I. H. Burnley

Selecting Suburbia: Residential Relocation to Outer Sydney

In the larger Australian cities, most residential shifts to the outer suburbs, where most population growth takes place, have been regarded as entailing trade-offs between housing accessibility and the availability of local jobs and services. Declining housing affordability, high levels of unemployment and continued centralisation of jobs and services have repoliticised the situation. This paper reports on a sample of some 400 individuals who relocated from inner and middle-ring areas of metropolitan Sydney in the early 1990s. Whilst environmental amenity and housing quality do influence relocation decisions, and movers are socio-demographically diverse, the dominant concern remains housing affordability with movers typically young and shifting from rental to purchasing tenures. Most experienced marked increases in journey-to-work times and saw friends and relatives less after moving. The study reaffirms that whilst the Australian outer city may not be a place of last resort, large numbers still sacrifice a lot to achieve home-ownership there.

Socioeconomic and spatial differentials in mortality and means of committing suicide in New South Wales, Australia, 1985–1991

Analysis of suicide mortality in New South Wales, Australia is undertaken with reference to marital status and occupational status between 1986-89/90 and with reference to the principal means of committing suicide. Not currently married male manual workers were particularly at risk although marital status variations were significant with both genders and at different ages. Between 1985-91 male suicide mortality rates were significantly higher in inland non-metropolitan regions, especially among younger men, and were higher in inner areas of metropolitan Sydney. While there were no significant variations by marital status in the means of committing suicide there were variations between genders, and there were regional and social class variations in the use of guns with males. The use of guns was a factor in the elevated suicide mortality levels among inland rural youth and men, and among farmers and transport workers while the use of poisons was also significant with these occupational groups. The use of poisons was greater among persons committing suicide in the areas of elevated mortality in inner Sydney and the use of guns much lower.

Exurban Development in Australia and the United States: Through a Glass Darkly

Exurban population growth around Australian cities has been observed for at least a quarter of a century. Low-density residential development of this type has been a concern of land use planners over the same period, with loss of prime agricultural land, costs of service provision, landscape impacts, and overreliance on transport by private automobiles being the main issues. Focusing on Sydneys perimetropolitan region, this paper presents data on exurban growth rates and intraurban migration for the decade 1981 to 1991 and also sketches sociodemographic features of exurban settlers. While the types of people populating exurbia are similar to their US counterparts, rates of exurban growth are much lower. The second part of the paper suggests reasons for this contrast. Although a number of factors regarded as driving exurban growth in the US also operate in Australia, they are argued to have less impact. Other factors relevant in the US do not appear to be significant in Australia The differing spatial structure of Australian and US cities, along with the apparently greater strength of regional planning in Australia, are argued to account for the differences.

Levels of immigrant residential concentration in Sydney and their relationship with disadvantage.

Sydney on a world scale is a significant city of immigrants, having 1 020 000 overseas-born in 1991 and over 900 000 second-generation persons. The Australian 1991 Census included detailed questions on birthplace, language spoken in the home and English language competency. This allows us to measure the extent of immigrant segregation in Sydney on a more reliable basis than has hitherto been possible. With the exception of the populations born in the former Indochina, the Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American groups were not more segregated than the more concentrated continental European groups. For almost all groups, the term segregation is inappropriate. Nevertheless, some of the ethnic concentrations are large and, in western Sydney and the inner southern suburbs, higher proportions of persons with limited English, lower incomes and no jobs reside in concentrations than elsewhere. Economic difficulties are being experienced, more so in several concentrations than among compatriots elsewhere. The concentrations, however, are not the cause of disadvantage and application of the term ghetto, or even enclave, to these concentrations is inappropriate and may contribute to the negative stereotyping of groups.

Immigrant city, global city? Advantage and disadvantage among communities from Asia in Sydney

Abstract This paper examines the patterns of residential concentration and dispersion and the socio‐economic profiles of major immigrant groups from Asia in Sydney at the 1991 Census, taken soon after the largest immigrant boom in Sydneys urban history, which occurred between 1986 and 1988. It makes use of detailed birthplace, language and religion cross‐tabulations by area and socio‐economic indicators, as well as four‐digit occupational data from the Census. It then tests to what extent immigration flows from different parts of Asia have been linked to Sydneys emergence as a global city, and whether the disadvantage or advantage associated with the settlement of some communities is tied to restructuring, globalisation, language difficulties, residential concentration, or other factors.

