'Ordinary' Australia probably isn't where you think it is

Updated

(Because it doesn't really exist)

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If politicians and headlines are to be believed, "ordinary" Australians are doing it tough. They're losing out. And every political party stands accused of being out of touch with them.

Now we can add one more problem to the list: their numbers are shrinking. They're so low, in fact, it has left some experts astonished.

If "ordinary" Australia has a capital, it would be Baking Board in Queensland, 300 km north-west of Brisbane. At 3 per cent, the tiny locality has the highest percentage of residents matching at least 10 of the most common demographic characteristics.

To put that in perspective, three of Baking Board's 97 residents fit the bill. It's not many, and that's the point. As Australia becomes more diverse, the proportion sharing the most common characteristics across key measures is falling, census figures show.

For example, the 2016 census found 67 per cent of the population was born in Australia. Two generations ago, it was 81 per cent.

The trend is the same for religion, language spoken at home, marital status, family type — even the sort of home you live in and the number of cars per household.

In short, the most common type of Australian — the "ordinary" Australian — is becoming less common.

So who, exactly, is an 'ordinary' Australian? If you match the description below, then you are the statistically "ordinary" Australian, according to at least one set of measures: You speak only English at home

You were born in Australia

Your parents were born in Australia

You're Christian

Your family has English ancestry

You're in a registered marriage

You live with your spouse and two children

Your home is a free-standing, three-bedroom house, which you own with a mortgage

You have two cars

Your family income is $2,000–$2,999 a week (or $104,000–$129,999 a year)

These were the most common answers (known in statistics as the "mode") to key questions in the 2016 census.

But like all statistical measures, the mode can mask substantial variation. If you match the description below, then you are the statistically "ordinary" Australian, according to at least one set of measures:These were the most common answers (known in statistics as the "mode") to key questions in the 2016 census.But like all statistical measures, the mode can mask substantial variation.

The coloured bars in the interactive below show the distribution of suburbs for six broad descriptions of the most common or "ordinary" Australian.

They are placed according to the percentage of the population that match that description: the darker the colour, the more locations cluster at that percentage. (Tap/hover over the bars to see the numbers.)

How 'ordinary' is your suburb?

Overall, the spread of suburbs is largest for religion and marital status, and smallest for dwelling type and family income.

In Greater Sydney for example, just over half the population is Christian, but there's a huge difference between Haymarket in the inner city (the lowest, at 16 per cent) and Gilead, close to Campbelltown in the south-west (the highest, at 85 per cent).

Similarly, nearly half the population aged over 15 is married but the percentages range from 14 per cent in Darlington to 73 percent in Bungarribee, near Blacktown, in Sydney's west.

Ancestry and family vary less. Just one per cent of Haymarket residents share the most common birthplace and ancestry, compared to 37 per cent in Hardys Bay, on the Central Coast; while Greenhills Beach had the highest percentage of typical families, also 37 per cent. Several suburbs, including Doyalson North and Patonga on the Central Coast, had no typical families.

Here's how it looks on a map. (Select a map to see a bigger version.)

Ordinary Sydney

Christian Ancestry Family Marital status Family income Dwelling

Ordinary Adelaide

Ordinary Melbourne

Ordinary Brisbane

Ordinary Perth

Most cities show a clear contrast between the inner city and outer suburbs. Others show a stark north-south divide.

In Adelaide, the City of Churches, inner city residents are roughly half as likely to be Christian as those in the city's north-east and three times less likely to live in a typical dwelling as those in the city's south.

Why 'ordinary' is actually extraordinary

This is what happens across the country when we add all the characteristics of ordinariness together.

The map shows how the percentage of people who match the profile of "ordinary" falls as we combine these traits, one at a time.

When all these common characteristics are merged, only 5,782 Australians fit the description of an "ordinary" Australian. That's roughly 0.02 per cent of the population.

Taking the crown for Australia's most ordinary "suburbs" are Baking Board in Queensland (population 97) and Boomanoomana in NSW (population 99), each with three "ordinary" residents. But it was in Dianella, Western Australia, that the ABC found Brie Treasure-Hilder, one of the rare Australians matching all the criteria for "ordinary".

