Melbourne in lockdown – what’s in a boundary?
When ‘Melbourne and Mitchell Shire’ went back into lockdown last week, it made the question of ‘where-you-draw-the-boundary-on-a-place’ an issue of personal interest to many people. As people who tell stories about places, it’s a question that’s always central to our work. Glenn compares the different definitions of ‘Melbourne’, and why the boundaries are different under each definition.
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Last week, with COVID-19 taking hold again, we woke to the bad news that Melbourne was going back into stage 3 lockdown restrictions to try to contain the spread once more. No family gatherings, only 4 reasons to leave home, cafes restricted to take-away only, no sports or event etc.
One question which we knew would come up is “What is the boundary of Melbourne?”. Particularly the inclusion of the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne – many residents think it should be in regional Victoria, and so not subject to lockdowns. We’ve often reported on these boundary issues – people do care where you draw the line that marks one region from another. But normally it’s a fairly academic interest, important for statistics, and deciding whether Melbourne or Sydney is Australia’s largest city. But when you have roadblocks, restricted travel, and residents on one side of a line having freedoms while others are required to stay home or face strict penalties, the boundary takes on a whole new meaning!
The Victorian government has gone with a Local Government Area-based definition of Melbourne, with a list of 31 Local Government Areas that they define as “Melbourne” in stage 3 restrictions, plus Mitchell Shire, which they regard as outside Melbourne, always adding this to the definition “Melbourne + Mitchell Shire” for the lockdown.
In actual fact, that definition of Melbourne is an older one – similar to but not exactly the same as the “Melbourne Statistical Division”, which the ABS used prior to 2011. Mitchell Shire wasn’t part of that at all, but the newer, updated definition of Greater Melbourne, which has been in use for the past two Censuses includes a part of Mitchell Shire in Melbourne anyway, along with a few other areas outside the LGA-based boundary of Melbourne. The Greater Melbourne definition which is based on SA2s is the one you see in profile.id and economy.id as a benchmark for all our Melbourne Local Government clients, and also as the definition of Melbourne when quoting the official population of the metropolitan area. It’s called the Greater Melbourne GCCSA.
Here is a map of the differences between the ABS “Greater Melbourne” and the lockdown area defined by the state government
The blue boundary is the Greater Melbourne area, which in 2019 had an Estimated Resident Population of 5,078,193 people. The red boundary is the state government LGA-based definition of Melbourne, plus to the north, Mitchell Shire which is in lockdown. The LGA based definition had 4,999,184 people defined as “Melbourne” and an extra 46,082 in Mitchell Shire.
So the population difference isn’t huge. But there are some differences.
- Though they have been considered part of Greater Melbourne since 2011 by the ABS, the areas of Bacchus Marsh, Gisborne, Romsey and Kinglake escape level 3 restrictions as the State Government’s LGA definition doesn’t consider them part of Greater Melbourne.
- The areas of Mitchell Shire of Wallan, Beveridge and Wandong (large growth areas just north of the urban fringe of Melbourne that are expected to have a population over 80,000 by 2041) are considered by the ABS to be part of Greater Melbourne, but not by the State Government. They are included in the lockdown as the whole of Mitchell Shire has been singled out for restrictions as part of the metropolitan area.
- The northern parts of Mitchell Shire such as Seymour, Broadford and Kilmore are not part of the metropolitan area by any definition, but are in Mitchell Shire and so included in the lockdown.
- The easternmost part of Yarra Ranges Shire, east of Warburton, has a very small population (< 500 people), and isn’t considered part of metropolitan Melbourne by the ABS, but is part of the lockdown.
- The inclusion of Mornington Peninsula seems to be generating the most questioning online. It is part of Greater Melbourne by both definitions and has been for over 30 years. The urban extent of Melbourne is contiguous with much of the population on the western side of the peninsula, with no gap in urban areas between Frankston and Mount Eliza. At the time of writing, there were no known active cases of the coronavirus in Mornington Peninsula Shire – but this is another issue. By any definition it’s part of Melbourne.
- Greater Geelong, on the other side of the bay, is generally considered Regional Victoria by all definitions, and is not currently included in the restrictions.
- These boundaries are both different to the “Significant Urban Area” – which is the built-up extent of the city, and which we use in our top 50 cities blog.
So this all comes back to where you draw the boundaries. The ABS moved away from using Local Government Areas some time ago and now define capital cities by a labour market region – where a large percentage of the workforce work within the urban footprint of the city. But Local Government Areas are easier to work with – they are generally signposted, and most people know which one they live in.
Most of .id’s demographic and economic tools are based on Local Government Areas as these are our clients, and they make evidence-based decisions about the communities within their areas.
But when you start enforcing these boundaries as limits necessary to contain a deadly virus, they move beyond statistics and start impacting people’s lives in a much more direct way. Naturally, people are going to question some of the inclusions!
2 questions please: can a resident of Bacchus marsh travel to daughters house in gisborne, vic?
