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Tablelands Regional CouncilCommunity profile

The three largest ancestries in the Atherton District in 2021 were English, Australian and Irish.

Ancestry defines the cultural association and ethnic background of an individual going back three generations. Ancestry is a good measure of the total size of cultural groups in the Atherton District regardless of where they were born or what language they speak.

Ancestry data, should be combined with data on Birthplace, Language Spoken at Home and Religion for a more complete picture of the Atherton District's ethnic characteristics.

Please note that the "Australian Aboriginal" and "Torres Strait Islander" categories in this topic are not directly comparable from 2021 to previous years, due to a change in the wording of the question. In 2021, these options were marked boxes on the question rather than write-in options. The "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Origin" question is still considered a more reliable count for this group, and can be found on the Population summary page.

Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of ancestry groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS. For more information see notes on data confidentiality.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's ancestry?'

Multi-response

Ancestry - Totals
Atherton District - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Tablelands Regional Council %Number%Tablelands Regional Council %2016 to 2021
Not stated7246.97.55405.67.0+184
Total responses10,454----9,655----+799
Total people7,724----7,327----+397
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Ancestry - Ranked by size
Atherton District - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Tablelands Regional Council %Number%Tablelands Regional Council %2016 to 2021
English2,88437.338.32,79138.138.6+93
Australian2,80936.437.12,98540.741.2-176
Irish96112.412.592712.712.9+34
Scottish80410.410.779410.811.1+10
Australian Aboriginal6318.26.8891.20.9+542
Italian5577.25.85477.56.1+10
German4435.76.14245.86.0+19
Torres Strait Islander1682.21.5320.40.2+136
Dutch1081.41.51001.41.5+8
Chinese771.00.8791.10.8-2
Show all (45 entries)

Excludes ancestries with fewer than 10 responses (multi-response).

Dominant groups

Analysis of the ancestry responses of the population in Atherton District in 2021 shows that the top five ancestries nominated were:

  • English (2,884 people or 37.3%)
  • Australian (2,809 people or 36.4%)
  • Irish (961 people or 12.4%)
  • Scottish (804 people or 10.4%)
  • Australian Aboriginal (631 people or 8.2%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 8,089 responses in total, or 104.73% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in the Atherton District and Tablelands Regional Council were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Australian Aboriginal ancestry (8.2% compared to 6.8%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Italian ancestry (7.2% compared to 5.8%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Australian Aboriginal (+542 persons)
  • Australian (-176 persons)
  • Torres Strait Islander (+136 persons)
  • English (+93 persons)

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