Dowerin, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Dowerin is a small Wheatbelt town in Western Australia, about 156 kilometres north-east of Perth and the seat of the Shire of Dowerin. The name is of Aboriginal origin, recorded variously as meaning the 'twenty-eight' parrot or a 'place of the throwing stick'; the original townsite was known as Wuguni. The settlement took shape after the railway reached the area from Goomalling in 1906, and the town was gazetted the following year. Each August Dowerin is transformed by its Machinery Field Days, a two-day agricultural expo that began in 1965 to keep the town from fading and now draws hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors a day. Around 360 people live in the district.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Dowerin is more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 925, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Dowerin at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 436
- Median age
- 46
- Median weekly household income
- $1,103
- SEIFA score
- 925
- Coordinates
- -31.2080, 117.0462
Dowerin demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Dowerin using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is seniors (65+) at 31%, 23% of homes are rented, and 12% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 83 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 46 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 84 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 96 | 21% |
| Seniors (65+) | 141 | 31% |
Share of the 450 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 80 | 44% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 47 | 26% |
| Rented | 41 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 174 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 181 occupied private dwellings in Dowerin.
- Median weekly rent
- $170
- Median monthly mortgage
- $672
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,359
- Median weekly personal income
- $685
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 47 (12%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 4 (1%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 26 (6%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 116 (34%)
- Labour-force participation
- 53%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.4%
- Employed full-time
- 101
- Employed part-time
- 64
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
Common questions about Dowerin
Where is Dowerin?
Dowerin is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Dowerin?
At the 2021 Census, Dowerin had a population of about 436.
Is Dowerin an advantaged area?
Dowerin has an ABS SEIFA score of 925, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 19 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of Australian suburbs.
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