In Nevil Shute's dystopian novel On the Beach, Melbourne is the main setting.
The novel takes place after a devastating nuclear war has destroyed much of the Northern Hemisphere. Radioactive fallout is moving southward, and Melbourne becomes one of the last major inhabited places awaiting the contamination's arrival. The setting gives the story a defined geographical and emotional horizon rather than an open-ended post-apocalyptic landscape.
Australian characters and visiting American naval personnel spend their remaining time dealing with work, relationships, family, and the possibility of survival. Shute emphasizes ordinary routines and moral choices instead of presenting the catastrophe as an action adventure.
On the Beach was published in 1957. Readers sometimes answer Sydney because it is Australia's best-known city internationally, but Melbourne is the city named as the principal setting. The title refers to the people waiting on the shore as the end approaches.