This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2023) |
Total population | |
---|---|
7,939 (by birth, 2011 Census ) [1] 22,420 (by ancestry, 2011 Census ) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Mount Isa | |
Languages | |
Australian English · Finnish | |
Religion | |
Traditionally Lutheranism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Finnish New Zealanders, Danish Australians, Estonian Australians, Norwegian Australians, Swedish Australians |
Finnish Australians (Finnish : Australiansuomalaiset) are Australian citizens of Finnish ancestry or Finland-born people who reside in Australia. According to Finnish estimates, there are approximately 30,000 Australians of Finnish ancestry, and about 7,500 Finland-born Finns residing in Australia. [2]
The first person from Finland to arrive in Australia was Herman Spöring Jr. from Turku, who was part of the first voyage of James Cook that landed on the continent in 1770. The first Finns to migrate permanently were joining the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s. [3] More migration followed in the following decades to Queensland. In 1899, Matti Kurikka tried to establish a utopian community in Chillagoe with about a 100 Finns, though the experiment failed within a year. [4]
Many Finnish immigrants began arriving in Australia between 1947 and 1971. When these new immigrants came to Australia, they were taken to migrant camps. Once in the camp, they were given free room and board until the head of the family was assigned his first job. The largest and best-known of these camps was Bonegilla, a former military camp in northern Victoria. Most of these Finns, along with more than 300,000 immigrants from other countries, began their new lives in Bonegilla during this period. [5]
The first group of Finnish immigrants who arrived in Australia came to work in the gold mines of Victoria in the 1850s. Years later, after the first significant wave of Finnish immigration in the 1920s, a second major wave of immigrants from the Nordic country takes place again, this being more numerous than the first one. Finns were usually hired to perform heavy physical labour. Despite this, they were particularly attracted by the income from the sugar cane fields and mining in Mount Isa, in north Queensland. As a result, Mount Isa has one of the largest Finnish communities in Australia.
At the end of the Second World War, around 20,000 Finns had moved to Australia. In the last three decades the Finnish immigration has dropped significantly.[ citation needed ]
In the mid 1950s an economic crisis occurs in Finland causing a new wave of Finnish immigration to Australia. One of the main reasons for leaving Finland, besides crisis, was Australia's reinvigorated assisted passage scheme.
The below table shows the number of residents in Australia that were Finnish-born or Australian-born with Finnish ancestry at different times. [3] [6]
Year | Finnish-born | Finnish ancestry |
---|---|---|
1921 | 1,358 | |
1954 | 1,733 | |
1961 | 6,488 | |
1971 | 10,359 | |
1991 | 9,110 | |
2011 | 7,939 | 22,420 |
2016 | 7,711 | 24,144 |
2021 | 7,831 | 27,811 |
Finnish Americans comprise Americans with ancestral roots in Finland, or Finnish people who immigrated to and reside in the United States. The Finnish-American population is around 650,000. Many Finnish people historically immigrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Iron Range of northern Minnesota to work in the mining industry; much of the population in these regions is of Finnish descent.
Greek Australians are Australians of Greek ancestry. Greek Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Greek diaspora. As per the 2021 Australian census, 424,750 people stated that they had Greek ancestry, comprising 1.7% of the Australian population. At the 2021 census, 92,314 Australian residents were born in Greece.
Finnish Canadians are Canadian citizens of Finnish ancestry or Finns who emigrated to and reside in Canada. In 2016, 143,645 Canadians claimed Finnish ancestry. Finns started coming to Canada in the early 1880s, and in much larger numbers in the early 20th century and well into the mid-20th century. Finnish immigration to Canada was often a direct result of economic depressions and wars, or in the aftermath of major conflicts like the Finnish Civil War. Canada was often chosen as a final destination because of the similarity in climate and natural conditions, while employment in logging or homesteading attracted landless farmers in the early 20th century. Migratory movements of Finns between Canada and the United States was very common as well.
Asian Australians are Australians of Asian ancestry, including naturalised Australians who are immigrants from various regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 census, the proportion of the population identifying as Asian amounted to approximately 17.4 percent with breakdowns of 6.5 percent from Southern and Central Asia, 6.4 percent from North-East Asia, and 4.5 percent from South-East Asia.
