Harrietville, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Harrietville is a small alpine town in Victoria's Alpine Shire, about 351 kilometres north-east of Melbourne and 27 kilometres south of Bright on the Great Alpine Road. It is said to be named after one of the area's first women settlers. The town began as a goldfield, its post office opening in 1865, and worked first as shallow alluvial diggings, where many Chinese miners laboured, then as deep reef mines. A large gold dredge known as the 'Tronoh Monster' reshaped the river flats, leaving the ponds now used for swimming and fishing at the Tronoh Dredge Hole. The 1880 Athenaeum still stands. Today Harrietville is best known as a gateway to the snowfields of Mount Hotham, with a calendar of bush markets and bluegrass music.
More advantaged than the national average
Harrietville is more socio-economically advantaged than about 68% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1018, 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.
Harrietville at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 488
- Median age
- 45
- Median weekly household income
- $1,625
- SEIFA score
- 1018
- Coordinates
- -36.9165, 147.0558
Harrietville demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Harrietville 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 37%, 23% of homes are rented, and 16% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 83 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 27 | 6% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 117 | 24% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 177 | 37% |
| Seniors (65+) | 74 | 15% |
Share of the 478 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 63 | 39% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 54 | 34% |
| Rented | 37 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 144 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 5 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 8 | 5% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 160 occupied private dwellings in Harrietville.
- Median weekly rent
- $290
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,517
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,897
- Median weekly personal income
- $902
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 63 (16%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 20 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 4 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 208 (53%)
- Labour-force participation
- 59.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.7%
- Employed full-time
- 125
- Employed part-time
- 95
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 Harrietville
Where is Harrietville?
Harrietville is a suburb of Victoria, Australia.
What is the population of Harrietville?
At the 2021 Census, Harrietville had a population of about 488.
Is Harrietville an advantaged area?
Harrietville has an ABS SEIFA score of 1018, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 68 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 68% of Australian suburbs.
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