Thursday Island

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 2,610 people in Thursday Island of these 49.0% were male and 51.0% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 64.6% of the population.

The median age of people in Thursday Island was 28 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 30.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 4.8% of the population.

Of people in Thursday Island aged 15 years and over, 31.7% were married and 9.7% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Thursday Island was 47 years and the median age of people never married was 28 years.

In Thursday Island, of people aged 15 years and over, 31.2% of people were in a registered marriage and 21.6% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Thursday Island was 47 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 34 years.

In Thursday Island 39.1% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 25.7% were in primary school, 21.0% in secondary school and 9.1% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Thursday Island were Australian 36.0%, Torres Strait Islander 18.1%, English 11.1%, Scottish 3.3% and Irish 3.3%.

In Thursday Island, 82.6% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were Papua New Guinea 1.6%, England 1.1%, New Zealand 1.0%, Scotland 0.3% and Germany 0.2%.

In Thursday Island, 83.6% of people had both parents born in Australia and 8.1% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Thursday Island were Anglican 35.9%, Catholic 16.5%, Pentecostal 12.1%, No Religion 8.8% and Uniting Church 4.1%.

In Thursday Island 47.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 15.9%, Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kalaw Lagaw Ya 1.9%, Kriol 1.0%, Meriam Mir 0.4% and German 0.3%.

Employment

There were 1,149 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Thursday Island. Of these 63.4% were employed full time, 20.8% were employed part-time and 4.5% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Thursday Island, 7.6% worked 1 to 15 hours, 5.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 46.8% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Thursday Island was 40 years and for people who were employed part-time was 37 years.

The most common occupations in Thursday Island included Professionals 21.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 17.1%, Community and Personal Service Workers 13.5%, Labourers 13.2%, Managers 12.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 9.6%, Sales Workers 4.9% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 3.2%.

Of the employed people in Thursday Island, the most common responses for industry of employment included Hospitals 14.8%, School Education 12.2%, State Government Administration 6.1%, Local Government Administration 5.9% and Central Government Administration 3.8%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Thursday Island was $707.

In Thursday Island, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 30.8%, Walked only 28.0%, Car, as passenger 14.0%, Taxi 4.8% and Other 2.7%. On the day, 2.2% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 45.0% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Thursday Island, of people aged 15 years and over, 54.8% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 29.1% provided care for children and 9.2% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 16.3% 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 Thursday Island, 22.4% worked 5 to 14 hours, 7.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 7.3% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Thursday Island, 50.9% were couple families with children, 22.3% were couple families without children and 24.7% were one parent families.

In Thursday Island 9.1% of single parents were male and 90.9% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Thursday Island, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,423 and those without children was $2,279.

Employment status of couple families

In Thursday Island, of couple families with children, 27.9% had both partners employed full-time, 5.7% had both employed part-time and 13.0% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Thursday Island, 86.6% of private dwellings were occupied and 13.4% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Thursday Island, 54.3% were separate houses, 22.1% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 21.5% were flats, units or apartments and 1.7% were other dwellings.

In Thursday Island, of occupied private dwellings 3.8% had 1 bedroom, 28.3% had 2 bedrooms and 39.2% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. The average household size was 3.4 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Thursday Island, 6.5% were owned outright, 4.1% were owned with a mortgage and 83.0% were rented.

Household composition

In Thursday Island, of all households, 76.6% were family households, 20.0% were single person households and 3.5% were group households.

In Thursday Island, 12.9% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 15.6% 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 Thursday Island, 41.9% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 19.4% had two registered motor vehicles and 6.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Thursday Island, there were 1,689 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 802 (or 47.5%) were male and 887 (or 52.5%) were female. The median age was 22 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 Thursday Island, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 4, with 1.5 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,407.

In Thursday Island, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $150 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,733.