ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces rural places and people and examines some of the changes which have been affecting them in Australia and elsewhere. There are proportionately more rural Australians in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland than in the other States or the Australian Capital Territory. Rural Australians are scattered throughout the continent in an enormous number of extraordinarily diverse settlements. Rural Australia has relatively more married couples, more nuclear families, and fewer divorced, separated and widowed people, especially amongst women. Rural people are more likely than urban to be self-employed and working in the private sector. The rural sector has always been a key component of the national economy. Rural Australia helps to take the pressure off cities and urban people in that it is the preferred destination for people changing their place of residence and the place where most Australians go to temporarily escape the pressures of city life.
