Demographic Reports
Bowen Basin Region 2001
This report provides more detailed 2001 census data for the individual mining-dependent urban centres and localities (UCLs) in the Bowen Basin, comparitive data for all UCLs, the Bowen Basin LGAs, and the whole of Queensland.
Key Points
- The estimated resident population of the Bowen Basin Urban Centres and Localities (UCLs) at 30 June 2001 was 42,059 people, representing a total decrease of 1,483 people or 0.7% per annum since 1996.
- Springsure was the fastest growing UCL within Bowen Basin between 1996 and 2001 with population growth averaging 6.0% per year. The population of Glenden declined by 5.8% in the same period.
- At 30 June 2001 there were 11,253 young people (0-14 years) in Bowen Basin Localities, comprising 26.8% of the population. Glenden was the UCL with the highest proportion of young people (31.3%).
- At the 2001 Census, more than half the population of the Bowen Basin Localities aged 15 years and over (56.4% or 17,683 people) reported that they were married.
- One-parent families averaged 10.3% of all families in the Bowen Basin Localities with proportions ranging from 20.9% in Theodore to 3.5% in Tieri.
- At the 2001 Census, more than six out of every ten people aged 15 years and over in the Bowen Basin Localities were in the labour force, a total of 21,619 people. At that time the unemployment rate in the region was 4.5%. Theodore was the UCL with the highest unemployment rate (8.7%) while Middlemount had the lowest (1.4%).
- Service industries employed over 10,994 people (53.9%) in the Bowen Basin Localities while production industries employed 9,233 people. More than half of all people employed in Blackwater, Dysart, Glenden, Middlemount, Moranbah, Nebo and Tieri were employed in production industries.
- Three-quarters of private dwellings (10,117 dwellings) in Bowen Basin Localities were occupied by family households on Census night 2001 and less than one-quarter (2,892 dwellings) were lone person households.
- Almost three out of every five households (59.3%) in Middlemount had high incomes of $1,500 a week or more compared to only 4.0% in Theodore. All the UCLs in the region, except Nebo, Springsure and Theodore, had high incomes above the Queensland average.
- In Bowen Basin Localities, 56.8% of occupied private dwellings being rented had a weekly rent of less than $100.
Census counts: Number of people counted in an area on Census night. Census counts include usual residents who were at home, as well as visitors from elsewhere in Australia or from overseas. Australian residents elsewhere in Australia or temporarily overseas at the time of the Census are excluded from the area.
Estimated resident population: Number of people estimated to be usual residents of an area. Census count is adjusted to exclude people not usually resident in the area and include people usually resident who were elsewhere on Census night. Further adjustments take into account Census under enumeration and persons who usually reside in the area but were temporarily overseas on Census night.
Note:
Unless otherwise indicated, data are sourced from Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Census of Population and Housing. Australian Bureau of Statistics unpublished
data have been used in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 16. Where boundary changes have
occurred, PIFU has calculated figures for past Censuses by splitting Collection
Districts. Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding.
Population Change
- The estimated resident population of the Bowen Basin Localities at 30 June 2001 42,059 people, representing a total decrease of 1,483 people or 1.2% per annum since 1996.
- On Census night (7 August 2001), 41,847 people were counted in the Bowen Basin Localities, representing a total decrease of 2,837 people or 0.7% per annum since the 1996 Census.
- Springsure was the fastest growing Urban Centre and Localities (UCL) in the Bowen Basin between 1996 and 2001 with population growth averaging 6.0% per year. The population of Glenden declined by 5.9% in the same period.
2001 Population
- With an estimated resident population of 9,831 people at 30 June 2001, Emerald was the largest UCL in the Bowen Basin with 14.0% of the population.
- Nebo had the smallest population of the UCLs in the Bowen Basin, with an estimated resident population of 195 people.
- On Census night 2001, 37,766 people (90.3% of the population) in the Bowen Basin Localities were counted at home. A further 3,125 people (7.5%) were visitors from Queensland, 772 people (1.8%) were interstate visitors, and 165 (0.4%) were visitors from overseas.
