as a continent specifically, the nation is divided into six (6) states and two (2) internal territories within the mainland, though the island of Tasmania is slightly separated from the mainland largely opposite the State of Victoria.
Within Australia, the six states are Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. The two internal territories of the nation are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The following list is intended to showcase the clearly distinct capitals for each state and territory:
The slight differences between Indonesia and Monaco are associated with the significant geographical separation between the two nations. While Monaco is certainly European, Indonesia is generally Asian and Melanesian further east. Monaco is represented in emoji form with a more European shade of red, while Indonesia is generally more vibrant and less of a crimson red.
Since the vast majority of the modern world is dictated by the European continent, the vast majority of nations to be featured shall be focused on the Global North, including Europe as well as the former colonies perceived as more prestigious in the modern context. Unfortunately, the exploitation in modern capitalism is often associated with such Global Northern countries, while the Global Southern countries are often the recipients of the exploitation, unfortunately. Within the Global Northern context, beginning with what society perceives as the โoriginโ and what the Western world perceives as โsafeโ countries, based on heritage families:
The Global North may often include numerous Asian countries and regions, though many of the countries listed below are often considered either culturally distinct or entirely hostile to the Western world:
Within the Central Asian region, sometimes including the Middle East, the Arab world and the numerous Arab realms are often debated between the Middle East being considered the Global North and North Africa considered part of the Global South. The Arab nations typically associated with the Middle East and sometimes with the Global North begin near the Suez Canal and continue throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The nations typically associated with the โGlobal Northโ in the Arab world are listed below, often notable for sharing economic โsuccessโ stories with the Global North at large:
Each of the aforementioned nations is at least partly identified as included within the โMiddle East,โ assuming a Eurocentric world model. However, culturally related nations in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent include:
The quintessential nations of Central Asia, many of which are deemed hostile to the Western world yet also of which include the Caucasian Mountains, include:
The true Oriental countries of East Asia often refer to the following nations:
Southeast Asia often refers to most of the nations located to the south of the Peopleโs Republic of China east of Bhutan:
While the Philippines ๐ต๐ญ may not typically be included within the definition of Southeast Asia nor Oceania, the nation is often associated with a mix of cultural traits associated with both continental clusters. Firmly within Oceania is where the cultural traits are often significantly more difficult to decipher:
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