The longer I’ve thought about it, the more convinced I’ve become that Melbourne’s secret is that it’s integrated.
asserted
it → think → it
It’s not a city of enclaves and subcultures – “villages”, says Eddie McGuire – like Sydney.
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McGuire → ’ → Sydney
It’s not that Melbourne is undifferentiated.
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Melbourne → ’ → ?
It’s highly varied.
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It → ’ → ?
But it’s that the borders between these variations are subtle and fuzzy.
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borders → ’ → variations
Probably nowhere is that truer than in sport and the arts, which we will talk about at The Age’s Melbourne Assembly civic forum later this month.
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we → talk → forum
There’s a world, perhaps most of the world, where these things are discrete: different concepts appealing to different cohorts, some dwelling in the overlap, many not.
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some → ’ → overlap
In Melbourne, much more dwells there.
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more → dwell → Melbourne
The Melbourne Football Club has a fan who plays trumpet in the stands, who sometimes can’t make it to games because he has to play with the MSO.
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he → have → MSO
If you run an art gallery, no one will blink if you are a passionate Essendon supporter.
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you → run → gallery
That’s a rarer gift than we know.
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we → ’ → ?
In Sydney, for instance, even sport alone is stratified.
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sport → stratify → instance
You follow union or league, or neither.
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You → follow → union
Tell me what you love and I’ll have a fair chance of guessing which school you went to.
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you → tell → school
That’s not without its benefits: each code has its particularities, its own bespoke culture.
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code → ’ → particularities
But in Melbourne, sport and art mingle seamlessly as participants in a common social drama.
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sport → mingle → drama
It’s not the sum of its economic parts.
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It → ’ → parts
It’s more the mysterious thing that knits those parts together, that gives them greater meaning.
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that → ’ → meaning
That’s why I have enormous sympathy with Nick Cave’s tour producer Paul Sloan’s way of looking at Cave’s concert in the Alexandra Gardens.
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I → ’ → Gardens
Sloan’s battle to stage it was referenced in The Age earlier this week.
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battle → stage → Age
Naturally, as the Bad Seeds’ promotor, he has commercial interests at play.
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he → have → play
It’s not a concert as a mere event.
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It → ’ → event
It’s about the full integration of a Melbourne artist and the city that produced him.
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that → ’ → him
It needs events to sustain it, sure.
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It → need → it
But events can equally erode it where they exist for their own sake, or are mere facsimiles of elsewhere.
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they → erode → sake
I think this is why so many footy fans have such an allergic reaction to the recent phenomenon of blaring out songs after goals; or (more mildly) of announcers introducing the home side player by player to tepid applause; of every break in the game becoming an opportunity for some fan “activation” or other.
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break → think → activation
It’s not that they are new.
asserted
they → ’ → ?
It’s that they’re not of us.
asserted
they → ’ → us
Everyone who has been to watch a major sport overseas will know their origin – usually the NBA or the NFL.
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who → watch → origin
And everyone who has done that will know that in our game, they become impositions from different sports with different rhythms that don’t suit.
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that → do → rhythms
As though the consultants who dreamed them up don’t know Melbourne, and don’t care to because they assume it’s a market like any other market.
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it → dream → market
But Melbourne often spurns things that make sense elsewhere.
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that → spurn → sense
In sport as in the arts, Melbourne has always embraced the new.
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Melbourne → embrace → new
It has always tasted what other cultures will offer us.
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cultures → taste → us
The NFL’s recent visit proved that.
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visit → prove → that
State of Origin works here.
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State → work → Origin
The Australian Open’s evolution got it exactly right.
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it → get → ?
Our Comedy Festival is one of the world’s best because it distils the best of Melbourne: varied, local and international at once, feeding off the energy of a hub.
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it → distil → hub
Somewhere in there is guiding principle.
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principle → guide → ?
Connecting the MCG and Melbourne Park is a great idea, and an integrating one.
asserted
Connecting → connect → MCG
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
