Total population | |
---|---|
9,025 (by birth, 2011) 54,026 (by ancestry, 2011) [1] | |
Languages | |
Religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Danes, Danish Canadians, Danish Americans |
Danish Australians are Australians with full or partial Danish ancestry. The majority of these people are part of the Danish diaspora.
There was some Danish immigration at the time of the Australian gold rushes. It was estimated that there were 1,000 Danes on the Victorian goldfields. [2] Danish immigrants had a significant effect on the Australian dairy industry from the 1880s, in particular establishing and managing butter factories. [2]
During the 1870s, a number of East Prussian and Danish Lutherans arrived in Tasmania. Most of them settled in the farming district of Bismarck, attracted by the cheap land and an abundance of clean water. The area was declared a town in 1881. [3]
Lutheranism was very slow to establish in Tasmania. Due to the absence of a Lutheran church, some of the Germans in Bismarck joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which arrived in the region in 1889. [4] [5] A Lutheran church was finally opened in Hobart on 11 August 1871 [6] and remains active today [7] but none was ever built in Bismarck.
There was little emigration from Denmark to Australia in the first half of the twentieth century: in 1901, Australia had a population of 6,281 people who had been born in Denmark; in 1947, that number had slackened to 2,759. At both counts, the population was approximately 75% male. Danish men married women of other ethnicities in Australia, which made it harder for the community to maintain its identity. [2]
Danish citizens were within the scope of Australia's Post-war immigration scheme. From a population of 2,954 Danish Australians in 1954, there were 7,911 Danes living in Australia in 1981. Masculinity ratios were healthier, with 58% of these being males. [2]
At the 2006 Census, 8,963 Australian residents declared they were born in Denmark. [8] In addition, 50,413 Australian residents claimed Danish ancestry, either singularly or with another ancestry. [9] [ verification needed ]
There is a Danish Australian Cultural Society. [10] The Australian Danish community has been written about in books. [11]
The Danish Royal Life Guards have a chapter of their veterans association in Australia. [12]
Name | Born | Notable for | Connection with Australia and Denmark |
---|---|---|---|
Joh Bjelke-Petersen | 1911–2005 | Former Queensland Premier | New Zealand-born of Danish descent |
Carl Adolf Feilberg | 1844–1887 | Journalist, commentator, human rights activist | Danish-born |
Jørgen Jensen | 1891–1922 | Businessman | Danish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross |
Jørgen Jørgensen | 1780–1841 | Sailor and Adventurer | Danish-born |
Marie Bjelke Petersen | 1874–1969 | Novelist | Danish-born |
Candy Devine | — | Broadcaster | Of Danish, Spanish, Scottish, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Polynesian and West Indian descent |
Mary Hansen | 1966–2002 | Guitarist and Singer | Of Danish and Irish descent |
Dennis Olsen | 1938- | Singer and Actor | |
Lawrence Springborg | 1968- | Politician | Of Danish and German descent |
George Christensen | 1978- | Politician | Of Danish descent |
David Andersen | 1980- | Basketball player | |
Anja Nissen | 1995- | Singer | Australian-born of Danish-born parents |
Tom Boyd | 1995- | Australian rules football player | Danish mother [13] |
Erika Heynatz | 1975- | Model, actress, singer, and television personality | Papua New Guinean-born Australian, Danish grandfather |
Prince Christian of Denmark | 2005- | Count of Monpezat | Danish-Born |
Anglo-Celtic Australians is an ancestral grouping of Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles - predominantly in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Danes are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
The Scottish diaspora consists of Scottish people who emigrated from Scotland and their descendants. The diaspora is concentrated in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, England, New Zealand, Ireland and to a lesser extent Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The Scottish disapora has been estimated by the Scottish Government to be between 28 and 40 million people worldwide. Other estimates have ranged as high as 80 million.
Nordic and Scandinavian Americans are Americans of Scandinavian and/or Nordic ancestry, including Danish Americans, Faroese Americans, Finnish Americans, Greenlandic Americans, Icelandic Americans, Norwegian Americans, and Swedish Americans. Also included are persons who reported 'Scandinavian' ancestry on their census. According to 2021 census estimates, there are approximately 9,365,489 people of Scandinavian ancestry in the United States.
