Witchcliffe, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Witchcliffe is a small town in the South West of Western Australia, about 9 kilometres south of Margaret River and 286 kilometres south of Perth, in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. Its unusual name comes from a nearby cave recorded by a surveyor in 1900, and is thought to trace back to the Bussell family, who had built Wallcliffe House in the 1850s. The town grew up around the railway, with a post office opening in 1923, the siding named Witchcliffe in 1925, and the townsite gazetted in 1926. Its early economy rested on timber, a sawmill built just east of town in 1922 and later run by the Adelaide Timber Company, and the heritage-listed Darnell's General Store survives from those years.
More advantaged than the national average
Witchcliffe is more socio-economically advantaged than about 62% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1008, 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 Witchcliffe 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Witchcliffe 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
62/100More advantaged than the national average
More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (62/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
47/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $300 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 47% 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.
Witchcliffe at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 484
- Median age
- 39
- Median weekly household income
- $2,008
- SEIFA score
- 1008
- Local government area
- Augusta Margaret River
- Coordinates
- -34.0133, 115.1157
Map of Witchcliffe
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Witchcliffe
What it costs to live in Witchcliffe and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,962
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 72%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 24%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Witchcliffe demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Witchcliffe demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Witchcliffe 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 young adults (25–44) at 33% and 27% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 114 | 24% |
| Youth (15–24) | 27 | 6% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 160 | 33% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 125 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 52 | 11% |
Share of the 478 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 45 | 27% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 73 | 45% |
| Rented | 39 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 160 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 160 occupied private dwellings in Witchcliffe.
- Average household size
- 2.7 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,111
- Median weekly personal income
- $873
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 122 (27%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 31 (7%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 3 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 207 (57%)
- Labour-force participation
- 68.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.4%
- Employed full-time
- 123
- Employed part-time
- 103
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 Witchcliffe
Is Witchcliffe 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, Witchcliffe rates 57/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Witchcliffe?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Witchcliffe was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,962. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Witchcliffe?
Witchcliffe is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Augusta Margaret River local government area.
What is the population of Witchcliffe?
At the 2021 Census, Witchcliffe had a population of about 484.
Is Witchcliffe an advantaged area?
Witchcliffe has an ABS SEIFA score of 1008, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 62 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 62% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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