Bamaga

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 1,044 people in Bamaga of these 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 80.9% of the population.

The median age of people in Bamaga was 22 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 35.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 3.6% of the population.

Of people in Bamaga aged 15 years and over, 28.8% were married and 5.1% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Bamaga was 46 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In Bamaga, of people aged 15 years and over, 26.5% of people were in a registered marriage and 28.0% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Bamaga was 45 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 31 years.

In Bamaga 35.5% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 46.4% were in primary school, 24.0% in secondary school and 9.7% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Bamaga were Torres Strait Islander 60.7%, Australian Aboriginal 13.7%, Australian 4.5%, English 4.4% and Irish 1.5%.

In Bamaga, 98.0% of people were born in Australia. The only other responses for country of birth were New Zealand 0.6% and Scotland 0.3%.

In Bamaga, 90.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 5.0% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Bamaga were Anglican 39.4%, Pentecostal 24.8%, No Religion 13.1%, Catholic 5.3% and Christian, nfd 5.3%.

In Bamaga 22.6% of people only spoke English at home. The only other responses for language spoken at home were Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 65.0%, Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kalaw Lagaw Ya 1.7% and Kriol 0.3%.

Employment

There were 401 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Bamaga. Of these 69.1% were employed full time, 20.7% were employed part-time and 7.0% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Bamaga, 4.0% worked 1 to 15 hours, 6.1% worked 16 to 24 hours and 48.1% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Bamaga was 38 years and for people who were employed part-time was 31 years.

The most common occupations in Bamaga included Professionals 24.2%, Community and Personal Service Workers 18.1%, Technicians and Trades Workers 12.0%, Labourers 12.0%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.2%, Managers 8.0%, Sales Workers 5.1% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 4.8%.

Of the employed people in Bamaga, the most common responses for industry of employment included Civic, Professional and Other Interest Group Services 18.3%, School Education 15.9%, Local Government Administration 13.0%, Hospitals 12.5% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.7%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Bamaga was $559.

In Bamaga, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 40.3%, Walked only 36.6%, Car, as passenger 18.0%, Motorbike/scooter 0.8% and Car as driver, car as passenger 0.8%. On the day, 1.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 58.7% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Bamaga, of people aged 15 years and over, 86.6% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 46.4% provided care for children and 10.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 20.9% 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 Bamaga, 30.4% worked 5 to 14 hours, 11.0% worked 15 to 29 hours and 19.9% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Bamaga, 50.2% were couple families with children, 20.0% were couple families without children and 28.5% were one parent families.

In Bamaga 9.2% of single parents were male and 90.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Bamaga, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,916 and those without children was $2,181.

Employment status of couple families

In Bamaga, of couple families with children, 35.3% had both partners employed full-time, 6.0% had both employed part-time and 13.8% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Bamaga, 94.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 5.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Bamaga, 63.7% were separate houses, 0.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 28.9% were flats, units or apartments and 7.4% were other dwellings.

In Bamaga, of occupied private dwellings 8.6% had 1 bedroom, 21.2% had 2 bedrooms and 45.1% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.8. The average household size was 3.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Bamaga, 0.0% were owned outright, 0.0% were owned with a mortgage and 95.7% were rented.

Household composition

In Bamaga, of all households, 82.8% were family households, 16.0% were single person households and 1.2% were group households.

In Bamaga, 12.8% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 7.4% 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 Bamaga, 37.7% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 20.6% had two registered motor vehicles and 9.7% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Bamaga, there were 843 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 389 (or 46.1%) were male and 454 (or 53.9%) were female. The median age was 20 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 Bamaga, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 4.1, with 1.6 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $980.

In Bamaga, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $75 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.