Macedonian Australians are Australian citizens of Macedonian descent. Many arrived in the 1920s and 1930s, although larger numbers came to Australia after World War II and the Greek Civil War. By far the largest wave of immigration was during the 1960s and 1970s. As of the 2021 Australian census, Macedonian is the most-spoken Eastern European language in Australia.
The Croatian diaspora consists of communities of ethnic Croats and/or Croatian citizens living outside Croatia. Estimates on its size are only approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization, but (highest) estimates suggest that the Croatian diaspora numbers between a third and a half of the total number of Croats.
Polish Australians refers to Australian citizens or residents of full or partial Polish ancestry, or Polish citizens living in Australia.
Serbian Australians, are Australians of ethnic Serb ancestry. In the 2021 census there were 94,997 people in Australia who identified as having Serb ancestry, making it a significant group with the global Serb diaspora.
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Australian. Australian law does not provide for a racial or ethnic component of nationality, instead relying on citizenship as a legal status.
Egyptian Australians are Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents of Egyptian descent. According to the Australian 2011 Census, 36,532 Australian citizens and permanent residents declared that they were born in Egypt, while based on the 2006 Census, at least an additional 31,786 declared that they were of full or partial Egyptian ancestry and born in a country other than Egypt. The 2021 Census shows that the majority of Egypt-born Australians are located in Sydney (19,680) and Melbourne (13,312).
Swedish Australians are Australians with Swedish ancestry, most often related to the large groups of immigrants from Sweden in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The 2011 Census showed 34,029 people who claimed Swedish ancestry, having an increase compared to those 30,375 in 2006. Most Swedish Australians are Lutherans affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. They form the largest Scandinavian minority in Australia.
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry. It is the largest self-identified ancestry in Australia. People of ethnic English origin have been the largest group to migrate to Australia since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.
Pitcairn Islanders, also referred to as Pitkerners and Pitcairnese, are the native inhabitants of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory including people whose families were previously inhabitants and maintaining cultural connections. Most Pitcairn Islanders are descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
European emigration is the successive emigration waves from the European continent to other continents. The origins of the various European diasporas can be traced to the people who left the European nation states or stateless ethnic communities on the European continent.
Collinsvale is a rural / residential locality in the local government areas (LGA) of Glenorchy (75%) and Derwent Valley (25%) in the Hobart and South-east LGA regions of Tasmania. The locality is about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of the town of Glenorchy. The 2016 census recorded a population of 630 for the state suburb of Collinsvale.
The English diaspora consists of English people and their descendants who emigrated from England. The diaspora is concentrated in the English-speaking world in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, South Africa, India and to a lesser extent, Zimbabwe, Zambia and continental Europe.
French Australians, some of whom refer to themselves as Huguenots, are Australian citizens or residents of French ancestry, or French-born people who reside in Australia. According to the 2011 Census, there were 110,399 people of French descent in Australia and 24,675 French-born people residing in the country at the time of the census, representing an increase of 28.6 percent compared to the 2006 Census. The largest French Australian community is in the state of New South Wales, where they number 8,936 people, many of whom reside in Sydney.
Ethiopian Australians are immigrants from Ethiopia to Australia and their descendants. However, as Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country with significant inter-ethnic tensions, not all individuals from Ethiopia accept the label "Ethiopian", instead preferring to identify by their ethnic group. In particular, various Oromo people use the term 'Oromo Australian' instead. In contrast, there are many individuals who prefer to label themselves as Ethiopian Australians. This is because they oppose labelling themselves based on their ethnicity as they see it as divisive and politicising their ethnic identity. This is common among the Amharic-speaking community along with ethnically mixed individuals, compared to others who stand by their ethnic identity.
European Australians are citizens or residents of Australia whose ancestry originates from the peoples of Europe. They form the largest panethnic group in the country. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within European ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to more than 57.2%. It is impossible to quantify the precise proportion of the population with European ancestry. For instance, many census recipients nominated two European ancestries, tending towards an overcount. Conversely, 29.9% of census recipients nominated "Australian" ancestry, tending towards an undercount.
Somali Australians are citizens and residents of Australia who are of Somali ancestry.