- The UCL with the highest proportion of visitors from Queensland was Glenden (13.8%), the highest proportion of interstate visitors was in Clermont (4.0%); and the highest proportion of overseas visitors was in Nebo (1.3%).
Age profile
- At 30 June 2001 there were 11,253 young people (0-14 years) in the Bowen Basin Localities, comprising 26.8% of its population. Glenden was the UCL with the highest proportion of young people (31.3%) and Theodore was the UCL with the lowest proportion (19.8%).
- There were 2,001 older people (65 years and over) in the Bowen Basin Localities at 30 June 2001, comprising 4.7% of the population. In Theodore, 17.9% of the population were older people, while in Tieri only 0.2% of the population was in this category.
- The number of ‘working age’ people (15-64 years) in the Bowen Basin Localities totalled 48,288 people at 30 June 2001, or 67.6%. Dysart was the UCL with the highest proportion (72.8%) and Clermont had the lowest proportion (62.0%).
- Compared to Queensland (Graph 3), the Bowen Basin Localities had a higher proportion of people aged 0-14 years and a lower proportion of people aged 50 years and over.
bblocalities2001/
Language spoken at home
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 92.3% of the population (38,471) reported they spoke English at home and 2.0% of the population (836 people) reported they spoke another language at home.
- The top five languages spoken at home in the Bowen Basin Localities were Tagalog/Filipino (11.0% of all people speaking another language), Italian (8.6%), Chinese (7.8%), Greek (7.4%) and Hindi (3.9%).
- The proportions of people speaking a language other than English at home ranged from a high of 2.8% in Biloela to a low of 0.2 in Tieri.
Birthplace
- At the 2001 Census there were 3,435 people in the Bowen Basin Localities who stated they were born overseas. This was 8.2% of the population.
- Of the UCLs in the Bowen Basin, Glenden had the highest percentages of New Zealand born people (3.7%); Tieri had the highest percentage of people born in the UK and Ireland (3.9%), Nebo had the highest percentage of people born in other parts of Europe (3.0%) and Moura had the highest percentage of people born in Asia (1.6%).
- In contrast, Theodore had the lowest percentage of people born in New Zealand (0.7%) and in UK and Ireland (0.7%), and Springsure and Tieri had the lowest percentages of people born in other parts of Europe and in Asia (0.4%).
Population composition
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 84.6% of the population (35,435 people) stated they had been born in Australia, including 1,268 Indigenous Australians (3.0% of the population in the Bowen Basin Localities).
- Emerald was the UCL with the largest number of Indigenous people with a total of 319 people.
- Springsure (87.9%) had the highest proportion of Australian born people (excluding Indigenous Australians) and Theodore (76.4%) had the lowest proportion.
- The proportion of people born overseas ranged from a high of 9.8% in Emerald to a low of 3.3% in Theodore.
- Emerald had the highest number of overseas visitors (61 people) whilst Dysart, Glenden and Springsure recorded no overseas visitors on 30 June 2001.
Education
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 9,948 people (23.8% of the population) were attending an educational institution in 2001. There were 747 children in pre-school (7.5% of all student), 4,860 students in infants/primary schools (50.6%), 2,602 students in secondary schools (25.3%), and 1,530 students in technical or tertiary education (15.4%).
- Glenden was the UCL with the highest proportion of students in pre-school (11.6%) as well as the highest proportion of students in government infants/primary schools (56.1%). Theodore had the lowest proportion of students in pre-school (4.1%) and Biloela had the lowest proportion of students in government infants/primary schools (25.7%).
- The percentage of children in non-government infants/primary schools (8.0% of all those attending an educational institution in the Bowen Basin) was highest in Springsure (20.7%) but there were no students in this category in Glenden, Nebo or Theodore.
- Theodore had the highest proportion of students in government secondary schools (32.4%) and Emerald had the lowest proportion (13.6%).
- In Nebo, 12.8% of students were attending a non-government secondary school.
