Town snapshot – Anglesea

TOWN Profile: Anglesea

The size of Anglesea is about 96.9sqkm and has 17 parks covering nearly 86.6 per cent of total area.

The population of Anglesea in 2016 was 2,551 and by the 2021 Census, the population was recorded at 3,208 showing a population growth of 26 per cent in the area during that time.

Anglesea is a popular coastal hinterland town protected from the elements by Point Roadknight and the Otway’s.

The popular seaside town is slowly transitioning to a more permanent population base as more and more people call Anglesea home, seeing a 25 per cent lift in permanent residents.

This shift to owner occupation over holiday accommodation intensified since the pandemic, with Anglesea high on many people’s wish list.

Anglesea residents are there to stay, having one of the state’s highest length of ownership at an average of 20 years, topping Queenscliff’s 18 years and on par with Aireys Inlet.

The towns beginnings came about in 1884 when local land owners subdivided land for sale into 8ha lots, about three years after a boarding house had been opened for holiday-makers.

Shortly afterwards a post office (1883), Presbyterian church (1887) and hotel (1890) formed a village, but the population was mostly visitors.

The name was changed to Anglesea in about 1884, probably derived from the Isle of Anglesea in Wales.

Unlike Aireys Inlet, 10km south-westwards along the coast, Anglesea had acceptable road access from Geelong and Torquay.

During the early 1900s, it attracted several holiday homes, a general store and a new road (1915), an Anglesea regatta (1916) and the beginning of the Great Ocean Road (1919).

A forest plantation was established at Anglesea in 1924 and three years later the increased population, of whom several were forestry workers, required the opening of the primary school (108 pupils, 2014).

Golf links, tennis courts, reticulated electricity, the Great Ocean Road and more shops and tea rooms were opened before World War II.

The Anglesea Scout camp (1923) was the first prominent Scout camp in Australia.

The town usually has a peak holiday population of more than 10,000, of whom nearly 3,000 are caravanners, campers and young people in youth camps.

 

CoreLogic data indicates the predominant age group in Anglesea is 60-69 years with households in Anglesea being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying on average $2,167 per month on mortgage repayments. In general, people in Anglesea work in a professional occupation.

TIDBIT:

An important aspect of Anglesea’s future tourism emerged with the formation of the Surf Club in 1952

Population: 3,208

Male: 49%

Female: 51%

Median age: 54

5 year population change: 26%

House median sales price: $1,450,000

Change in median price: (5yrs) 48%

Median asking rent per week: $600

Average length of ownership: 20 years

Owner occupiers: 79%

Renters: 21%

House median value:

January 2025: $1,517,300

January 2024: $1,621,700

January 2023: $1,663,700

January 2022: $1,692,000

January 2021: $1,172,000

House sales per annum:

Period ending January 2025: 59

Period ending January 2024: 61

Land median sale price:

January 2025: $867,500

January 2024: $842,000

Land sales per annum:

Period ending January 2025: 3

Period ending January 2024: 2