‘You don't want to be a check‐out chick all your life’: The out‐migration of young people from Australia's small rural towns (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rural Youth Migration Trends in Australia: an Overview of Recent Trends and Two Inland Case Studies
Geographical Research, 2008
Much of what has been written on the topic of Australian rural youth migration trends and processes has often proceeded from data-free, or data-poor grounds. In this context, this paper analyses recent trends in youth (15 to 24 years of age) migration for a temporally-consistent set of Statistical Divisions (SDs) in inland rural Australia, and for local government areas within the Northern Tablelands and Slopes and Ranges of northern New South Wales and the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt. The paper finds that rates of youth loss from rural regions have increased over the past twenty years. Yet the patterns, processes, causes and impacts of rural youth migration are distributed in a spatially-uneven fashion. Some remote areas are receiving net migration gains while booming ‘sea change’ coastal regions have experienced heavy losses. While the ‘flight to the bright city lights’ syndrome is evident, relatively high proportions of young people in the Northern SD of NSW move within their immediate region. Nevertheless, some common understandings concerning youth mobility were also confirmed. Gender differentials in migration propensity between women and men are evident even at quite local scales. Young people are also more likely to search out capital cities than the rest of the population. Most inland areas still continue to experience heavy losses of local youth. A more precise understanding of rural youth migration trends is an important stepping stone in the establishment of a reinvigorated research effort into young rural people's perspectives of their changing life chances in their home communities.
Community Strategies: Addressing the Challenges for Young People Living in Rural Australia
1998
Young people growing up in rural and isolated areas of Australia face particular challenges because structural change to the rural economy has dramatically affected their communities. Structural challenges include limited transportation, health and community services that are difficult to access and not confidential, scarcity of affordable housing, lack of postcompulsory educational opportunities, and few job opportunities. Social and cultural challenges include gender issues such as domestic violence and gender stereotypes, suicide, social isolation and an absence of
Sea change: Re-inventing rural and regional Australia
Transform J, 2002
The ABC's popular SeaChange series has re-popularised the idyll of getting away from big city pressures to high amenity rural and small town settings on the Australian coastline and in select inland localities usually within striking distance of the big cities. This paper addresses: the changing relationships between city and hinterland that enable, or drive, such choices; the reasons why people choose to move; the different types of places in which they settle; and the implications for these places, the settlers and existing residents. Movements from city to country have been going on for a long time, 30 years in their contemporary manifestations in Australia and in other western industrialised nations. Whilst the factors involved are constant, there are significant recent shifts to the balance of forces that make the most recent period, and the scenario for the future, distinctive and worthy of continued attention by researchers and policy makers. Drawing on a long-term research engagement with the subject, the paper is based on a recent public lecture given by the author at the State Library of New South Wales.
Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, 2007
Education, theoretical and vocational, has become an essential requirement for competing in local and global labour markets. In the 21st century, there are few work positions available for school leavers without further tertiary education and vocational training. Traditionally, for the majority of young people, the purpose of education and vocational training has been to satisfy employers’ requirements for a suitable workforce rather than an education for personal enjoyment and benefits. With the globalisation and specialisation of the work force, the education period has become an accepted phase between childhood and adulthood, giving young people the freedom to pursue education for professional gains and work opportunities, as well as for personal satisfaction. This paper discusses the vision of elected councillors for their rural communities and young people’s aspirations for further education and training. The research is based on interviews with local government councillors, co...
Growth and Change, 2010
In this paper we examine the spatial employment patterns of Australia's university graduates in nonurban locations. Using a 2006 data set recording the employment status of 65,661 university graduates 6 months after their graduation we examine how the personal and human capital characteristics of the individual university graduate affect the type of rural location into which he or she enters for employment purposes. The importance of identifying which types of graduates work where is essential for our understanding of the forces that are currently shaping the spatial distribution of human capital across Australia's regions. In order to do this we allocate postcode-based data of graduate employment to one of five remoteness classes, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, that allow us to distinguish between different degrees of rurality. The postcode data are used to associate the ways in which the human capital characteristics of the graduate in terms of the types of university degrees awarded and the universities attended, as well as the personal characteristics of the graduate, are related to the degrees of rurality in his or her employment outcomes.
Looking for Rural Idyll 'Down Under': International Immigrants in Rural Australia
This paper outlines the empirical findings of the first national longitudinal study of almost 1,000 recent immigrants who decided to move to non-metropolitan Australia. The national survey (2008-2010) identified that new international immigrants tend to move to rural areas because of the natural beauty, lifestyle and community spirit to be found there, as well as the idyllic image of peacefulness and a relaxing environment associated with these areas. Natural attractors, such as rurality and climate, were important features of the places which, according to the survey, were particularly liked. However, there is tension between the imagined Australian rural ideal and reality, with remoteness, isolation and parochialism being the key features in how the countryside may be misrepresented. The retention of new immigrants in rural places is very strongly related to constructed attractors – the availability and quality of infrastructure, as well as recreational, entertainment and cultural activities.