- Almost one fifth of all students in Biloela (19.1%) were attending a technical or tertiary institution in 2001 compared to a low of 7.6% in Capella.
Religion
- At the 2001 Census, almost three-quarters of the 41,730 people in the Bowen Basin Localities reported that they were Christians. There were 10,953 Catholics, 9,526 Anglicans, and 4,564 Uniting Church members.
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 13.8% of the population or 5,753 people stated that they had no religion. Proportions ranged from 17.2% in Collinsville to 5.7% in Theodore.
- A further 11.9% of the population in the Bowen Basin Localities (4,982 people) did not state their religious affiliation.
Marital Status
- At the 2001 Census, more than half the population of the Bowen Basin Localities aged 15 years and over (56.4% or 17,683 people) reported that they were married. Glenden had the highest proportion of married people (62.4%) and Nebo had the lowest proportion (44.5%).
- There were 1,098 people who were separated (3.5% of the population of the Bowen Basin Localities). Collinsville and Emerald (4.6%) were the UCLs that had the highest proportions and Springsure (2.6%) had the lowest proportion.
- A further 6.1% of the population (1,908 people) was divorced. In Nebo, 11.0% of people aged 15 years and over were divorced. Glenden (3.8%) was the UCL that had the lowest proportion of divorced people.
- In addition there were 1,129 widows/widowers (3.6% of the population). Theodore (10.2%) had the highest proportion of widows/widowers and Tieri (1.0%) had the lowest proportion.
- Less than one-third of the population (30.4%) of the Bowen Basin Localities had never married. This compares with a high of 34.0% in Nebo and a low of 24.8% in Collinsville.
Family type
- Couple families with children comprised over half of all families (55.6%) in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001. This compares with a high of 68.6% for Tieri and a low of 40.9% for Theodore.
- Couple families without children comprised 33.1% of all families in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001, ranging from a high of 43.7% in Collinsville to a low of 27.9% in Tieri.
- One parent families averaged 10.3% of all families in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001 with proportions ranging from 20.9% in Theodore to 3.5% in Tieri.
Relationships
- Of the 35,912 people in occupied private dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001, husbands and wives accounted for 48.6%, a total of 17,457 people. Husbands and wives accounted for 52.9% of the population in Middlemount, while Theodore was the UCL with the lowest proportion (44.3%).
- There were 1,048 lone parents (2.9% of the population) in the Bowen Basin Localities. Nebo had the highest proportion of lone parents (5.2%) and Tieri had the lowest proportion (0.9%).
- A further 2,899 people (8.1% of the population) in the Bowen Basin lived alone. In Theodore nearly one fifth of the population (18.3%) lived alone but in Tieri only 4.4% lived alone.
- More than one-quarter of the people in the Bowen Basin Localities (28.5%) were children aged under 15 years, totalling 10,226 people. Proportions in the region ranged from 34.0% in Tieri to 23.3% in Nebo.
People per dwelling
- The average number of people per dwelling in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001 was 2.7.
- On average in the Bowen Basin Localities, 2.9 people lived in each separate house, 1.7 people lived in each townhouse, 1.6 people lived in each unit, and 1.6 people lived in each caravan, cabin or houseboat.
- Occupancy rates for separate houses for the UCLs in the Bowen Basin ranged from a high of 3.3 people per dwelling in Tieri to a low of 2.3 people per dwelling in Theodore.
- Townhouse occupancy rates in the Bowen Basin were highest in Dysart with 3.2 people per dwelling. There were no recordings in this category in Capella, Collinsville, Middlemount or Nebo.
- Unit occupancy rates in the Bowen Basin ranged from 1.8 in Emerald to 1.1 in Dysart and Moura.
Dwelling stock
- At the 2001 Census there were 17,381 private dwellings counted in the Bowen Basin Localities, including 2,770 unoccupied dwellings (15.9% of the stock). Unoccupied dwellings made up 28.5% of all dwelling stock in Dysart but only 8.8% in Biloela.
