Proston, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Proston is a rural town on Queensland's South Burnett, about 50 kilometres north-west of Kingaroy and 295 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. Its name comes from a pastoral run, itself a corruption of an Aboriginal word, possibly from the Waka language, meaning kurrajong tree. The district was settled from 1910 through a land ballot that drew English families, and the town grew once the railway arrived in 1923 and a co-operative butter factory opened in 1934; the closing of both in the 1970s began a long, slow decline. Dairying, beef cattle and duboisia, a shrub grown for medicine, support the area today. Lake Boondooma lies nearby, and a local curiosity is Sidcup Castle, built by Harold Douglas as a replica of his childhood home in Kent.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Proston is more socio-economically advantaged than about 5% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 856, 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.
Is Proston a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Proston from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
5/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (5/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
82/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $180 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 82% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Proston at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 410
- Median age
- 54
- Median weekly household income
- $764
- SEIFA score
- 856
- Local government area
- South Burnett
- Coordinates
- -26.1828, 151.5856
Map of Proston
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Proston
What it costs to live in Proston and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $180
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $624
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 75%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 18%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Proston demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Proston demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Proston 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 33% and 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 57 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 35 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 70 | 17% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 112 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 133 | 33% |
Share of the 407 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 104 | 57% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 32 | 18% |
| Rented | 33 | 18% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 163 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 3 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 169 occupied private dwellings in Proston.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $918
- Median weekly personal income
- $452
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 34 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 11 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 26 (6%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 88 (26%)
- Labour-force participation
- 33%
- Unemployment rate
- 12.1%
- Employed full-time
- 54
- Employed part-time
- 35
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.
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Common questions about Proston
Is Proston a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage and housing affordability, Proston rates 31/100 overall (Lower on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Proston?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Proston was $180, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $624. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Proston?
Proston is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the South Burnett local government area.
What is the population of Proston?
At the 2021 Census, Proston had a population of about 410.
Is Proston an advantaged area?
Proston has an ABS SEIFA score of 856, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 5 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 5% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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