One of the first differences I observed upon moving from the east coast of Australia to the west coast was this: all over food packaging, advertising and various media the ultimate selling point over here is ‘Made in Western Australia’, ‘Buy West Eat Best’, ‘Buy WA First’, ‘WA owned’. So bizarre because in Victoria, NSW and Queensland never have I seen any paraphernalia suggesting east coast products are superior.

I asked my West Australian co-workers what the deal was. According to them, theres a wide-spread consensus that WA is the forgotten state, and among many other reasons they’re disgruntled because their state contributes significantly to the national economy with its abundant natural resources and primary industries, but sees nothing in return. Fair enough.

This prompted consultation with trusty wikipedia, which has a delightfully comprehensive list of all the regions in Australia that have beef with each other. Most Australians are aware of the age-old Sydney v Melbourne rivalry, and that NSW and Queensland have held a long rivalry which comes to a head at State of Origin rugby matches. But did you know QLD is shitty with the southern states? Or that Adelaide and Melbourne aren’t speaking because of a bunch of trams?! And apparently there’s a place south of Sydney called Illawarra that hates everyone. Go figure.

What with football rivalries, uni rivalries, sibling rivalry, Australia’s notorious tall poppy syndrome and now more regional rivalries I can’t keep track of who I’m meant to hate….

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