By VANESSA CHIRCOP
THERE’S no doubting Hobsons Bay’s uniqueness in Melbourne’s West but the 2011 Census data, released last week, has given us an idea of how unique our city actually is.
According to the 2011 data, Hobsons Bay was home to 83,863 residents – making it one of the smallest local government areas in the West.
Of this, 42,244 are female while 41,619 are male and the average age is 38 years.
In 2011, 63.5 per cent of Hobsons Bay residents stated their place of birth was Australia, with 3.5 per cent saying England, 2.8 per cent from India, two per cent from New Zealand and 1.6 per cent from Vietnam.
The second most common language other than English spoken in Hobsons Bay’s homes is Arabic (3.6 per cent), followed by Italian (3.3 per cent) then Greek (three per cent), Vietnamese (two per cent) and Maltese (1.6 per cent).
Many Hobsons Bay residents are Roman Catholic with 30.9 per cent saying that was their religion, followed by 22 per cent of people who nominated no religion. Anglicans make up 9.9 per cent of our community, 7.2 per cent said they were Eastern Orthodox and 4.7 per cent were of Islam faith.
The majority Hobsons Bay families have children, 46.2 per cent, while about 35.1 per cent of couples are childless. Single parent families made up 16.6 per cent of our population.
Around 34.2 per cent of Hobsons Bay homeowner owned their home outright last year, while 32.6 per cent had a mortgage and 27.8 were renting.
The average family had 1.8 children with the average household income $1286 per week.
Married couples made up 48 per cent of the Hobsons Bay community in 2011, with 3.1 per cent separated, 8.2 per cent divorced, six per cent widowed and 34.6 per cent of census participants never married.
To find out more visit www.censusdata.abs.gov.au
