2. Demographic Change

Table 1 shows the growth in population in Oakleigh and the Shire of Mulgrave/Waverley. The figures are affected by boundary changes in 1948 and 1959 increasing the area of Oakleigh and decreasing the area of Mulgrave, but the overall pattern is still clear.

Both areas saw an enormous burst of house building during the 1950s and 1960s and consequent rapid population growth. However, by 1961 population growth in Oakleigh was already slowing. The new City of Waverley overtook it, in population size some time in the early 1960s and continued growing rapidly until the mid 1970s. This reflects the 'filling up' of available residential sites in Oakleigh. However, from the mid 1960s there was some medium density housing, allowing the number of private dwellings to continue to increase.

New building slowed substantially in Waverley a decade later. The eastward and southward move of the suburban frontier reached the parkland along the Dandenong Creek and the industrial sites along Wellington Road by about 1976.

Table 2 shows changes in the age structure of the area. The relatively high proportion of Waverley's population under 21 in the period of most rapid growth is particularly marked. Until 1976, Waverley's population grew mainly as a result of movement to the area of couples in their late twenties and early thirties, some with young children.

However, there was also a tendency for 20-24 year olds to move out and after 1976 this trend became quite pronounced.

Oakleigh had an older age structure and this remained the case as the population generally aged after 1976. However, despite this, Oakleigh enjoyed a net inflow of teenagers and people in their early twenties, balanced by a net outflow of 25-29 year olds. This was associated with the movement of students to and from the area after Monash University opened in 1961.^[1]

Table 3 shows the growth in the proportion of the population born overseas. Once population and housing growth in Oakleigh had slowed, the overseas born population began to increase. The rise in the overseas born population of Waverley also generally took place after the period of most rapid population growth.