http://blog.id.com.au/2014/populati...st-australian-cities-and-towns-by-population/
I thought this was an interesting read, as people's perceptions of the sizes of our cities and towns is quite often way off from reality. The other thing is that size also depends on where the boundaries of the urban areas is taken, and often differs from one source to another.
Interesting points to note:
- Tasmania and Queensland are well represented for their size, with 3 and 11 centres respectively making the listing.
- South Australia is the most centralised state (with the obvious exception of the ACT, which isn't a state), with only one centre in the largest 50.
- Melbourne is gradually closing the population gap on Sydney.
- Even with less than half of Sydney's population, Perth added almost as many people to its population in the 2008-2013 period as Sydney.
- Townsville is Australia's largest city not within 200km of a capital city, followed by Cairns.
- Although touted as a hotspot, Toowoomba is actually growing slower than nearly all of its QLD regional counterparts.
- Ballarat is still outgrowing its rival in Bendigo in VIC.
- A similar trend can be seen with Mackay growing faster than its southern rival in Rockhampton in QLD.
- Bunbury and Busselton in WA were the two fastest growing regional centres by growth rate between 2008-2013, followed by Warragul and Gladstone.
- Melton and Ellenbrook make the list with extremely high growth rates, but are generally considered as part of Greater Melbourne and Greater Perth respectively.
I thought this was an interesting read, as people's perceptions of the sizes of our cities and towns is quite often way off from reality. The other thing is that size also depends on where the boundaries of the urban areas is taken, and often differs from one source to another.
Interesting points to note:
- Tasmania and Queensland are well represented for their size, with 3 and 11 centres respectively making the listing.
- South Australia is the most centralised state (with the obvious exception of the ACT, which isn't a state), with only one centre in the largest 50.
- Melbourne is gradually closing the population gap on Sydney.
- Even with less than half of Sydney's population, Perth added almost as many people to its population in the 2008-2013 period as Sydney.
- Townsville is Australia's largest city not within 200km of a capital city, followed by Cairns.
- Although touted as a hotspot, Toowoomba is actually growing slower than nearly all of its QLD regional counterparts.
- Ballarat is still outgrowing its rival in Bendigo in VIC.
- A similar trend can be seen with Mackay growing faster than its southern rival in Rockhampton in QLD.
- Bunbury and Busselton in WA were the two fastest growing regional centres by growth rate between 2008-2013, followed by Warragul and Gladstone.
- Melton and Ellenbrook make the list with extremely high growth rates, but are generally considered as part of Greater Melbourne and Greater Perth respectively.