Population turnaround and the peopling of the countryside? Migration from Sydney to country districts of New South Wales

SUMMARY The notions of ‘population turnaround’ and migration equilibrium are examined in an analysis of outmigration from metropolitan New South Wales to non‐metropolitan districts, with particular reference to the 1976–81 period but with inclusion of data from the 1986 Census of Population and Housing. While the outmigration from Sydney has been substantial, and in some respects resembles the ‘turnaround’ which was underway in other western countries, it has been spatially confined. While the outmigration from Sydney lessened during 1981–86, it still remained significant. Meanwhile, regional labour force migration and movement from other state capital cities was contributing more to the population inflow in southern, western and some northern areas of New South Wales. An analysis of economic correlates of outmigration and more recent sample survey data suggests that while economic factors have been significant in the outmigration, environmental and lifestyle factors have been influential, and that some o...

Residential Location Choice in Sydney´s Perimetropolitan Region.

Perimetropolitan regions of Australian cities have been represented as populated predominantly by lower income, first-home buyers who endure poor accessibility to jobs and services as the cost of obtaining a foothold in housing markets. Perimetropolitan regions may be conceived as consisting of outer suburban, periurban, and exurban residential settings, each of which offers different combinations of housing costs and environmental amenity. These combinations influence the characteristics of people who choose to locate in the three settings. Based on a survey of more than 600 households that chose to settle in Sydneys perimetropolitan region in 1991, this paper compares and contrasts sociodemographic, housing tenure, journey-to-work, and choice factors of movers. Their profiles are broadly consistent with expectations, but there is much heterogeneity within settings and overlap between them. Representations of the Australian outer city as a region of deprivation retain merit, but with considerable qualif...

Change, continuity or cycles: The population turnaround in New South Wales

This study examines population flows from Sydney and other regions to perimetropolitan and coastal areas of New South Wales, the two main foci of the population turnaround since 1971. It uses census internal migration statistics for the five intercensal periods between 1971 and 1996, and estimated resident population statistics between 1997 and 2000. Fluctuating trends are described with respect to variations in age structures of migration flows and net migration gains by SLAs in coastal areas over time. Evidence of fluctuating trends is evaluated in relation to population structure change and local socio-economic multipliers in turnaround areas. The turnaround is far mor than a net migration gain from large metropolitan areas; it is also associated with interregional migration which avoids metropolitan areas, and which is at least in part environment- and amenity-related. The experience of some other countries, such as the USA where net migration reversals in population turn-around regions have occurred, has not been replicated in Australia. While elements of explanation for the complex cumulative causation process of the population turnaround in Australia are discussed, including the issues of fluctuating or cyclical trends, much more understanding of the economic and social factors involved is required.

Socio-demographic structure of Sydney’s perimetropolitan region

The reach of cities extends well beyond the newest outer suburbs to at least the limits of commuting. Beyond the suburbs lie rural lands and urban centres which increasingly take on the function of suburbs. This peri metropolitan region has been researched from various perspectives and there has been a resurgence of interest in recent years. The paper conceptualizes processes driving change in perimetropolitan regions then, using Sydney as a case study, analyses population growth rates and internal migration patterns between 1981 and 1991. Next, a set of social and demographic variables derived from the 1986 Census is analysed to derive four key dimensions of socio-spatial structure, namely: disadvantage, rurality, socio-economic status and retirement.

Disadvantage and male cancer incidence and mortality in New South Wales 1985–1993

Male premature mortality variations from cancers by socioeconomic status and marital status were analysed for the period 1986-1989 and 1990-1993 for New South Wales. Cancer incidence and mortality were also surveyed by statistical local areas within metropolitan Sydney between 1985-1991 and correlation and regression analyses were undertaken with socioeconomic indicators and the modified Jarman 8 disadvantage indicator. Martial status variations were found with most major cancers, with not currently married men being more at risk. Cancers of the oesophagus, oral cavity, pancreas, bladder, kidney, liver and trachea, bronchus and lung were more associated with manual occupations and the disadvantage indicator, while cancer of the colon and melanoma were more associated spatially and occupationally with higher socioeconomic status. An unexpected finding with mortality was an occupational status bipolarity with several cancers, notably with managerial and manual workers. There are implications for the more precise targeting of populations at risk.