Tantanoola, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tantanoola is a small town on the Limestone Coast of South Australia, about 350km south-east of Adelaide and 18km from Millicent. Laid out in 1879 and at first called Lucieton after a governor's daughter, it was renamed Tantanoola in 1888, the name said to come from an Aboriginal word for a boxwood or brushwood hill. The town is best known for the Tantanoola Tiger, a phantom beast blamed for stock losses in the 1890s; the animal eventually shot in 1895 turned out to be a stray wolf, and the mounted specimen still stands in the Tantanoola Hotel. Nearby the Tantanoola Caves, with their delicate dolomite formations, are open to visitors, and the poet Max Harris later wrote of the Tiger legend.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Tantanoola is more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 911, 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.
Tantanoola at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 457
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,287
- SEIFA score
- 911
- Coordinates
- -37.6979, 140.4541
Tantanoola demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tantanoola 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 34%, 12% of homes are rented, and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 65 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 53 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 81 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 157 | 34% |
| Seniors (65+) | 100 | 22% |
Share of the 456 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 84 | 45% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 71 | 38% |
| Rented | 23 | 12% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 177 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 177 occupied private dwellings in Tantanoola.
- Median weekly rent
- $160
- Median monthly mortgage
- $900
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,758
- Median weekly personal income
- $638
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 34 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 12 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 4 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 139 (37%)
- Labour-force participation
- 58.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.1%
- Employed full-time
- 123
- Employed part-time
- 84
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 Tantanoola
Where is Tantanoola?
Tantanoola is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Tantanoola?
At the 2021 Census, Tantanoola had a population of about 457.
Is Tantanoola an advantaged area?
Tantanoola has an ABS SEIFA score of 911, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 14 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of Australian suburbs.
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