Palm Island

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 2,381 people in Palm Island of these 52.8% were male and 47.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 92.8% of the population.

The median age of people in Palm Island was 24 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 31.0% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 2.5% of the population.

Of people in Palm Island aged 15 years and over, 10.5% were married and 3.1% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Palm Island was 48 years and the median age of people never married was 31 years.

In Palm Island, of people aged 15 years and over, 7.9% of people were in a registered marriage and 27.2% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Palm Island was 49 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 38 years.

In Palm Island 26.8% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 56.8% were in primary school, 16.6% in secondary school and 8.3% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Palm Island were Australian Aboriginal 75.9%, Torres Strait Islander 12.7%, Australian 2.6%, English 2.2% and Irish 0.8%.

In Palm Island, 98.9% of people were born in Australia. The only other response for country of birth was New Zealand 0.2%.

In Palm Island, 96.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 2.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Palm Island were Catholic 47.4%, Anglican 23.2%, No Religion 11.1%, Baptist 6.3% and Other Protestant 5.5%.

In Palm Island 94.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 0.6%, Cape York Peninsula Languages, nec 0.2%, Sinhalese 0.1%, Mandarin 0.1% and Japanese 0.1%.

Employment

There were 859 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Palm Island. Of these 43.7% were employed full time, 26.9% were employed part-time and 25.3% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Palm Island, 10.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 7.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 44.2% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Palm Island was 42 years and for people who were employed part-time was 38 years.

The most common occupations in Palm Island included Labourers 29.4%, Community and Personal Service Workers 20.2%, Professionals 14.9%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 9.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 8.7%, Managers 5.0%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 4.4% and Sales Workers 3.0%.

Of the employed people in Palm Island, the most common responses for industry of employment included Civic, Professional and Other Interest Group Services 19.1%, Local Government Administration 17.3%, School Education 12.0%, Allied Health Services 9.6% and Hospitals 4.7%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Palm Island was $292.

In Palm Island, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 39.1%, Car, as driver 22.0%, Car, as passenger 15.3%, Bus 13.2% and Truck 1.7%. On the day, 14.8% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 36.7% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Palm Island, of people aged 15 years and over, 77.5% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 38.8% provided care for children and 12.8% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 8.1% of people did voluntary work through an organisation or a group.

Of people who did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census in Palm Island, 23.4% worked 5 to 14 hours, 7.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 6.0% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Palm Island, 42.2% were couple families with children, 12.6% were couple families without children and 40.2% were one parent families.

In Palm Island 15.5% of single parents were male and 84.5% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Palm Island, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,281 and those without children was $1,281.

Employment status of couple families

In Palm Island, of couple families with children, 16.9% had both partners employed full-time, 7.9% had both employed part-time and 7.9% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Palm Island, 95.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 4.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Palm Island, 74.8% were separate houses, 0.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 19.0% were flats, units or apartments and 6.2% were other dwellings.

In Palm Island, of occupied private dwellings 5.4% had 1 bedroom, 20.6% had 2 bedrooms and 40.4% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 4.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Palm Island, 4.6% were owned outright, 0.0% were owned with a mortgage and 92.8% were rented.

Household composition

In Palm Island, of all households, 85.4% were family households, 12.0% were single person households and 2.6% were group households.

In Palm Island, 15.6% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 4.9% of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000.

Mortgage & rent

Proportions are calculated using all tenure types for occupied private dwellings. This excludes visitor only and other non-classifiable households.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households whose rent payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which are not renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households who own their dwelling, and whose mortgage payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which were renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Number of motor vehicles

In Palm Island, 29.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 8.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 2.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Palm Island, there were 2,207 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,158 (or 52.5%) were male and 1,049 (or 47.5%) were female. The median age was 22 years.

Dwelling characteristics

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households. These tables represent occupied private dwellings where at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander person was present.

Average number of people per bedroom includes a miscalculation. For more information see the persons per bedroom correction page.

In Palm Island, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 5, with 1.9 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,157.

In Palm Island, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $100 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.