Victoria has witnessed significant migration from Melbourne to regional towns during the last decade. The desire for a simpler, more affordable, and less stressful life allowed many Melburnians to pack their bags and ‘seek refuge’ in regional areas and coastal towns, altering the socioeconomic landscape and reshaping communities. With the power of retrospect, we take a look at the patterns of migration, the motivations behind them, and ask whether this trend is temporary or here to stay. A changing market and pandemic spurred shift This demographic shift was most prominent during the last inter-Censal period (2016-2021) and accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Great Resignation”…
Category: Migration
A cycling jaunt One of my pastimes and outlets is cycling along rail trails. They are peaceful and you get a chance to see some amazing Australian countryside.I recently rode to Mansfield in Victoria along what is called ‘The Great Victorian Rail Trail’. There is some spectacular scenery and impressive engineering feats, the chief amongst them being the bridge across the Eildon Dam at Bonnie Doon (How’s the Serenity!).This trip made me reflect on the demographic changes that have occurred in the region and divergent patterns of population growth in these two centres over time. Understanding regional growth To provide context to the nature of regional growth in…
Many people will be aware that Australia’s population growth has rebounded after the lean COVID-19 years. Unprecedented levels of overseas migration have reversed the minimal population growth from the June Quarter of 2020 to the September Quarter of 2021. The strength of the rebound has come as a bit of a surprise, given the levels of pessimism regarding Australia’s demographic and economic outlook during the peak of the pandemic only two years ago. The increase has been unprecedented with the latest data showing a net migration gain to Australia of almost 387,000 people in the year ending December 2022. This is the highest gain to…
In our previous blog “Population growth in New South Wales: Stories from the 2021 Census”, it was revealed that Camden was the fastest growing Local Government Area (LGA) in NSW, going from 78,200 persons in 2016 to 119,325 by 2021; a rate of 52.6%! The next closest LGAs were The Hills Shire (22.0%) and Blacktown (17.7%). Growth in these LGAs was predominantly driven by rapid rates of greenfield residential development in new estates, hence attracting new residents to the area. “Over half of Camden’s new residents arrive from neighbouring Liverpool and Campbelltown” The migration map below shows the most significant net flows of people to…
Over 3,000 Melburnians crossed the Yarra River to call Wyndham home The second series release of the ABS 2021 Census has arrived and one of the datasets that we enjoy exploring is the internal migration. This gives us some understanding of the scale of migration and where people are going. If you have been following our Census 2021 blog series so far, we explored the fastest growing Local Government Areas around Australia. In Victoria, this happened to be in the City of Wyndham. During the inter-Censal period, Wyndham went from 217,118 i 2016 to over 292,000 people by 2021 – a gain of nearly 75,000…
Nothing has been immune from the effect of COVID-19 during the last year. Unsurprisingly, it has also affected metro-regional migration patterns.
With the political demise of Donald Trump, it might have been assumed that the need for walls to divide and separate was on the decline.…