Is Melbourne more livable now than in the past?

This year Melbourne, a city founded in 1835, rated perfect scores for healthcare, education and infrastructure in the latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) livability survey, helping it maintain the title of the world’s most livable city for the second year running. However, is the Melbourne now more livable than during pre-settlement? Some people would definitely say that now is better, others would disagree. In my opinion, there is no exact response to this. You would have to consider many different factors, and yet there is no yes or no answer. 

Firstly, what does livable mean. According to the Galileo Wiki, livability is the sum of the aspects that add up to the quality of life of a place, including its economy, facilities and services, environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing, equity, education and learning and government. Since the mid 1830’s, when the first Europeans ‘founded’ our great city, much change has occurred and many of these changes make up what Melbourne is today. No one can deny that the technology nowadays is much more advanced. Electricity has been invented. Television, computers and phones have also become part of our daily lives. Now we are able to do things, which would have been tedious and long during the early settlement period, a lot faster. For example, one of the methods that was used in the past is described very clearly by Richard A. Gould in his book "Yiwara: Foragers of the Australian Desert", ISBN684-71787-5, published in 1960 by Charles Scribner's Sons. It explains how time-consuming and tiring it was. Now, you can light a fire with just the flick of a hand. 

However, though short cuts may sometimes be good, this has made people become lazier. Where the aboriginals walked the lands around 200+ years ago, there are now roads which people drive cars on. Though it may be a faster means or travel, it has caused pollution, global warming… Before European settlement, the indigenous people hunted, celebrated rituals… (learnt from the Koorie Heritage Trail) for leisure. Nowadays up to 70.5% of Australians watched t.v. at home on an average day, watching an average of 143 minutes per day. These statistics stress that people have now become lazier.

Before European settlement, Melbourne had already been settled for 31,000 to 40,000 years by the Wuthaurong, Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people of the indigenous tribes. On our trail this week, I got the opportunity to gain insight into what life was like before, in the eyes of these indigenous people. Donna, our guide from the Koorie Heritage Trust, told us that, even though technology had not developed a great deal, it was pretty much peaceful. The tribes were close knit communities, excluding a few clashes, and the land was undisturbed. People could hunt for fish in the wetlands and gain access to clean water from the Yarra River. Most would be immune to the diseases that were already there and there would rarely be an outbreak of new diseases. Before European settlement, the Indigenous people were happy with their lives and didn’t expect anything better. But as a flock of new immigrants took over the land in 1835, most of this changed. Melbourne became populated with not only foreigners, but their flora and fauna as well. The numbers soared up to hundreds of thousands. Soon, the crime rate rose, pollution became more crucial and global warming. Unknown illnesses broke out and with the blink of an eye, 80% of the indigenous population were gone. Now Melbourne, and the world, is polluted, is being affected by global warming and poverty is occurring in many parts of the world. These are just a few of the problems we face today.

On the other hand, you could argue that there were fewer outbreaks of sicknesses because the population back there was significantly less than now. If there were a higher number of aboriginal people, there might have more diseases. Melbourne is facing global warming, poverty and many other problems, but we are still trying to bring to an end to these disasters. Furthermore, many different facilities have appeared for our leisures that definitely would have existed in the pre-settlement period. There are stadiums for sport, medical centers that provide more advanced medicines than before and gyms where people can 'work out'.

As for education, I am actually leaning towards the past. In the past, the aboriginals passed on their history by orally speaking to them. The children were taught how to hunt, fish and which plants were edible. They taught the next generation things that they actually needed to know! Now, we are taught maths, geography, history... many of which we aren't necessarily going to use in our futures. Comparing the two education 'systems', The earlier one stands out to be more efficient and useful than the latter.

Therefore, after taking into consideration the different parts there are that decide whether a city is livable and comparing them two periods, I still cannot say which was the better time era to live in Melbourne. To me, it really depends who you are, what you prefer, and how high/low your expectations are. I enjoy living in Melbourne in this time period; there are many more facilities available and the technology has evolved (which is what I'd prefer). However, I wouldn't mind living in the past and embracing the many difficulties and simplicities that come my way.

Sources:

http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-firesaw.html

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/a1b5d7636e6719f7ca2570ec00753522!OpenDocument

Galileo trails

Myself :)