Australian Facts

[Guest The Pom Queen]

AS Australia closes in on the next population milestone of 24 million, which it will reach in February, social researcher Mark McCrindle analyses what life was like when the population was half this — and how we have changed in the 48 years since.

 

1. Australia hit 12m in 1968 and has doubled since then to hit 24m in 2016.

Over the 48 years from 1968 to 2016 Australia’s population increased by 12 million. Over the previous 48 years (1920 to 1968) the population increased by just 6.5 million.

 

2. More people live in the three cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane today than lived in the whole nation in 1968.

 

3. More than one in three Australians (8.6 million) have seen the population of the nation double in their lifetime.

 

4. In the time that Australia’s population has doubled, (1968 to 2016), Tasmania has only increased by one-third (36 per cent) while the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have increased more than two and a half times (252 per cent and 263 per cent respective

 

5. In 1968, there were 83,807 more males than females while today there are 121,292 more females than males.

 

6. Twenty-nine per cent of the population in 1968 was aged 0-14 compared to under 19 per cent of the population today, however there are still one million more under 15s today than then.

 

7. In the time the population has doubled, the number of Australians aged over 65 has more than tripled from 8.4 per cent of the population (1,014,000) to today’s 15 per cent of the population (3,569,556).

 

8. The rate of marriages has dropped by over 40 per cent since 1968 from 8.8 per 1000 population to 5.2 today. However there are around 20,000 more marriages annually than the 106,000 seen in 1968.

 

9. The total birthrate has decreased by a quarter since 1968, from an average of 2.34 births per woman to 1.8 today. However with a population twice as large there are far more births today, exceeding 300,000 annually compared to 240,906 in 1968.

 

10. The death rate has dropped by almost 30 per cent since 1968 and life expectancy has increased by 13.2 years for males and 10.9 years for females to now exceed 80 for males and 85 for females.

 

11. Standard variable interest rates were exactly the same in 1968 as today, at 5.4 per cent while inflation was slightly higher (2.6 per cent) compared to today (1.5 per cent).

 

12. The male average hourly wage was $1.22 and the weekly full time wage was $48.93

which in today’s dollars is $567. The current average weekly full time earnings is almost three times this at $1,484.50.

 

13. Back then, one Australian dollar bought $US1.11 compared to $US0.73 today.

 

14. The maximum marginal tax rate was much higher at 68.4 per cent on $32,000 and over, while for the 2015-16 financial year it is 45 per cent on $180,000 and over. The tax free threshold has also increased from $416 ($4,800 in today’s dollars) to $18,200 today.

 

15. The company tax rate was 40 per cent for private companies and 45 per cent for public companies while for the 2015-16 year it is 30 per cent and 28.5 per cent for small businesses.

 

16. While our population is twice as large, our economy is five times the size it was in 1968. Back then Australia’s GDP was $28,817 million ($334,072m in today’s dollars) while for the 2014-15 financial year was $1,619,195m.

 

17. Men are participating in the workforce much less (male participation rate has dropped from 83.7 per cent to 70.8 per cent) while women are participating much more (up from 37.7 per cent to 59.6 per cent).

 

18. Homes cost five times more. The median Sydney house price was around $18,000 (in today’s dollars this equates to $195,300) compared to the current Sydney median house price which exceeds $1 million.

 

19. But milk, butter and potatoes cost less today.

 

20. Farnham’s Sadie the Cleaning Lady was the top song for five weeks and 1968 was the year that Hugh Jackman and Kylie Minogue were born.

 

21. The postage rate in 1968 was five cents for a standard letter compared to $1 today. Most suburbs had twice-daily delivery service compared to the current three-day delivery times.

 

22. In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Australia bagged five gold medals (17 in total) compared to an AOC target of 13 gold medals (and 37 in total) for Rio in 2016.

[flag of convenience]

Australia is close to the top of developed countries in population growth.

[HappyHeart]

...and still a great place to make a home and a life for many.....

[HappyHeart]

Can we shut the door now though? We need Trump and his wall building expertise....

[Sustain]

Can we shut the door now though? We need Trump and his wall building expertise....

 

Internal and external walls?

[Bobj]

World's biggest convict 'expedition' was almost 228 years ago, landing in Botany Bay, January 1788

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Parley]

Britain is full too according to Noel Edmonds.

[Gbye grey sky]

There are just way too many people on the planet. And for developed nations the ageing population is a major concern and issue.

[Ellie 2]

It isn't nearly as pleasant to live in and around Sydney now as it was in1968.

[starlight7]

The trouble with Australia is that everyone thinks it is very big but in fact it is the driest continent on earth and all the population is squashed in round the edges. They have never even attempted to settle and send water into the dry centre which is an absolute disgrace.

[Suzukiscottie]

The trouble with Australia is that everyone thinks it is very big but in fact it is the driest continent on earth and all the population is squashed in round the edges. They have never even attempted to settle and send water into the dry centre which is an absolute disgrace.

