Seachange (demography)

This article is about an Australian demographic phenomenon. For other uses, see Sea change.
The boatshed in Barwon Heads used as a set in SeaChange was redeveloped into a restaurant.

In Australian culture, a seachange (or sea change) is a form of human migration where individuals abandon city living for a perceived easier life in rural coastal communities. The term was popularised by ABC TV series SeaChange, which prompted city-dwellers to escape to the coast as depicted by the series.[1] The term originally comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest.[2] The result of this phenomenon was a rapid boom in tourism and real estate development in coastal areas, particularly in New South Wales.

A similar term, treechange, describes the movement of urban people to the countryside.[3] The term "Tree Change" was first coined by ABC Ballarat radio mornings presenter Steve Martin on his radio talk back show after his five question morning challenge.

  1. ^ "Salty waters and village vibe". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-02-14. Archived from the original on 2009-06-17.
  2. ^ "Sea change". World Wide Words. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  3. ^ Wiltshire, Vanessa (2018-08-19). "Tree-change truths: What people won't tell you about moving to the country" (web). domain.com.au. Retrieved 2020-09-15.