Internal migration in Victoria

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with population changes and population movements in Victoria between 1947 and 1973, most emphasis being on the period since the mid-1960s. The main statistical sources are the Australian Census and a sample survey of 1500 families living in ten non-metropolitan towns. The study is divided into two main sections. The first is concerned with ' Urbanisation and Internal Migration' and includes a discussion of the determinants of urban development in Australia, together with analyses of population changes in Victorian rural and urban communities, the spatial patterns of movement, and the contribution of migration to community growth and decline. The second section, entitled : 'Migration Selectivity and Causation'examines migration differentials by age, sex and birthplace, as well as the residence histories of migrants and the attitudes of people to different types of communities in locations throughout Victoria. The final chapter is a synthesis and evaluation of the principal findings. From the analysis of internal migration in Victoria the 'equilibrium hypothesis' has been formulated to account for the relationship between the settlement system and the migration pattern. This hypothesis states that the broad distribution of population in Victoria is almost in a condition of equilibrium with migration processes as large migration streams and counterstreams of similar volume have served to maintain rather than modify distribution patterns. According to the hypothesis, forces which have the potential to disrupt this equilibrium have long been in abeyance, and the two-way flows of population with differing characteristics mainly represent the necessary sustaining processes of the metropolitan community, consisting of Melbourne and its hinterland. Show more