Talk:Seachange (demography)

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[edit] Comments

Two minor points - firstly, wasn't it after the airing of the show? Secondly, does anyone mind if I move this to SeaChange effect? Ambi 13:26,

  • Move make sense with naming converntion. That pic is not fair in the context of this article.--nixie 13:59, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Is there actually any evidence that this effect is real? Remy B 15:11, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

  • I'm pretty sure the effect of the show was felt before the show had finished it's run. One episode features 'Diver Dan's Shed' getting knocked down to be converted into a 200 seat restaurant. The sad fact is, the writers had to tie this into the storyline because it was happening in real life. On the back of the popularity of the show, someone had actually came and developed the shed into a restaurant, which meant they had to scrub the shed from the show.

and as to whether or not the effect is real, (although I can't be bothered finding the info to back up what I'm saying) I know for the fact that property values have gone through the roof since the show went to air. I live in the town where it was filmed, since the show went to air, whoever had the money has pretty much squeezed a house into every crack barwon heads has to offer. Many people who had existing property before the show aired are now building flats in their backyards and selling them off to cash in on the boom. PeterPartyOn 15:08, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

As if this phenomena occured because of the show! Gentrification and revitalisation and rediscovery of faded resorts, towns and suburbs has been happening for decades (centuries?) as economies prosper then decline then prosper again, and as fashion changes and tranportation evolves. Asa01 06:06, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
  • I live here and I'm telling you, there hasn't been any fashion or transportation changes for years... the kids still wear surf gear... the bus company still runs the same crappy service it always has... but there has been a housing boom since the airing of the show....
  • From a Gold Coast perspective the term seachange has been in widespread government/political usage for at least 10 years prior the the ABC series to describe demographic trends impacting on our City. Good background for our region is from the bernard salt book "the big shift" http://www.bernardsalt.com.au/. There is now a national seachange taskforce which also includes some of the history of the term on their website http://www.seachangetaskforce.org.au/ Part of the political debate is the idea that money used to flow into the capital cities - with regional centres struggling to attract their share. The rural lobby seemed well represented - but coastal towns and cities did not have a political voice. The seachange idea is that government investment should follow the people leaving the major capital cities.

[edit] Original research

Is the main thrust of this article, and the term itself, actually documented anywhere outside WP and the taskforce linked-to, or is this all an original research conflation of discrete real-life phenomena? What I mean is, the TV show is real, and the concept of faded resorts being revitalised, is also real, but in the real world is the revitalisation of any seaside town really, or commonly, known as the SeaChange effect as this article suggests? The article claims that the term gets its name from the TV show. According to my crumbling, ancient Oxford dictionery, the term seachange is much older than that. It means "transformation" (with reference to Tempest I. ii. 400) which is probably where the makers of the show got it from too (and it makes a pun with the ocean reference). I recall while the show was popular there was also a brief trend of newspaper journalists using the term seachange for any sort of transformation even where it did not involve moving house to the ocean. Asa01 18:22, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I have added a few [citation needed] markers on especially bold claims made by this article. It is an old phenomenon, and towns and suburbs, populations and communities, are always in a state of flux (afterall, no one lives forever.) Areas such as St. Kilda, Victoria have gone from nothing to a seaside resort to an upper-crust area to a redlight district to a trendy bohemian district to a gentrified area of cashed-up professionals while sustaining a Jewish Community the entire time. These things are never so simple as this article implies. Asa01 20:59, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
The term did indeed exist before the television series, however the television series revived the use of the word within Australian vernacular and the term became synonymous with the narrative of the television series (i.e. moving from the city to the coast on a whim). So where seachange may have generally meant any major or sudden change, in Australia the word is now primarily understood by many to mean 'moving from the city to the coast', and little else. So for example if you were to ask an average Australian what 'a seachange' is, they'd either say 'oh that's that tv show' or 'oh that's when you move to the beach'.

One example of the term's use in common Australian language would be the television series 'The Real Seachange'. The show featured John Howard (One of the actors of the television series 'seachange') as host and followed the lives of people who were moving from inner urban areas into remote or unusual locations.

The first episode of 'seachange' features the main character deciding to quit her job in the city and move her family to the coast on a whim. At the time of the airing this was a very realistic possibility, however during and after the series aired, interest in coastal property boomed and the idea of undertaking your own 'seachange' became highly unaffordable and unrealistic. This was as a direct result of the popularity of the television series and was not in line with average growth. Evidence of the direct relationship between the television series and the housing boom does exist, however I'm not motivated enough to seek out any citations or references... sorry. But I hope that gives you all something to go on... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by PeterPartyOn (talk • contribs) 05:18, 28 December 2006 (UTC).