The Gemfields

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 1,630 people in The Gemfields of these 54.8% were male and 45.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.5% of the population.

The median age of people in The Gemfields was 54 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 14.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 23.9% of the population.

Of people in The Gemfields aged 15 years and over, 46.1% were married and 24.0% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in The Gemfields was 59 years and the median age of people never married was 36 years.

In The Gemfields, of people aged 15 years and over, 45.9% of people were in a registered marriage and 12.1% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in The Gemfields was 59 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 51 years.

In The Gemfields 26.7% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 22.0% were in primary school, 10.3% in secondary school and 6.2% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in The Gemfields were English 31.3%, Australian 25.3%, Scottish 8.9%, Irish 7.1% and German 4.7%.

In The Gemfields, 67.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 5.6%, New Zealand 5.1%, Germany 1.2%, Finland 0.9% and Scotland 0.6%.

In The Gemfields, 66.1% of people had both parents born in Australia and 24.4% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in The Gemfields were No Religion 24.5%, Anglican 22.1%, Catholic 12.9%, Uniting Church 6.8% and Presbyterian and Reformed 4.2%.

In The Gemfields 83.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.6%, Finnish 0.6%, French 0.3%, Tokelauan 0.2% and Dutch 0.2%.

Employment

There were 509 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in The Gemfields. Of these 61.7% were employed full time, 21.2% were employed part-time and 9.4% were unemployed.

Of employed people in The Gemfields, 9.3% worked 1 to 15 hours, 8.0% worked 16 to 24 hours and 57.5% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in The Gemfields was 46 years and for people who were employed part-time was 52 years.

The most common occupations in The Gemfields included Machinery Operators And Drivers 22.0%, Technicians and Trades Workers 17.8%, Managers 15.0%, Labourers 14.3%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 8.9%, Community and Personal Service Workers 7.0%, Professionals 6.1% and Sales Workers 5.4%.

Of the employed people in The Gemfields, the most common responses for industry of employment included Coal Mining 9.6%, Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming 8.1%, Accommodation 5.7%, School Education 4.8% and Construction Material Mining 3.7%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in The Gemfields was $353.

In The Gemfields, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 52.6%, Walked only 9.1%, Car, as passenger 6.1%, Bus 2.2% and Truck 2.2%. On the day, 3.0% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 59.6% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In The Gemfields, of people aged 15 years and over, 59.0% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 13.9% provided care for children and 11.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 18.2% of people did voluntary work through an organisation or a group.

Of people who did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census in The Gemfields, 19.0% worked 5 to 14 hours, 12.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 16.1% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in The Gemfields, 22.6% were couple families with children, 62.9% were couple families without children and 13.7% were one parent families.

In The Gemfields 19.6% of single parents were male and 80.4% were female.

Weekly incomes

In The Gemfields, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,139 and those without children was $1,607.

Employment status of couple families

In The Gemfields, of couple families with children, 16.5% had both partners employed full-time, 2.6% had both employed part-time and 9.9% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In The Gemfields, 71.4% of private dwellings were occupied and 28.6% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in The Gemfields, 74.7% were separate houses, 0.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 0.9% were flats, units or apartments and 24.5% were other dwellings.

In The Gemfields, of occupied private dwellings 29.6% had 1 bedroom, 29.5% had 2 bedrooms and 20.0% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 1.9. The average household size was 2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in The Gemfields, 55.3% were owned outright, 13.8% were owned with a mortgage and 18.4% were rented.

Household composition

In The Gemfields, of all households, 57.9% were family households, 38.1% were single person households and 4.0% were group households.

In The Gemfields, 52.6% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 3.3% of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000.

Mortgage & rent

Proportions are calculated using all tenure types for occupied private dwellings. This excludes visitor only and other non-classifiable households.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households whose rent payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which are not renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households who own their dwelling, and whose mortgage payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which were renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Number of motor vehicles

In The Gemfields, 40.5% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 29.5% had two registered motor vehicles and 16.8% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In The Gemfields, there were 37 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 16 (or 43.2%) were male and 21 (or 56.8%) were female. The median age was 21 years.

Dwelling characteristics

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households. These tables represent occupied private dwellings where at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander person was present.

Average number of people per bedroom includes a miscalculation. For more information see the persons per bedroom correction page.

In The Gemfields, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.9, with 1.5 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $633.

In The Gemfields, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $250 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.