Census 2021: Feeling right at home on just another average day

Across the nation, 66 per cent of us either own our homes outright or are paying them off. The figure is 65.5 per cent in the Perth suburb of Hilton.

Leila Reay and partner Tim Stocker, with sons Toby and Sam and groodle Dougal, say they feel ‘pretty lucky’ to have helped change the demographic of West Australia’s Hilton. Picture: Colin Murty

It might seem more an ideal than a reality: two adorable, sports-­loving little children, a cherished groodle and two busy parents in a picture-perfect timber house.

But on the numbers, this is how we live.

When Leila Reay and Tim Stocker filled out their census forms at home in the southern Perth suburb of Hilton last year, they did not guess theirs was such a quintessential Australian life.

Their household and their postwar suburb – a 25-minute drive down Kwinana Freeway from Perth’s central business district – matches or lines up closely with the national data in almost every respect.

When the latest census was counted, Ms Reay and Mr Stocker were both 38, the median age in Hilton and, as it turned out, across Australia.

In Hilton, 42.1 per cent of ­couple families have children compared with 43.7 per cent ­nationally. The average number of children in each couple family in Australia is 1.8. In Hilton, it is 1.7.

Across the nation, 66 per cent of us either own our homes outright or are paying them off. The figure is 65.5 per cent in Hilton.

Ms Reay and Mr Stocker are among them and thankful they bought before Western Australia’s most recent real estate boom.

Even the current median house price in Hilton ($642,500) is within $1300 of the median across all Australian capital cities ($643,795), according to the latest analysis by CoreLogic.

Ms Reay and Mr Stocker were renting in the fashionable port city of Fremantle a decade ago when they decided to buy their first home. In January 2013, they found their home a few kilometres inland at Hilton. They found a community too. School for sons Toby, 8, and Sam, 5, is a short walk. On weekends, the brothers go biking and the family watches Toby play soccer and basketball.

“We feel pretty lucky,” Ms Reay said.

“A lot of the couples we know bought here around the same time and together we have changed the demographic of the suburb.

“There are a lot of weatherboard post-war cottages in Hilton so many of our friends have the same house.

“We share renovation tips.”

 

Across the verge lined with flame trees from the Reay-Stocker house is a popular local PCYC with toy library.

Currently, the centre is hosting NAIDOC Week activities celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. In Hilton, 3 per cent of residents are Indigenous Australians. Nat­ionally, the figure is 3.2 per cent.

Ms Reay is from Nelson at the tip of New Zealand’s South Island and she is counted among 33.6 per cent of Hilton residents born overseas. Nationally, 33.1 per cent of Australian residents were born in another country.

Moving to the suburbs and becoming typical Australians is working out wonderfully for Ms Reay and Mr Stocker. They are raising their sons surrounded by parks, playgrounds and the friendship of other young families.

The stability has also given the couple reason to think about the future they want.

As a result, Mr Stocker recently finished his career as a paramedic to study physiotherapy. While he works towards his qualification, he is the parent most at home while Ms Reay takes a bus five days a week to her job as a human resources consultant.

In this sense, their home life ­defies tradition.

“Tim is the primary carer at the moment, he’s the one doing the kids’ pick-ups and drop-offs,” Ms Reay said.

“We are really happy we are able to do this.”