Foothills Catholic, but not religious

By Paul Pickering
A CENSUS snapshot of the foothills has revealed that its residents are much more likely to be non-religious than the average Australian – and much less likely to speak a language other than English.
The figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week, were taken from the national survey conducted on 8 August 2006.
Notably, the combined population of Ferntree Gully and Upper Ferntree Gully has increased to 34,394, a jump of 3528 people since the 2001 survey.
Meanwhile, the suburbs of Belgrave (including Belgrave South and Heights) and Tecoma have 80 less inhabitants (9040 in total).
It was also revealed that 92 per cent of residents in the Belgrave postcode speak only English at home, compared to the national average of 78 per cent.
Ferntree Gully and Upper Ferntree Gully weren’t far behind at 87 per cent.
A total of 34 per cent of Belgrave residents – and 26 per cent of those in The Gully – consider themselves non-religious, compared to only 19 per cent nationally.
The next most popular religion in the region was Catholicism.
Foothills residents are also comparatively likely to be pursuing the dream of owning their own home, with 54 per cent of Belgrave residents and 49 per cent of Ferntree Gully residents currently paying off houses (compared to 32 per cent nationally).
In the bigger picture, the Census revealed that the nation’s average age had risen from 35 to 37, and there is now 100 females to every 97 males in Australia.