Wagga has long been regarded as the capital of the Riverina – but the city is also the epicentre of the region’s youth, the latest data has revealed.
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While Wagga boasts at having the “young gun” title, many of its outlying shires have gone backwards – some worryingly so.
It has opened a fiery debate on the “slowly dying” breed of family farms in towns that rely on agriculture as well as the role of corporate farming in contributing to that demise.
An Advertiser analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed Wagga had the lowest median age in the Riverina at 34.4 years old.
At the other end, Cootamundra has the region’s oldest people, with a median age of 47.6 years.
But the data has also shown neighbouring Coolamon is now the Riverina’s fastest-ageing township – jumping from 41.8 to 44.6 years old between 2009 and 2013.
Coolamon mayor John Seymour said the figures could show the slow “corporatisation” of the shire’s farming land.
“I don’t think we’re seeing some of the younger ones moving into the industry as they used to – they are moving into other professions,” he said.
“It’s the old saying that you see the grass is greener on the other side.
“Then the corporates move in.”
Other Riverina communities to increase in median age include Junee, Gundagai, Tumbarumba, Tumut and Narrandera.
The places with the slowest rates of growth were Wagga, Griffith and Leeton – the Riverina’s three largest population centres.
Wagga mayor Rod Kendall – who is also the chairman of lobby group Regional Capitals Australia – said there was “no doubt” the people of small towns bled into large regional cities, where there are more services.
Councillor Kendall said there was a shift under way as rural areas adapted to a world of agriculture that required less people due to new technology.
"There is no doubt that happens and cities like Wagga, Dubbo and Tamworth are attractive for people looking at resettling, but whether or not that’s affecting our median age I don’t know,” he said.
“There are people that are just naturally locating.”
Cr Kendall also pointed to the impact of Wagga hosting a university and two Australian Defence Force bases as a key factor in the calculation of the city’s median age.