Comparison of rurality for each site using remoteness classifications revealed a variable picture (Table 3).
Fitzgerald uses the remoteness of the setting -- Tasmania is " 'south of no north'..
The expression "back o' Bourke" is still used to conjure remoteness, a place on outer fringes.
Geographic isolation is defined using the Level of Relative Isolation (LORI) classification, which is based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (a widely used classification of remoteness in Australia).
Post codes were mapped to one of five geographical locations: Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote, defined using the Australian Standard Geographical Classification – Remoteness Area (ASGC-RA) [ 12].
Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) measured in tree bark from around the world are more highly correlated with remoteness calculated using our methods than with proximity to human population, and we see considerable potential to apply remoteness calculations for interpretation of monitoring data collected under programs such as the Stockholm Convention Global Monitoring Plan.
In addition to age, gender, year at school, country of birth, and parental marital status (i.e., married, separated, divorced, etc)., participants provided their home post-code (i.e., zip code), used to estimate geographic remoteness (metropolitan, regional, rural and remote; ABS Remoteness Classification).
Ports at Mahajanga and Antsiranana are significantly less used due to their remoteness.
Analysis of demographic and questionnaire data was undertaken descriptively using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. Postcodes were used to classify geographical remoteness, according to Australian criteria [ 19].
The place of residence for each participant was used to create a remoteness variable using the Australian Bureau of Statistics classification [ 11] and the SEIFA index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage was also linked by the participant's postcode to create another measure of SES.
