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.
Witchcliffe at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 484
- Median age
- 39
- Median weekly household income
- $2,008
- SEIFA score
- 1008
- Coordinates
- -34.0133, 115.1157
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%, 24% of homes are rented, 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.
- Median weekly rent
- $300
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,962
- 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.
Common questions about Witchcliffe
Where is Witchcliffe?
Witchcliffe is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
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.
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