- More than two-thirds of the dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities were separate houses, a total of 12,304 dwellings. Middlemount had the highest proportion of separate houses in its stock (79.6%) and Nebo had the lowest proportion (61.3%).
- Townhouses (2.0% of all private dwellings), units (5.7%), and caravans, cabins or houseboats (4.4%) comprised smaller proportions of the dwelling stock in the Bowen Basin Localities.
- The UCL with the highest proportion of townhouses was Clermont (4.0%).
- The highest proportion of units was in Emerald (11.5%) and the UCL with the lowest proportion was in Glenden with 1.4%.
- In Emerald there were 247 caravans, cabins or houseboats (6.3% of the dwelling stock).
Tenure
- In the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001, there were 14,572 occupied private dwellings and 26.5% of them (3,855 dwellings) were fully owned. Collinsville was the UCL with the highest proportion of fully owned dwellings (51.3%) and Middlemount had the lowest proportion (2.1%).
- The proportion of occupied private dwellings being purchased in the Bowen Basin Localities was 19.3% (2,808 dwellings). Emerald (28.7%) had the highest proportion of dwellings being purchased and both Middlemount and Tieri (0.9% each) had the lowest proportions.
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 46.1% of occupied private dwellings were being rented, including 659 dwellings (4.52%) being rented from Housing Authorities. Biloela had the highest proportion (9.0%) and the highest number (177 dwellings) of Housing Authority dwellings. There were no Housing Authority dwellings in Glenden and Tieri.
Non-private dwellings
- In 2001, there were 1,465 usual residents in non-private dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities. Of these, 45.9% were in nurse/staff quarters, 18.8% were in hotels or motels, and 8.7% were accommodation for the retired or aged.
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, the largest numbers of usual residents in non-private dwellings were found in Emerald (250 people including 95 usual residents in hotels or motels), Moranbah (239 people including 65 usual residents in nurse/staff quarters) and Biloela (182 people including 65 usual residents in).
- In Middlemount, 88.8% of usual residents in non-private dwellings were in Nurse/staff quarters. The UCLs of Dysart (83.5%), Moura (82.9%) and Tieri (87.2%) also had high proportions of usual residents in nurse/staff quarters.
Income
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 5,290 people or 17.1% of the population aged 15 years and over recorded a low income of between $1 and $199 a week at the 2001 Census. Collinsville had the highest proportion (25.9%) in this range and Glenden had the lowest proportion (13.7%).
- There were 4,618 people in the Bowen Basin Localities with an income between $200 and $399 a week in the Bowen Basin, or 14.9% of the population aged 15 years and over. There were also 2,227 people (7.2%) with negative or nil income. Springsure (25.8%) had the largest proportion of people in the $200 $399 income bracket, and Blackwater and Moranbah (9.8%) each had the largest proportion of people with negative or nil income.
- There were 7,511 high income earners ($1,000 or more a week) or 24.2% of the Bowen Basin Localities 0population aged 15 years and over. Proportions ranged from 42.2% in Tieri to 5.7% in Theodore.
Mortgage
- Of 2,769 occupied private dwellings being purchased in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001, 35.5% had repayments of between $400 and $799 a month. In Glenden and Tieri all dwellings had repayments in this range, while in Middlemount no dwellings had repayments in this range.
- Low repayments of less than $400 a month applied to 24.8% of dwellings being purchased in the Bowen Basin Localities. Middlemount had 100% of repayments in this range, while the UCLs of Glenden, Theodore and Tieri had no repayments in this range.
- High repayments of $2,000 a month or more applied to 2.4% of dwellings being purchased in the Bowen Basin Localities. Capella had the highest proportion with 6.0%.
Rent
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, there were 6,790 occupied private dwellings being rented in 2001.
- Low rents of less than $100 a week applied to (56.8%) of rental dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities (3,857 dwellings). Tieri had the largest proportion of low rents (87.8%) while Emerald had the lowest proportion (28.7%).