Italian Australians are Australian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Australia during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Australia.
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.
Lebanese Australians refers to citizens or permanent residents of Australia of Lebanese ancestry. The population is diverse, having a large Christian religious base, being mostly Maronite Catholics, while also having a large Muslim group of Sunni and Shia branches.
Sudanese Australians are people of Sudanese origin or descent living in Australia. The largest population of Sudanese Australians reside in Victoria (6,085).
Post-war immigration to Australia deals with migration to Australia in the decades immediately following World War II, and in particular refers to the predominantly European wave of immigration which occurred between 1945 and the end of the White Australia policy in 1973. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (1945–1949), established the federal Department of Immigration to administer a large-scale immigration program. Chifley commissioned a report on the subject which found that Australia was in urgent need of a larger population for the purposes of defence and development and it recommended a 1% annual increase in population through increased immigration.
Bosnian Australians are Australians of Bosnian ancestry. At the 2021 census, 28,246 people stated that they had Bosnian ancestry. At the 2021 census, 26,171 Australian residents were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
African Australians are Australians descended from any peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, including naturalised Australians who are immigrants from various regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within Sub-Saharan African ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 1.3%. Note that Australian official statistics are based on country of origin not race, hence African immigrants of European descent and their descendants are included as African Australians.
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, 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.
Spanish Australians refers to Australian citizens and residents of Spanish descent, or people who were born in Spain and immigrated to Australia. There are approximately 123,000 Australians who are of full or partial Spanish descent, most of whom reside within the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne, with lesser but rapidly growing numbers in Brisbane and Perth. Of these, according to the 2011 Australian census, 13,057 were born in Spain.
Taiwanese Australians are Australian citizens or permanent residents who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian island country of Taiwan or from preceding Taiwanese regimes.
Matti Kurikka was a Finnish journalist, theosophist, and utopian socialist.
Finnish Argentines are Argentine citizens of full, partial, or predominantly Finnish ancestry, or Finnish-born people residing in Argentina.
The history of Chinese after those from the British Isles. Significant Chinese emigration only began in earnest after the discovery of gold and the sequent gold rushes in Australia. This migration shaped and influenced Australian policies on immigration for over a century. Despite facing societal discrimination and restrictive immigration policies, Australians of Chinese descent have
Syrian Australians are Australians of Syrian descent or Syria-born people who reside in the Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Syrians make up 0.4 percent of the Australian population, with a gender split of 51.3 percent female, 49.7 percent male. The 2016 Australian census revealed 68.8 percent of Syrian Australian homes have Arabic as the language spoken at home, however of the homes where English is not the first spoken language, 37.7 percent are able to speak English fluently. The majority of Syrian Australians arrived prior to 2007, with a small group immigrating between 2007–2011 then a larger group entering between 2012–2016.
Asian Australian history is the history of Asian ethnic and racial groups in Australia who trace their ancestry to Asia. The term Asian Australian, was first used in the 1950s by European Australians who wanted to strengthen diplomatic and trade ties with Asia for the benefit of the Australian community. The term was not originally used to describe or recognise the experiences of people of Asian descent living in Australia. It was only in the late 1980s and 1990s that the term "Asian Australian" was adopted and used by Asian Australians themselves to discuss issues related to racial vilification and discrimination. Today, the term "Asian Australian" is widely accepted and used to refer to people of Asian descent who are citizens or residents of Australia, though its usage and meaning may vary within the Asian Australian community.
Asian immigration to Australia refers to immigration to Australia from part of the continent of Asia, which includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.The first major wave of Asian immigration to Australia occurred in the late 19th century, but the exclusionary White Australia policy, which was implemented to restrict non-European immigration, made it difficult for many Asian immigrants to migrate to the country. However, with the passage of the Migration Act 1958, the White Australia policy began to be phased out and Asian immigration to Australia increased significantly. Today, Asian immigrants from a wide range of countries play an important role in the cultural and economic landscape of Australia.
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