Can 4 people (2 couples) who live in a retirement village travel to a hotel for lunch in the same car (masks on of course)?
Hi there,
We’d like to help, however, we’re not a local government organisation – we write blogs like the one above about population trends, and many of our clients are in local government, however we’re not a local government organisation.
I would suggest you contact your local council (Moorabool – https://www.moorabool.vic.gov.au/ or phone 03 5366 7100), and they will either be able to provide clarity on the guidelines, or direct you to someone who can provide a clear answer.
(Unfortunately, based on my understanding of the latest restrictions, neither of those activities will be permitted, unless you’re travelling for the purpose of giving or receiving care).
Good luck – it’s a tough time, I hope you’re keeping well and in company as much as that’s possible.
Best wishes,
Andrew
I just read your comments on the Melbourne Lockdown boundaries, as a Cartographer I believe they are wrong, the simplest definition is any area that takes longer than one hour to drive under normal circumstances to the Melbourne CDB or a simple 50km radius from the CBD.
I live in Healesville and I know I am in regional Victoria. The horse staring at me in the paddock out side my office window thinks the same.
We have the absurd case in our shire (Yarra Ranges) where a lady lives at Matlock (pop 1) her nearest neighbor is over 5km away, she is 165km from Melbourne 3hrs drive, 73km from the nearest supermarket, has a curfew as part of Melbourne lockdown this is SO WRONG.
The drive time distances for regional Victoria are VERY lopsided favouring the west and north from Melbourne. Like drive time from CBD: Gisborne 44m, Wallan 49m, Lara 53m, Yet in lock down Healesville 1hr 5m, Warburton 1hr 17m, Portsea 1hr 27m, Tonimbuk 1hr 8m clearly Mornington Peninsula, Cardinia and Yarra Ranges Shires have been treated most unfaily they needed to be divided into Regional and Melbourne.
Where I live, for the State Elections in the Lower House I am in the seat Eildon and the Upper House I am in Northern Country both clearly Regional Seats, infact I believe these are the boundareis that the government should use that’ s what Daniel Andrew’s was elected under. He is NOT elected under the Municipal Act.
What do you think ?
Yes, that’s the problem with using a statistical definition based on whole LGAs for virus suppression. It’s a simplistic way of looking at the world. Yarra Ranges as a shire is almost as large as the rest of Melbourne put together, and the most outer parts east of Warburton are not metro, even by the ABS definition (which goes out a long way). But because they are using whole LGAs those places get lumped in. The populations are extremely small but I imagine it is frustrating for those.
The Melbourne Statistical Division, and now the Greater Melbourne area are defined by the ABS using labour market catchments, and by this definition Healesville is definitely part of Melbourne. There are a large share of people working in the built up area, and staring at horses doesn’t make you regional (I have horses within walking distance of me and I’m only 25km from the city). By the ABS definition of Greater Melbuorne which has applied since 2011, Gisborne, Wallan and Bacchus Marsh (not Lara) are all part of Melbourne, but the state government uses whole LGAs and as they’re in Macedon Ranges and Mitchell Shires, they are all put into rural. I agree that Wallan in particular is more urban than Healesville, with a strong connection with the northern suburbs. Greater Melbourne grew more extensively to the east, and this shows in the definition whereby areas much further from the city to the east are considered metropolitan by both definitions.
Perhaps the problem is that an arbitrary metro/regional split based on LGAs is not really suitable for containing a virus. There are large parts of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne which have no more cases than regional Victoria but are part of Melbourne anyway, by any definition, so get restricted in the same way. A good case could be made for including Lara in Melbourne’s restrictions as it’s close to areas like Wyndham which have been known hotspots. But in the end the LGA definition is what’s been used, and it does throw up some odd inconsistencies.
I know this is an old article but recent developments concerning the lockdowns in Melbourne and Sydney caught my attention again. In the mind of an average Australian, what is considered Metropolitan Melbourne or Metropolitan Sydney? Is it the overall Greater Capital City Statistical area or just the area within the urban growth boundary. Does a person who lives in Wonga Park consider themselves to be Melburnian/part of Melbourne or do they think of themselves to be part of a small town in the state of Victoria that is part of the GCCSA?
If I look at the Victorian website or the Greater Sydney Commission site, they seem to count the areas outside of the UGB as part of what they call “Metropolitan” Melbourne or City.
Hi Dinesh,
Thanks for the comment. There is no hard and fast rule about who would consider themselves part of the capital city or not. The ABS uses a labour market definition to define the Greater Capital City region, which tends to go out further than most people expect. Many people in the Central Coast don’t consider themselves part of Greater Sydney, but based on the proportion of population who work within the urban extent of Sydney, it is. State governments and health departments have different definitions – for example, the lockdown in Sydney is often quoted as “Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour”. While Wollongong and Shellharbour are not part of Sydney, Central Coast and Blue Mountains are statistically, and shouldn’t need to be separately identified – but because a substantial proportion of the population don’t believe they’re part of Sydney, it has to be specified in this way.