Aged migration to coastal and inland centres in NSW

The relational making of people and place: the case of the Teignmouth World War II homefront

Building on the pioneering research of a small number of gerontologists, this paper explores the rarely trodden common ground between the academic domains of social gerontology and modern history. Through empirical research it illustrates the complex networking that exists through space and time in the relational making of people and places. Indeed, the study focuses specifically on the lived reality and ongoing significance of life on the small-town British coastal homefront during World War II. Seventeen interviews with older residents of Teignmouth, Devon, United Kingdom, investigate two points in their lives: the ‘then’ (their historical experiences during this period) and the ‘then and now’ (how they continue to reverberate). In particular, their stories illustrate the relationalities that make each of these points. The first involves residents’ unique interactions during the war with structures and technologies (such as rules, bombs and barriers) and other people (such as soldiers and outsiders) which themselves were connected to wider historical, social, political and military networks. The second involves residents’ perceptions of their own and their town's wartime histories, how this gels or conflicts with public awareness, and how this history connects to their current lives. The paper closes with some thoughts on bringing together the past, present and older people in the same scholarship.

Migration to the New South Wales North Coast 1986-1991: lifestyle motivated counterurbanisation

"Some of [Australia's] most rapid population growth rates have been recorded on the North Coast of New South Wales. The paper sets this migration flow in an international context and looks in detail at the profile, decision-making, and experience of 150 households who moved to the North Coast in the 1986-1991 intercensal period. Results corroborate earlier findings that many coastal migrants are motivated by non-economic considerations. ¿Pull' factors are much more important than ¿push' factors, with the influence of the physical environment, climate and relaxed lifestyle dominant."

Migration, well-being and development in coastal New South Wales 1976-91

"The study seeks first to ascertain whether the age profile of net migration [in coastal New South Wales, Australia] varied during the period 1976-91.... The second aim is to determine whether or not the impact of net migration on population growth remained constant throughout the period 1976-91. Thirdly, the study seeks to ascertain whether or not socio-economic change during the period can be shown to be indicative of areal variations in advantage and disadvantage. Fourthly, it seeks to determine whether there is any association between age-specific net migration and family composition and, if so, to determine whether this association may be indicative of areal variation in development. Fifthly, classifications of the socio-economic characteristics of the population are undertaken...."