Twelve Cities from Hobart to Lautoka

Hobart was founded in 1804 as a British penal colony, which makes it Australia's second-oldest capital after Sydney. It stands on the River Derwent estuary beside what is described as the second-deepest natural port in the world.

Wollongong sits on a narrow plain between the Pacific Ocean and the Illawarra Escarpment. Its first European settlers, Charles Throsby Smith and Sarah Broughton Smith, arrived in 1823, and coal mining and steel at Port Kembla built the city.

Newcastle began in 1804 as a convict settlement at the mouth of the Hunter River. It is described as the largest coal-exporting harbour in the world, with 143 million tonnes shipped in 2022.

Christchurch was settled by the Canterbury Association colonists of the First Four Ships in 1850 and became a city by letters patent in 1856, the oldest formally established city in New Zealand. Its Maori name is Otautahi.

Tauranga, whose Maori name means resting place or anchorage, became a city on April 17, 1963. Its port is described as New Zealand's largest by gross export tonnage, and kiwifruit and avocados grow around it.

Darwin was founded in 1869 as Palmerston and renamed in 1911. It has been rebuilt four times, most recently after Cyclone Tracy in 1974 destroyed more than seventy percent of its buildings.

Cairns was founded in 1876 after gold discoveries and now serves as a gateway to two UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. Its 2021 census population was 169,312.

Lae is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea, on the Huon Gulf. Amelia Earhart was last seen flying out of its airport in July 1937, and the Allies recaptured the city from Japanese forces in September 1943.

Mount Hagen lies in the Wahgi Valley at 1,677 meters. Mick Leahy, Dan Leahy and Jim Taylor reached the valley in 1933, and the town grew from an airstrip opened in 1934.

Luganville, on Espiritu Santo, is Vanuatu's second-largest city. Its Boulevard Higinson is unusually wide because a United States base commander insisted it carry four tanks abreast.

Nadi is home to Fiji's largest airport, Nadi International, and to the Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple, described as the largest Hindu temple in the Southern Hemisphere. The district held 59,707 people at the 2017 census.

Lautoka, known as the Sugar City, is Fiji's second-largest urban center with 71,573 people at the 2017 census. The Lautoka Sugar Mill, built between 1899 and 1903, remains its largest employer with about 1,300 workers.