Scamander, TAS
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Scamander is a small holiday town on the East Coast of Tasmania, in the Break O'Day district, where the Scamander River meets the sea about 18 kilometres south of St Helens and some 146 kilometres from Launceston. The surveyor John Helder Wedge mapped the area in 1825, at first naming the river Borthwick and the settlement Yarmouth after the English port; both were later renamed Scamander. European settlement was slow, and a post office did not open until 1896. The town owes its modern character to its setting: long, wide sandy beaches and broad ocean views draw holidaymakers each summer, while the river is popular for bream fishing and the surf for swimming and board-riding. Today Scamander is chiefly a quiet seaside and fishing destination.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Scamander is more socio-economically advantaged than about 15% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 912, 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 Scamander 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 Scamander 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
15/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (15/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
53/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $273 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 53% 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.
Scamander at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 803
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $910
- SEIFA score
- 912
- Local government area
- Break O'Day
- Coordinates
- -41.4727, 148.2482
Map of Scamander
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Scamander
What it costs to live in Scamander and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $273
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,200
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 74%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 22%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Scamander demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Scamander demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Scamander 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 mid-life (45–64) at 30% and 11% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 123 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 43 | 5% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 180 | 22% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 240 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 220 | 27% |
Share of the 806 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 168 | 49% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 86 | 25% |
| Rented | 77 | 22% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 311 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 13 | 4% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 347 occupied private dwellings in Scamander.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,221
- Median weekly personal income
- $530
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 78 (11%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 15 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 32 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 245 (36%)
- Labour-force participation
- 47.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 6.8%
- Employed full-time
- 145
- Employed part-time
- 140
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 Scamander
Is Scamander 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, Scamander rates 28/100 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 Scamander?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Scamander was $273, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,200. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Scamander?
Scamander is a suburb of Tasmania, Australia, in the Break O'Day local government area.
What is the population of Scamander?
At the 2021 Census, Scamander had a population of about 803.
Is Scamander an advantaged area?
Scamander has an ABS SEIFA score of 912, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 15 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 15% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Tasmania
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