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News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Vanishing kids: unexpected crisis hits key Sydney suburbs
Spiralling housing costs and the rampant construction of high-rise buildings dominated by one-bedroom units has turned parts of Sydney into children's deserts where kids are increasingly rare. Analysis of PropTrack and ABS data showed multiple suburbs where less than a tenth of residents were aged under 20, with kids under nine accounting for as little as 2 per cent of locals, in some instances. There were also multiple areas where the children population was close to half what it was at the start of the 2000s despite an increase in the population overall. This was a much faster decline than the drop in overall Aussie fertility rates over the period. Experts said a housing affordability crisis – especially during Covid – was behind the diminishing numbers of kids in some areas, with parents increasingly moving their families to cheaper suburbs. 'A key reason our birthrate is declining is because of poor housing affordability,' said demographer Mark McCrindle. 'That's especially pronounced in the more expensive parts of Sydney. 'An ageing population has been a long-term trend but it really got accelerated during Covid because of the tremendous home price rises pushing a lot more younger people out of many areas. Families are also having less kids.' He added that this was changing the fabric of Sydney. 'We will reach a point where the median age of residents in some areas will be very high and these areas will lack diversity of age.' Sydney as a whole was already ageing faster than the rest of the country and a continued exodus of families with young kids would exacerbate coming challenges, Mr McCrindle said. 'It means supporting an ageing population in Sydney will become an even bigger burden on the next generations,' Mr McCrindle said. ABS data showed most of the suburbs underdoing a juvenile drought had property prices hundreds of thousands of dollars above the city average, while rents were among the highest in the country. They included Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay, where less than 5 per cent of residents were under 20. The proportion in nearby Rushcutters Bay and Darlinghurst was close to 6 per cent. Low numbers of children and teens – making up less than 10 per cent of residents – were also observed in Waterloo, Wolli Creek, Surry Hills, Redfern and Kirribilli. But there were also emerging children deserts in areas that had historically been dominated by families. North Shore suburb St Leonards had a particularly notable shift. About 27 per cent of the St Leonards population were under the age of 15 in 2001, but by 2021 they made up just 11 per cent. There was a similar trend in inner west suburb Newtown: 20.5 per cent of residents were under 15 in 2001 but by the 2021 census this age group accounted for only 9.1 per cent of locals. Rising prices in once family dominated regions like the outer inner west, north shore and northern beaches had often coincided with increased high-rise construction. This led to the rapid transformation of local housing as detached houses were knocked down to make way for small units. Heavily developed Homebush was a case in point: those aged below 15 accounted for a fifth of residents in 2001 but following rapid unit construction this figure declined to 15 per cent. It was a similar story in Burwood, Rhodes, Zetland and Mascot. Ray White Northern Beaches agent Eddy Piddington said couples had always moved to further flung suburbs once they had children but the trend had accelerated in recent years. 'There's been a definite change at the higher end of the market,' Mr Piddington said. 'We have high-end buyers you only used to see in eastern Harbour suburbs before. They will call and say 'I want to spend $12m. What do you have?' That didn't happen before. 'It's become a lot harder for families to upgrade from a unit to a house in the same area, but it does depend on the family. Some value location above the property so they will stay, but for those who want a larger house they can afford, they usually have to move.' Fairlight resident Tom Norris is selling the Sydney Rd unit he and his partner bought prior to having their two kids. They're hoping to upsize to a larger house and said they will have to look further out. 'There are a lot of families in this area. You see kids all around the houses … but I know a lot of people who are in the same position. They're moving because they need more space and they can't afford a house unless they go further away.' The Sydney areas where kids were most abundant tended to be low-rise suburbs – often new estates in outer areas. The supply of freestanding houses in these areas was usually growing and home prices were lower than average. Suburbs where those aged below 20 made up more than 30 per cent of residents were Ropes Crossing, The Ponds, The Gables, Oran Park, Jordan Springs and Marsden Park. Most of these outer suburbs had houses about $300,000-$400,000 cheaper than the Greater Sydney median price and had a high supply of recently built housing. Mr Norris said he would miss aspects of the Fairlight lifestyle. 'We love the unit,' he said. 'We bought it just at the start of Covid and it really stood out. It's more like a townhouse or semi but it's time to move on.'