- High rents of $400 a week or more applied to 0.4% of all rental dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities (30 dwellings). Clermont had the largest proportion of high rents (1.7%).
Usual residence
- These tables are available only for Statistical Local Area (SLA) and above.
Different address by age group
- These tables are available only for Statistical Local Area (SLA) and above.
Labour force status
- At the 2001 Census, more than six out of every ten people aged 15 years and over in the Bowen Basin Localities were in the labour force, a total of 21,619 people. At that time the unemployment rate in the region was 4.5%.
- Theodore was the UCL with the highest unemployment rate (8.7%) while Middlemount had the lowest (1.4%).
- Glenden (76.0%) had the highest labour force participation rate of the Bowen Basin UCLS while Collinsville (50.4%) had the lowest rate.
- The highest proportion of people aged 15 years and over employed full-time was in Glenden (57.1%). Moura had the highest proportion of part-time employees (18.7%).
Occupation
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 4,798 people (23.3% of employed people) were employed as intermediate production and transport workers, and a further 4,533 people (22.0%) were professionals or associate professionals. The proportion of people employed in trades and related occupations was 18.7% (3,862 people) and the proportion employed as labourers and related occupations was 10.1% (2,073 people).
- Blackwater was the UCL with the highest proportion of people employed as intermediate production and transport workers (32.8%) while Biloela (26.2%) had the highest proportion of people employed as professionals or associate professionals.
- More than one-quarter of employed people in Dysart (25.4%) worked in trades and related occupations and in Nebo, 18.8% of employed people worked in labouring and related occupations.
Industry
- Service industries employed almost 11,000 of the people in the Bowen Basin Localities in 2001 while production industries employed approximately 9,000 people. More than half of all people employed in Blackwater, Dysart, Glenden, Middlemount, Moranbah, Nebo and Tieri were employed in production industries.
- There were 2,481 people (12.0%) in the Bowen Basin Localities who were employed in retail trade. Emerald was the UCL with the highest proportion (15.9%) and Nebo had the lowest proportion (2.9%).
- There were 1,467 people (7.1%) in the Bowen Basin Localities who were employed in construction. Nebo had the highest proportion in this industry (15.7%) and Tieri was the UCL with the lowest proportion (2.9%).
- The 1,405 people employed in the education industry comprised 6.8% of employed people in the Bowen Basin Localities. Capella (11.6%) had the highest proportion of employed people in this industry and Nebo (2.9%) had the lowest proportion.
Qualifications
- Of the 31,064 people aged 15 years and over in the Bowen Basin Localities, 2,016 people (6.5%) had obtained a bachelor degree since leaving school and 6,297 people (20.3%) had a trade certificate. A further 217 people (0.7%) had a postgraduate degree.
- In the Bowen Basin, the proportions of people aged 15 years and over with a bachelor degree varied from 7.9% in Tieri to 3.8% in Collinsville.
- The proportion of people with a trade certificate in the Bowen Basin ranged from a high of 27.5% in Tieri to a low of 10.6% in Theodore.
Field of study
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 15.4% of people aged 15 years and over (4,797 people) had a qualification in the field of engineering (and related fields). An additional 1,122 people (3.6%) had a qualification in the field of education, and 777 people (2.5%) had a qualification in the field of health.
- Tieri (25.0%) was the UCL with the highest proportion of people aged 15 years and over with a qualification in the field of engineering.
- In Emerald, 4.3% of the population had a qualification in the field of education and in Springsure 4.9% had a qualification in the field of health, the highest proportions in the region.
Travel to work
- On Census day 2001, 14,690 people or 71.0% of employed people in the Bowen Basin Localities travelled to work by car. Bus only was used by 487 people (2.4%) as a mode of transport to travel to work, while 1,222 people (5.9%) walked to work. In addition, 456 people (2.2% of employed people) worked at home.
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, the proportions of people travelling to work by car ranged from 77.8% in Middlemount to 55.9% in Theodore.
- Biloela was the UCL with the highest proportion (6.2%) of bus patronage, while 25.1% of employed persons in Theodore walked to work.