"That only 6,000 Australians fit all of those characteristics is just astonishing," Carol Johnson, professor of politics and international studies at the University of Adelaide said.

"It absolutely shows that if the 'ordinary' Australian is conceived in that way, then the 'ordinary' Australian just doesn't exist anymore."

Fatuma Mohamed, 40, lives a few suburbs away from rare "ordinary" Australian Brie Treasure-Hilder in Perth. Ms Mohamed migrated to the country 17 years ago from Somalia as a refugee and has six children. She ticks none of the "ordinary" boxes, but said that didn't affect how Australian she felt.

"My kids they're saying they're Australian, because they grew up here, they study [here] … we are Australian, I feel Australian."

Which may be part of the reason politicians have long resisted the exercise we started with — defining the "ordinary" Australian.

"Politicians use the phrase 'ordinary' Australian to try to create a conception … that fits into their political narrative," Professor Johnson said.

"They don't actually spell it out because that might alienate people. They use it as a broad, vague concept that they hope people identify with … even if they're not really included."

The decline of 'normal'

Economic and demographic shifts mean even broad notions of a "typical" or "ordinary" Australian are losing their appeal as they become decreasingly connected to people's lived experiences.

Large-scale immigration, the civil rights and women's liberation movements, and mass education have all led to seismic shifts in social attitudes and greater freedom in how people should think and behave. Add to this, globalisation, the trend towards "small government" and the rise of a neoliberal worldview in which individuals are ultimately responsible for their own success or failure — all of which have eroded the power of group identity and the notion of a "normal" or "typical" way of life, La Trobe University political sociologist Anthony Moran said.

We see it not only in the breaking down of traditional expectations, but also in the declining influence of mass institutions such as unions, churches and community organisations.

"Communities have become less meaningful to individual lives. Society is much more individualised," Dr Moran said.

"Young people today have many more options when it comes to lifestyle, career, family, even sexual and gender identity … There is, I think, a modern pressure to be individual, to carve out your own biography."

Australia's most and least 'ordinary' suburbs

Why this matters for cities

Researchers have already coined a term for this explosion of diversities, University of Sydney urban geographer Kurt Iveson said.

"With global cities like Sydney and Melbourne, we now talk about "super-diversity", and this is a good statistical picture of that," Associate Professor Iveson said.

Super-diversity recognises the differences within communities that were previously seen as internally similar or consistent. It is the central challenge in how we think about organising our cities, he said.

"This idea of super-diversity ought to be front and centre but the way we think about planning and infrastructure for cities still tends to have an ordinary citizen in mind."

He points to the maps of typical dwelling and typical family. "If you pick your average family — a couple with two kids — they're more concentrated in suburban areas than in the inner city. Is that a pattern of preference or a pattern of exclusion?

"It might be that all these apartments going up in the inner city are one- or two-bedroom because that's how developers make money, and there's not enough three- or four-bedroom apartments. Or even if there are, your average family can't afford to live in them."

A strategy that embraced super-diversity would recognise not just different family types but different lifestyle preferences within those family types, he said.

"We seem to be clinging to this idea that there's a sea of 'normal' with islands of diversity. But actually, it's more and more the other way around … the everyday, the ordinary condition of life in Australia is diversity."

Data notes

For privacy reasons, the Australian Bureau of Statistics introduces small random errors to Census data. This can reduce the reliability of small numbers and produce minor discrepancies in totals and subtotals

"Ordinary" ancestry means a person of English ancestry who speaks only English at home, was born in Australia and whose parents were born in Australia

"Ordinary" dwelling refers to a free-standing house with three bedrooms and two cars, owned with a mortgage

"Ordinary" family means a married couple with two children

Maps were created in Tableau Public

Credits

Topics: population-and-demographics, community-and-society, federal-government, government-and-politics, elections, nsw, vic, tas, sa, qld, nt, wa, australia

First posted