ABSTRACT
The movement of people between towns, between parts of cities, and between regions in Australia contributes significantly to conditions in places left behind and places of destination. This chapter investigates how population mobility in Australia contributes to the creation of inequality and disadvantage in particular places. It uses a case study methodology to apprehend in some detail the consequences of people’s mobility. The chapter scrutinizes two places: Cairns in northern Queensland, and Kelsey (not its real name) in central Victoria. These two case studies illustrate certain themes about the way population mobility contributes to the creation and experience of inequality and disadvantage in places. Population mobility helps to create the material conditions of people in places, their perception of the inequalities between groups and places, and their positioning of themselves within this context. In towns of growth or decline, small or large, population mobility plays itself out in distinct ways.
