Coast Versus Inland: Two Different Queenslands?

To a degree unparalleled in any other major nation, Australia's society and economy shows a spatial dichotomy between a restricted but relatively well‐endowed coastal strip and a vast, under‐endowed interior. Much of the nation's economic history has been shaped by alternating phases of convergence and divergence in the relative fortunes of coast and interior. Queensland is the state which most clearly typifies this Australian dichotomy, the more so because of the high expectations placed on inland development and the recent strong impulse towards coastal growth and inland decline. The persistent and severe decline of the inland has been overshadowed by economic and demographic growth along the coast. The fortunes of the state are increasingly tied to the future of its coastlands.