Total population | |
---|---|
8,385,928 (by ancestry, 2021) [1] (33% of the Australian population) 927,490 (by birth, 2021) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
All states and territories of Australia [ citation needed ] | |
Languages | |
English | |
Religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Anglo-Celtic Australians, Scottish Australians, Irish Australians, Welsh Australians, Cornish Australians [ citation needed ] |
Part of a series on |
English people |
---|
Culture |
Music |
Language |
Cuisine |
Dance |
Religion |
People |
Diaspora |
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, [3] 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 (whether sole or partial). [1] It is the largest self-identified ancestry in Australia. [1] 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. [4]
English Australians are a subset of Anglo-Celtic Australians, who are themselves a subset of European Australians. Other subsets of Anglo-Celtic Australians (that is, Australians with ancestry originating in the British Isles) include Irish Australians, Scottish Australians and Welsh Australians. There is a tendency to refer to these ancestries collectively due to their long history in Australia and the high degree of intermixture which has occurred over centuries. In light of this history, there is a tendency for Australians with English or other Anglo-Celtic ancestries to simply identify their ancestry as 'Australian'. [5]
Population born in England New South Wales 1846-1891 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | Ref(s) | ||
1851 | 51,122 | [6] | ||
1861 | 84,152 | [6] | ||
1871 | 87,334 | [6] | ||
1881 | 107,574 | [6] | ||
1891 | 149,232 | [6] | ||
New South Wales was established in 1788 by the British government as a penal colony. [7] Visitors described the English character of Sydney for at least the first 50 years after 1788, noting the traditional English appearance of the churches overlooking the convict barracks. First-generation colonial Sydney residents were predominantly English. 160,000 convicts came to Australia between 1788 and 1850. [8] Between 1788 and 1840, 80,000 English convicts were transported to New South Wales, with the greatest numbers coming between 1825 and 1835. The New South Wales Census of 1846 accounted for 57,349 born in England, 47,547 born in Ireland and 14,406 born in Scotland. [9] Until 1859, 2.2 million (73%) of the free settlers who immigrated were British in origin. [10]
Many more English people immigrated to Victoria by the gold rush of the 1850s. By 1854 there were 97,943 English-born people in Victoria. Immigration policies and assistance schemes helped maintain high levels of immigration from England. Of the 1 million immigrants who arrived between 1860 and 1900, just over half came from England. [11]
Between 1840 and 1870 there were more Irish than English assisted migrants which did not change until the 1870s, when there were more English. [9]
At least 75 per cent of all overseas-born people in Australia during the 19th century were from the British Isles. The proportion who had been born in England or Wales remained quite stable (at about 47 per cent) from 1861 to 1911, as did the proportion born in Scotland (about 12 per cent). [12]
English settlers more often came from the South than the North of England. [13]
Population born in England, 1911–present | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | Ref(s) | |
1911 | 346,030 | [14] | |
1921 | 446,124 | [15] | |
1933 | 486,831 | [16] | |
1947 | 381,592 | [17] | |
1954 | 478,411 | [18] | |
1961 | 556,478 | [18] | |
1971 | 842,032 | [19] | |
1981 | 889,124 | [20] | |
1991 | 896,336 | [21] | |
2001 | 847,365 | [22] | |
2011 | 911,593 | [23] | |
2021 | 927,490 | [24] |
Australians of English ancestry made up more than 50 per cent of the population at the time of Federation (1901). [26] From 1922 the Empire Settlement Act assisted thousands of migrants from England. After the Second World War, even as immigration from other countries expanded dramatically, English citizens had almost unrestricted entry into Australia. Arthur Calwell, Minister for Immigration, wanted nine out of ten new immigrants to be UK-born. [11] The majority of England-born migrants received assisted passages until the scheme was abolished in 1982.