ABC News
12 hours ago
- ABC News
Shaun The Sheep
ABC iview Home Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. More from ABC We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
ABC News
18 hours ago
- ABC News
Primitive pottery firing tradition forges friendships in the outback
On a remote station north of Broken Hill, potters from near and far gather for a weekend of primitive firing. For about 30 years, station owner and potter Cynthia Langford has opened the gates to welcome potters to do four different types of firings. "We've got our sawdust firing … you get a nice black, very highly burnished pot come out of there and they're always very excited about those," she says. "Then we've got our pit where we put our pots in the pit with coffee grounds and different salted corn husks and things, and get lovely colours on our pots. The potters spend most of the day firing pots in bins the Broken Hill potters made in 2012 during a workshop with Swedish potter Stefan Jakob. "We had a workshop where we made an IKEA rubbish bin into a little kiln and our members bring their little kiln out and we collect up all their little sticks and bits of wood and we fire our pots in the rubbish bins," Mrs Langford says. Joining the Broken Hill group are five members from the Adelaide Potters Club. Each year since 2012, potters from the club have been travelling six hours to come to the remote station. "They were just really excited about coming and joining us to do this and being able to do these primitive firings," Mrs Langford says. Adelaide ceramicist Frances Rogers is attending the firing for the first time and says she loves the simple colour scape. "I actually find it really inspiring for the pots — like you look over and you go, 'OK, I'll use copper red today because that's what I'm looking at,'" she says. Personal trainer Nicki Murnane is returning to Purnamoota for the second time and says it is a great weekend of getting back to nature and meeting lovely people. "I always say to people it's a child-like weekend," she says. "The anticipation you get as a kid on Christmas Eve, that's what you get here, and you don't really get that much in life anymore. "[It's] the sheer joy of unravelling and opening up and not knowing what you're going to get." A highlight for the visitors is the raku firings in metal bins that the Broken Hill potters bring from their homes. Raku pottery is a Japanese firing technique that produces distinctive markings on the surface of the ceramics. The Broken Hill potters burn emu feathers or horse hair onto their pots at the weekend event. "You open the lid and you put a little sugar on it and if the sugar burns black when it hits the pot then the pots are ready to come out and have feathers put on it," Broken Hill Potters Society president Sue Andrews says. The other raku technique they use involves putting a raku glaze on pots and getting it to temperature before quickly removing it to put it in another bin to reduce the glaze and give different colours. Adelaide ceramicist Frances Rogers says it is a wonderful collective activity. "You need all hands on deck … pulling the pot out and dropping it in the hot barrel and someone's throwing paper and the other ones got the wet paper and you know, everyone's like 'get the lid on' so it's a little bit more adrenaline," she says. Rogers says it is making pottery more affordable and accessible. "[Proper kilns] will be $4,000. They've just told us we could whip one of these up for about $400 or $450," she says. Broken Hill's Lee Quinn has been a potter for 40 years. She enjoys the process of making the cow-pat pit. As the pots were removed on Sunday morning, Mrs Andrews says it is the best cow pat firing they have had. "Its just the colours — normally it doesn't come this good. I think it was more pots in the cow pat, tightly packed in a smaller drum," she says. Joining this weekend was new potter and firefighter Jack Simmonds, who managed to get into day classes at the Broken Hill Potters Society after a three-year wait. "I did a sip and clay night probably in 2021 and put my name down for classes and then I got the call-up late last year and they said there's a spot for you Tuesday mornings and I rang my boss and got Tuesday mornings off," he says. Mrs Langford, who first joined the potters in 1991, says the Broken Hill Potters Society was founded in the mid-1970s by three or four women. They sold pots and eventually raised money to buy a kiln together and officially formed a society. In time, they purchased an old scout hall and raise funds each year through Mother's Day and Christmas fairs to earn the money to pay for the rates.
