Melbourne Stories

While Sydney wins all the prizes for natural beauty, Melbourne has always considered itself Australia's cultural capital. Trouble was, it never had an architectural landmark to rival the Opera House. That could be about to change.

Federation Square, an ambitious and visually challenging new arts precinct, recently opened in the city centre on the banks of the Yarra River. Locals hope it will become the new face of Melbourne, a striking statement of the city's vibrancy and sophistication.

Like the Opera House, the $450m (£166m) project had a difficult birth, marred by building delays, spiralling costs and a slanging-match between the architects and city fathers. The sandstone, zinc and glass exterior has been the subject of particularly fierce debate. Some people are beguiled by it; others regard it as an architectural monstrosity.

But, love it or loathe it, Melbournites are flocking to Federation Square, which occupies an entire city block. A million people have passed through the principal gallery, which houses the nation's largest collection of Australian art.

Sydneysiders shrug off comparisons with the Opera House as absurd. But the city's claims to cultural superiority cannot be dismissed so easily. Ever since a gold rush in the 1850s transformed Melbourne into a wealthy metropolis, it has been the hub of arts and ideas in Australia, more intellectual, more politically enlightened than its big sister, Sydney. While Sydney has a bigger box office, Melbourne still sets the creative agenda. The arts are more cutting edge here; so is the fashion. The bars are cooler; the restaurants win all the awards.

Melbourne also seems to wears its multiculturalism more easily. There are more black faces around, both of African immigrants and Aborigines. Last week I saw an elderly Aboriginal man drinking coffee at one of the pavement cafés on Collins Street, the city's grandest thoroughfare. It sounds insignificant, but I have never seen anything similar during three years in Sydney.

A Melbourne friend believes that the city offers a better quality of life. "I was at the Opera House the other day," he says, "and looking out over the harbour. It was so beautiful, and yet I had the sensation of living in a bubble, and of very little depth." Andrew Cornell, a columnist with the Australian Financial Review, compared Sydney with a Miss World contestant: great physical attributes but a bit of an airhead. Both cities, he wrote, were just regional centres of four million people. He added: "In Sydney they may have the vistas, but in Melbourne they have the perspective."

Another landmark, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was reduced to a ghostly silhouette last week thanks to forest fires burning north of the city. The pall of smoke prompted thousands of calls to the emergency services from householders fearful of a repetition of last weekend's events in Canberra, where four died and hundreds of homes were destroyed.

Although the flames remained at a safe distance from Melbourne, the city was like a smoky sauna. The fires continue to burn in Victoria and in rural New South Wales. As a result, both Melbourne and Sydney have cancelled fireworks planned for today's national holiday, Australia Day. At least there is some equality.