Among the notable English-born were politicians such as Henry Parkes, and Joseph Cook; in retailing and media: John Norton, Anthony Hordern and John Fairfax. [9]
Surges of English immigration in the 1910s, 1920s, 1950s and 1960s sustained the English-born as the largest single immigrant group throughout the 20th century. [9] In 1978 Australians of predominantly English ancestry made up over 45 per cent of the population. [27] English ancestry was reported by 6.6 million people (46%) in 1986, and 6.4 million (37%) in 2001. [28] While the English-born continue to be well-represented among immigrants to Australia, the overall decline of English immigration to Australia since the 1980s has meant that the English-born are declining as a proportion of immigrants to Australia. Regardless, Australian society continues to be influenced by its strong English heritage. [4]
In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether wholly or partial). [29]
English ancestral origin | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year (census) | Population | % | Population change | % change | Ref(s) |
1986 | 6,607,228 | 42.3 | [30] | ||
2001 | 6,358,880 | 33.9 | [31] | ||
2006 | 6,283,647 | 31.6 | [32] | ||
2011 | 7,238,533 | 33.7 | [33] | ||
2016 | 7,852,224 | 36.1 | [34] | ||
2021 | 8,385,928 | 33 | [24] |
People of English descent were by far the single most influential ethnic group in colonial Australia. [35] The founding of Australia by English people is still evident in place names, Australia's common law legal system, popular dishes such as fish and chips and Sunday Roast and English as Australia's national language.[ citation needed ]
In Sydney, at least 50 suburban names are derived directly from 20 English counties, of which the largest numbers are from Kent, Surrey and London. Among the best known are Surry Hills, Croydon, Hornsby, Epping, Chipping Norton, Brighton-le-Sands, Bexley, Canterbury, Ryde, Kensington, Lewisham and Penshurst. [3]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(March 2023) |
The majority of Prime Ministers of Australia have been of at least partial English ancestry. To date all Australian Prime Ministers have had whole or partial Anglo-Celtic ancestry.
The population of Australia is estimated to be 27,447,900 as of 9 October 2024. It is the 54th most populous country in the world and the most populous Oceanian country. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas, particularly on the Eastern, South Eastern and Southern seaboards, and is expected to exceed 30 million by 2029.
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, as well as the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago.
Chinese Australians are Australians of Chinese origin. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ancestry than any country outside Asia. As a whole, Australian residents identifying themselves as having Chinese ancestry made up 5.5% of Australia's population at the 2021 census.
Irish Australians are residents of Australia who are fully or partially of Irish descent. Irish immigrants and descendants have been a prominent presence in the Australian populace since the First Fleet's arrival in New South Wales in 1788.
Vietnamese Australians are Australians of Vietnamese descent. Vietnamese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Vietnamese diaspora.
German Australians are Australians with German ancestry. German Australians constitute one of the largest ancestry groups in Australia, and German is the fifth most identified European ancestry in Australia behind English, Irish, Scottish and Italian. German Australians are one of the largest groups within the global German diaspora.
Sydney is Australia's most populous city, and is also the most populous city in Oceania. In the 2021 census, 5,231,147 persons declared themselves as residents of the Sydney Statistical Division–about one-fifth (20.58%) of Australia's total population. With a population density of 2037 people per square kilometre, the urban core has population density five times that of the greater region.
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.
Malaysian Australians refers to Malaysians who have migrated to Australia or Australian-born citizens who are of Malaysian descent. This may include Malaysian Chinese, Malays, Malaysian Indians, Orang Asal, mixed Malaysians and other groups.
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, though the Constitutional framers considered the Commonwealth to be "a home for Australians and the British race alone", as well as a "Christian Commonwealth". Since the postwar period, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism and has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30 percent of the population in 2019.
Indian Australians or Indo-Australians are Australians of Indian ancestry. This includes both those who are Australian by birth, and those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian diaspora. Indian Australians are one of the largest groups within the Indian diaspora, with 783,958 persons declaring Indian ancestry at the 2021 census, representing 3.1% of the Australian population. In 2019, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that 721,050 Australian residents were born in India.
Scottish Australians are residents of Australia who are fully or partially of Scottish descent.
The British diaspora consists of people of English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cornish, Manx and Channel Islands ancestral descent who live outside of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.
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, and to a lesser extent, Zimbabwe, India, 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.
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.
New Zealand Australians refers to Australian citizens whose origins are in New Zealand, as well as New Zealand migrants and expatriates based in Australia. Migration from New Zealand to Australia is a common phenomenon, given Australia's proximity to New Zealand, its larger economy, free movement agreement and cultural links between the two countries.
The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as 23,401,892 – an increase of 8.8 per cent or 1,894,175 people over the 2011 census. Norfolk Island joined the census for the first time in 2016, adding 1,748 to the population.
Norfolk Islanders, also referred to as just Islanders, are the inhabitants or residents of Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia. The Islanders have their own unique identity and are predominantly people of Pitcairn and English descent and to a lesser extent of Scottish and Irish.
Choose "Country of Birth" file
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)