Serbian Australians or Serb Australians[a] are Australians of ethnic Serb ancestry. In 2021, there were 94,997 Serbian Australians, representing one of the largest groups within the global Serb diaspora.[2][3]
During the time of Federation a very small number of ethnic Serbs inhabited Australia. Despite a lack of accurate data, it is assumed that ethnic Serbs deriving from Lika, Dalmatia, and Montenegro did reside in largely mining communities throughout the Commonwealth, though exact numbers are unsubstantiated. The first significant, albeit small wave of Serb immigrants, comprising mostly former POWs, and displaced persons fleeing war and genocide began arriving in Australia as post-war immigrants.[4][5] This initial wave also included members of the royalist Chetnik movement fleeing political persecution by the Communist regime of Josip Broz Tito.[6][7][8]
The easing of emigration restrictions by Yugoslavia generated a second, larger wave of predominantly economic migration throughout the 1960s and 1970s. An agreement between Australia and Yugoslavia facilitated the recruitment of largely unskilled and semi-skilled immigrants, from predominantly rural backgrounds to work in Australia's manufacturing and construction industries.[9] The developing political and economic issues in Yugoslavia during the 1980s, alongside its disintegration, ensuing wars, economic sanctions, and economic crisis of the 1990s, resulted in the largest Serbian migration to Australia.[10][11][12]
In recent years, some Serbian Australians have joined the "Serbian Chetniks Australia" organization.[13] This organization promoting the concept of Chetnik forces fighting against the Nazi forces in Yugoslavia during the World War II has participated in Anzac Day marches in Melbourne and Sydney which drew criticism from the Croatian Australian and Bosnian Australian communities.[14]
Demographics
Map of states and territories by Serbian Australian population, 2021 census.
>30,000
10,000 to 30,000
5,000 to 10,000
1,000 to 5,000
>1,000
According to data from the 2021 census, 94,997 people stated that they had Serb ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), out of which 25,454 were Serbia-born.[15] Serbian Australians comprise 0.37% of total Australian population.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics allows the provision of two ancestries in a multi-response question for foreign-born residents. In the 2016 census, 67% of Serbian Australians declared full Serb ancestry, 11.8% of individuals identifying as Serb in the first response comprised 11.8%, whilst 21.1% declared Serb heritage in the second response.[19][18]
Language retention is high: only 15.6% speak English exclusively at home, while 68.5% are proficient in English alongside another language (likely Serbian, though specifics are not available).[15]
Education levels are solid, with 21.6% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 13.8% at Certificate III level.[15]
↑ The community is commonly known in English as Serbian Australians, and scarcer as Serb Australians. In Serbian, the community is known as Australian Serbs (Aустралијски Срби, Australijski Srbi), and scarcer as Serbs in Australia (Срби у Аустралији, Srbi u Australiji).
↑ Stefanovic, D.S. (2002). "Serbs". In James Jupp (ed.). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.678. ISBN978-0-521-80789-0.
1 2 "Svetosavnik". Svetosavnik - Parorhiski List Srpske Pravoslavne Crkve "Sv Sava" (in Serbian and English). 123: 20–26. 9 August 2016.
↑ "Fact sheet - Ancestry". www.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
↑ Antic, Alex (17 September 2019). "First speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
↑ "Naš Andrej je lep ko lutka!"[Our Andrej Is Beautiful Like a Doll!]. Alo! (in Serbian). 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
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