- The proportions of people cycling to work were relatively low in the Bowen Basin Localities, the highest proportion being 2.8% in Capella.
- The proportion of people working at home ranged from 5.9% in Springsure to 1.1% in both Dysart and Tieri.
Motor vehicles
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, there were 5,803 occupied private dwellings (39.8%) with one vehicle parked on Census night 2001 while 5,406 dwellings (37.1%) had two vehicles parked. A further 834 dwellings (5.7%) were without vehicles and 1,631 dwellings (11.2%) had three or more vehicles parked.
- More than half the dwellings in Tieri (50.4%) had two vehicles parked and 17.6% of dwellings in Capella had three or more vehicles parked on Census night.
- Theodore was the UCL that had the highest percentage of dwellings without a vehicle (14.4%) while Middlemount had the lowest percentage (0.5%).
- The proportion of dwellings with one vehicle parked ranged from 45.6% in Biloela to 31.4% in Tieri.
Households
- Nearly three-quarters of private dwellings in the Bowen Basin Localities (10,117 dwellings) were occupied by family households on Census night 2001 and less than one-quarter (2,892 dwellings) were lone person households.
- Tieri was the UCL with the highest proportion of family households (85.7%) in the Bowen Basin while Theodore (60.2%) had the lowest proportion.
- Theodore had the highest proportion of lone person households (36.5%) while Tieri (12.7%) had the lowest proportion.
- The proportion of group households was relatively low in the Bowen Basin, ranging from 5.3% in Emerald to 1.2% in Capella.
Household income
- In the Bowen Basin Localities, 4,378 households (32.6% of all households in the region) recorded a household income of $1,500 a week or more at the 2001 Census. A further 2,490 households (18.5%) had an income of between $1,000 and $1,499 a week. At the other end of the scale, there were 51 households (0.4%) with a negative or nil income and 963 households (7.2%) with less than $300 a week.
- Almost three out of every five households (59.3%) in Middlemount had high incomes of $1,500 a week or more compared to only 4.0% in Theodore. All the UCLs in the region, except Nebo, Springsure and Theodore, had high incomes above the Queensland average.
- The proportions of households with incomes of between $1 and $299 a week varied from a high of 19.9% in Springsure to a low of 0.4% in Dysart.
Computer and internet use
- Questions on computer and internet use were asked for the first time at the 2001 Census. The question on computer use allowed for either a yes or no response, whereas the question on internet use allowed for multiple responses.
- The answers revealed that 41.7% of the population (a total of 17,401 people) in the Bowen Basin Localities used a computer at home with 17.9% (7,476 people) also using the internet at home. A further 1,888 people (4.5%) used the internet at work.
- Computer usage at home ranged from a high of 48.7% of people in Tieri to a low of 24.9% in Theodore.
- Internet use at home ranged from a high of 23.9% in Tieri, the UCL with the highest proportion, to a low of 6.4% in Theodore.
- Internet use at work ranged from a high of 6.3% in Glenden to a low of 3.1% in Dysart and Middlemount.
2001 Census publications
The Planning Information and Forecasting Unit (PIFU) has a range of publications and web-based products to provide you with a comprehensive analysis of the 2001 Census data.
In addition to the DEMOGRAPHIC and COMPARATIVE profiles, a series of CENSUS highlights are available free on PIFU’s website www.dlgp.qld.gov.au/pifu. These short reports highlight key findings for Queensland from the 2001 Census. Topics include population change, visitors, birthplace, age structure, households and families, dwellings, education, labour force status, qualifications, industry and occupation.
PIFU has expertise in statistical analysis, social statistics, preparation of demographic profiles and population forecasting. Specialised services include analysis, interpretation and value-adding to Census data, and compilation of demographic data for customised consultancies in both the public and private sectors.
PIFU contacts
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Disclaimer: While every care has been taken
in preparing this report, the State of Queensland accepts no responsibility
for decisions or actions taken as a result of any data, information, statement
or advice, expressed or implied, contained in this report