 

It's a disgrace that there is no settlement in the middle of a desert?

 

So send water there? And a settlement will follow? Or vice versa?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dmjg]

It's a disgrace that there is no settlement in the middle of a desert?

 

So send water there? And a settlement will follow? Or vice versa?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Well, the great white elephant at wonthaggi is sitting dormant,

 

It could get fired up, the water pumped north,

 

And a new city called Starlight foundered.

[Parley]

Ever heard of Alice Springs ?

[vickyplum]

Ever heard of Alice Springs ?

 

I doubt the 25,000 people there are taking up much space - I'm assuming @starlight7 was talking about something slightly larger in scale!

[flag of convenience]

The trouble with Australia is that everyone thinks it is very big but in fact it is the driest continent on earth and all the population is squashed in round the edges. They have never even attempted to settle and send water into the dry centre which is an absolute disgrace.

 

Long has the talk been to imitate Israel as an example, Like irrigating the deserts and developing mocha's and the like all to little avail. Aussies and migrants prefer to cluster in narrow localities in the principle cities.

[Bobj]

Long has the talk been to imitate Israel as an example, Like irrigating the deserts and developing mocha's and the like all to little avail. Aussies and migrants prefer to cluster in narrow localities in the principle cities.

 

Oddly enough, some 'notable' Australians proposed an area to set up a Zionist community in the Northern Territory in the early 1900's

 

And, prior to WWII, some more 'notable' Australians worked on a plan to shelter Jewish people in the East Kimberley Region from the Germans. One of the 'notables' was Kimberley Durack, son of one of the Durack Brothers, those of the longest cattle drive in history and brother of Dame Mary Durack, writer of "Kings In Grass Castles" and proposer of water irrigation of the Ord Valley. He began growing crops in the region prior to WWII, which became KRS (Kimberley Research Station) and forerunner of the Ord River Scheme in which the Diversion Dam was the first dam across the Ord and the second dam holding back the waters of Lake Argyle.

 

http://adb.anu.edu.au/essay/9

 

The whole scheme, from the 1960s to about the new millenium, was a hit and miss affair, due to excessive heat, heliothis moths in cotton crops, high fuel and transport costs, etc. Recently, however, the area has shot ahead since farmers started growing sandalwood and other tree crops. So much so, that the Weaber Plains were cleared and a 25 km irrigation channel was built.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[starlight7]

If they had done that and set up a Zionist settlement it would now be a thriving metrolpolis. Those people have more gumption in their little fingers than the rest of our deadhead politicians put together.

[flag of convenience]

Oddly enough, some 'notable' Australians proposed an area to set up a Zionist community in the Northern Territory in the early 1900's

 

And, prior to WWII, some more 'notable' Australians worked on a plan to shelter Jewish people in the East Kimberley Region from the Germans. One of the 'notables' was Kimberley Durack, son of one of the Durack Brothers, those of the longest cattle drive in history and brother of Dame Mary Durack, writer of "Kings In Grass Castles" and proposer of water irrigation of the Ord Valley. He began growing crops in the region prior to WWII, which became KRS (Kimberley Research Station) and forerunner of the Ord River Scheme in which the Diversion Dam was the first dam across the Ord and the second dam holding back the waters of Lake Argyle.

 

http://adb.anu.edu.au/essay/9

 

The whole scheme, from the 1960s to about the new millenium, was a hit and miss affair, due to excessive heat, heliothis moths in cotton crops, high fuel and transport costs, etc. Recently, however, the area has shot ahead since farmers started growing sandalwood and other tree crops. So much so, that the Weaber Plains were cleared and a 25 km irrigation channel was built.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

 

I recall plans to set up a Jewish 'homeland' being discussed and Australia was a considered option. As was East Africa (Uganda, I believe) and don't recall other places. India perhaps?? Anyway would have been an interesting concept. I wonder what Australia would look like today if it had gone ahead? Would it be like Canada? Quebec two languages or even a Zionist state within the Australian Continent?

[flag of convenience]

If they had done that and set up a Zionist settlement it would now be a thriving metrolpolis. Those people have more gumption in their little fingers than the rest of our deadhead politicians put together.

 

Necessity being the mother of invention. Not forgetting a lot of overseas aid as well.

[Bobj]

If they had done that and set up a Zionist settlement it would now be a thriving metrolpolis. Those people have more gumption in their little fingers than the rest of our deadhead politicians put together.

 

Reminds me of the Kalgoorlie water pipeline which was proposed by a bloke who realised the potential of the area. He put it to the 'pollies of the day' who poo pooed it so much that the bloke committed suicide just before the scheme got underway. Squillions of ounces of gold were won after the pipeline was put in.

 

It has also been proposed on a number of occasions to pipe water from the huge and largely unused Lake Argyle to the Murchison, Gascoigne and Perth areas...

 

Cheers, Bobj.