Page 5 - 1. What Wealthy Means to Australians in 2023

Indeed, some scholars place Australia’s Australian obsession with nice
Graphic 2. Peak home ownership: Proportion Australian housing stock owned outright suburban homes.
or with a mortgage, 1911-2021 GDP per capita at this time at (or close to)
75% the highest in the world (source Our focus on home ownership in
70% Maddison project). the middle of the 20th century delivered
65%
But even this home ownership rate a sense of security to returning diggers
60%
increased (off a high base) rising further whose childhood was spent navigating
55%
in the 1950s and 1960s to peak at 73 per the travails of the Great Depression.
50%
cent in 1966. The zenith of the Australian Getting married, having kids, buying a
45%
home ownership ideal was reached in the house, holding a steady job were values
40%
mid-1960s. that shaped the times.
1911 1921 1933 1947 1954 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021
Our obsession with housing was reflected Outside the public sector few from
Source: ABS Censuses
in popular culture. Australian author what now call middle Australia
Many Australians today remain single Being ‘wealthy’ at this time was equated John O’Grady published They’re a Weird understood or even engaged with
throughout their 20s (often pursuing with the ideal of buying a family home (in Mob (1957) which connected post-war the idea of retirement planning.
further education) whereas back then the suburbs). immigration with the opportunity to buy
And to some extent this was logical
life commitments (such as marriage and a house in (burgeoning) suburban Sydney.
Prior to WWI some 49 per cent of the behaviour in that life expectancy in
children) were made in the early 20s.
housing stock in Australia was owned In Melbourne at this time satirist Barry the late 1950s hovered around 70; that
For decades after WWII the traditional outright or with a mortgage (see Graphic 2). Humphries created the character of Edna delivered barely 5 years in retirement for
nuclear family comprised of mum, dad and Everage whose comedy focussed on the the average Aussie male (see Graphic 3).
This was a high proportion for a society then
the kids was the dominant familial force;
lacking a substantial middle class; it probably
singledom reigned supreme for barely 5
reflected a generational dividend of the 19th Graphic 3. Longer lives: Life expectancy for Australia 1950-2022
years from the age of debutante (age 17)
century gold rushes.
to, say, 22. Indeed the average age at first 85
83
marriage for women at this time was 21; for 81
men it was 23 (source ABS). 79
77
Here was an era when retirement planning 75
was rarely considered. What mattered was 73
71
the security offered by home ownership.
69
This much is evident in home ownership 67
65
rates tracked through the Australian 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022
censuses from 1911.
Source: ABS
4 What wealthy means to Australians in 2023