The Michaelides family relocated from Melbourne to Whyalla and love the regional lifestyle. Pictured are Angelique, Mia, Alex and Peter. The family were involved in the filming of a recent ‘Our Town’ episode and are pictured with some of the crew.
18 November 2022
Whyalla has been named in the top five cities in the nation that are increasingly favoured by people relocating to regional communities.
This week’s Regional Movers Index – analysing the quarterly and annual trends in people moving to Australia’s regions – shows Whyalla is fourth in Australia in terms of year-on-year growth of inflows from capital cities, with an increase of 55 percent in the past 12 months compared to the previous year.
Whyalla also experienced the second-highest growth in Australia when comparing relative quarters year-on-year, with a 106% increase in the September quarter this year compared to the 2021 September quarter (only four regions in the entire country experienced greater than 80%).
Local business owner Alex Michaelides and his family relocated to Whyalla from Melbourne, and said it was an ideal place to raise a family and start up a business, with his wife also establishing her own independent business.
“It was really easy to get started and you get a lot of word-of-mouth work from it being such a close community, so it’s been great for us,” Mr Michaelides said.
“Everything’s so close and easy to get to. It’s great for the kids because we’re able to do so many different things which wouldn’t be possible in a city with all the travel and higher costs.”
Whyalla City Council CEO Justin Commons said it was encouraging to see the city increasingly becoming a destination of choice.
“These figures are evidence that Whyalla has something unique to offer and is increasingly attracting people to relocate from major cities,” Mr Commons said.
“We expect this will only continue to increase as the major hydrogen projects begin to ramp up from next year, requiring thousands of skilled workers in both construction and ongoing operation.
“These statistics demonstrate the urgency with which we need to work with State and Federal governments to develop the infrastructure to accommodate this now-evidenced growth, ensuring Whyalla can fully capitalise on these once-in-a-generation opportunities.”
Record demand for workers remains one of the most significant factors behind the continuing population flow to the regions. This includes Whyalla and Port Augusta experiencing a combined 25% annual increase in jobs.
Regional Australia Institute CEO Liz Ritchie said people were “still voting with their feet”, so the nation needed to ensure that regional Australia can accommodate this continuing trend – specifically around housing and essential services.
“Increasing the number of rental homes and apartments in regional areas and reducing recruitment difficulties for employers are two key elements of the RAI’s Regionalisation Ambition 2032, a framework to rebalance the nation and forge a more prosperous, inclusive and balanced future for regional Australia,” Ms Ritchie said.
Considering relocating to Whyalla? Be sure to check out just some of the many reasons why you should unearth your next step in Whyalla!
Top 5 LGAs by annual growth in migration (12 months to September 2022)
- Mount Gambier (SA) – 100%
- Moorabool (VIC) – 88%
- Dardanup (WA) – 60%
- Whyalla (SA) – 55%
- Port Lincoln (SA) – 48%