As an addendum to my post Dealing with Dwellings I am adding a report from the 2021 Census of Australia. Having recently completed the 2026 Census for our household I decided to delve further into the 2021 Census. I look forward to comparing those results when they become available.
From the page at https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/SAL10811 I was able to download a report that contained a list of spreadsheets that related to the various questions in the Census.
I opened G36 which detailed the results relating to DWELLING STRUCTURE in 2021. A screenshot of that report can be found at the end of this post.
As I am presently dabbling with AI I asked ChatGPT to "From the attached spreadsheet would you please write a summary of the data in friendly but correct language for a blog post on the CareyBay2283 blog that is endeavouring to preserve the history of the local people and places. Please only use the data in the attached which comes from 2021 census of Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/SAL10811."
It's a bit wordy but here is what ChatGPT delivered:
Carey Bay in 2021 – Where We Lived
The 2021 Census gives us an interesting little snapshot of the homes and households of Carey Bay.
The Census recorded 387 occupied private dwellings, with 819 people living in them. There were also 31 unoccupied private dwellings, giving a total of 425 private dwellings recorded in the table.
By far the most common type of home was the separate house. There were 266 separate houses, accommodating 634 people. That's almost 69% of all occupied dwellings and tells us that the traditional standalone house was very much the dominant form of housing in Carey Bay in 2021.
There were also 62 semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and similar dwellings. Of these, 29 were one-storey and 35 had two or more storeys. Together, these homes accommodated 110 people.
Apartments and flats were less common. The Census recorded 39 flats or apartments, all in one- or two-storey blocks. These were home to 51 people. There were no flats recorded in three-storey, four-to-eight-storey or nine-or-more-storey blocks, and none were recorded as being attached to a house.
Then there were the homes that don't fit quite so neatly into the usual categories. The Census recorded 26 "other dwellings", including 5 caravans and 17 cabins or houseboats. A further 4 people lived in houses or flats attached to a shop, office or similar premises. No improvised homes, tents or sleepers-out were recorded.
So, what does this tell us about Carey Bay?
In 2021, Carey Bay was predominantly a community of traditional separate houses, but there was also a small and interesting mix of other types of homes – including cabins, houseboats and caravans. Those figures give us a glimpse not only of the people who lived here, but of the different ways Carey Bay's residents made their homes in this lakeside community.
Statistics can sometimes seem rather dry, but behind every number is a home – and behind every home are people, families and stories. This is a small snapshot of Carey Bay as it was in 2021, providing another piece of the local history we can preserve for the future.
Source: 2021 Australian Census, Carey Bay (SAL10811), G36 Dwelling Structure. The figures above are taken from the supplied Census extract. Australian Bureau of Statistics – 2021 Carey Bay Census Community Profile
