According to recent research from Roy Morgan in 2015, 5.8 million Aussie households had a barbecue (63.7% of total households), an increase of some 400,000 households since 2011, when 63.2% of households had one. In country SA —Australia’s barbecue heartland — the figure rises to 75.6% of households, followed closely by the ACT (73.5%) and country WA (71.2%). The research also showed that while barbecue ownership tends to be above average in rural households, capital-city households hover slightly below average, with Melbourne having the lowest rate of barbecue ownership (60.1%).

Household barbecue ownership in Australia: country vs capital city

“Along with beer, beaches and sport, the barbecue is central to classic (and, admittedly, clichéd) notions of Australian identity, reaching its zenith with Paul Hogan’s famously ‘ocker’ TV advertisement urging the world to put another shrimp on the barbie. So the fact that barbecue ownership is so widespread among Aussie households is no surprise. Nor is the fact that Australian-born Aussies are 50% more likely than their Asian-born counterparts to live in a household with a barbecue in it.” Andrew Price, General Manager – Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research commented.
Mr. Price went on to point out that during 2015, 347,000 Australian households reported buying a new barbecue at some point in the preceding 12 months, and 249,000 households reported that they intended to buy one at some point in the coming 12 months. Barbecue-buying intention is highest in ACT (3.8%) and Brisbane (3.4%) households, while barbecue ownership does not look set to grow quite as much in Melbourne and Hobart (both 2.0%).