Inside the new Australian Ghetto
Summer Hill, NSW: A new Ground Zero
New ghettoes are forming in urban Australia, but they’re not what you think. Far from the crime and drugs of inner-cities, these are instead middle-class ghettoes where there’s no hardship, but there’s certainly a spirit that defines whether you belong or not. I’ve found in my research over the years that the epidemic has spread out of the Balmain district of inner-west Sydney and into other areas of Australia, as Gen Xers claim their stake and renovate their nests as they welcome in Australia’s new Baby Boom.
Australia, unlike other major Western countries, experienced somewhat of a baby boom in the late 60s and 70s – such that we have a larger cohort of thirtysomethings (aka ‘Generation X’) than we do of our young 1980s babies, the Gen-Ys. (For the numbers nerds, there are 4.4m Gen X-ers vs. 4.2m Gen Ys, and both pale in comparison to the 5.3m Boomers who are soon to retire…)
Gen X in Australia copped the worst of it: the ‘recession we had to have’ and the introduction of university fees for courses. But the late 90s and Australia’s explosive growth over the past few years have been more than kind to a population cohort who are now (largely) settling into early parenthood. 2007 saw the peak of a recent ‘baby boomlet‘ as more professional thirtysomething women took the plunge and became mothers for the first-time.
And so the rush began, as little Siennas and Jacks around Australia trundled about polished floorboards, ate organic baby food and watched their favourite CBeebies programs on Sony Bravia HD sets.
As I look upon the offspring of this new Boomlet, I wonder if they’ll become a 21st century version of the Gen Y brats before them. Before I make my conclusions, however, I’m always told by any Xer I talk to that this will never be the case – that their kids will grow up to be worldly, to be wise and to be humble. Over the years I’ve been profiling Australia’s Gen X crowd, I’ve seen places like Gladesville (NSW), Williamstown (VIC) and New Farm (QLD) explode with Fairtrade cafes, mummy-and-me yoga centres and art galleries. These once-sleepy suburbs have been converted into new villages where each family and their Bug-A-Boo know each other by name.
In a demographic version of America’s “white flight”, I see new ghettoes forming around Australia’s major cities: safe havens for the professional Xers and their Subarus. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Xers: they’re progressive and they’re smart – and they know it. They’ve waited and saved and offer the best possible set of circumstances for the bouncing babies that come their way. Like any parent, they’ll work hard to make sure that their child gets the ‘best start in life’ (thus its no surprise why there are so many parenting books and websites that are raking it in as we speak) and, being Gen X, they’ll work extra hard to make sure their kids don’t pick up the self-indulgent habits of the Gen Y group before them.
More of these babies are being born in equal measure to married and de-facto parents, to gay and straight couples and to parents of mixed racial heritage. So maybe its appropriate that these new babies are born without a pre-existing marketing label like ‘Gen Z’.
For now, this new cohort are a work-in-progress. And it’ll be a fascinating journey to watch.
