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European Australians

Total population
More than 57.2% of the population (2021 census)[1][A][B] English Australians: 8,385,928 Irish Australians: 2,410,833 Scottish Australians: 2,176,777 Italian Australians: 1,108,364 German Australians: 1,026,138 Greek Australians: 424,744 Dutch Australians: 381,948 Turkish Australians: 326,411 Polish Australians: 209,281 Maltese Australians: 198,989 Croatian Australians: 164,362 Welsh Australians: 156,108 French Australians: 148,927 Spanish Australians: 128,693 Macedonian Australians: 111,352 Serbian Australians: 94,997
Regions with significant populations
All states and territories of Australia[5]
Languages
Predominantly Australian English Italian • German • Greek • Dutch • Turkish • Other European languages[5][6]
Religion
Predominantly Christianity

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.^[7] 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% (46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European).^[1][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 (categorised within the Oceanian ancestry group, although most of them are likely to be of Anglo-Celtic or European ancestry),^[4][2] tending towards an undercount.

Since the early 19th century, people of European descent have formed the majority of the population in Australia. Historically, European immigrants had great influence over Australian culture and society, which results in the perception of Australia as a European-derived country.^[8][9]

The majority of European Australians are of British Isles – English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh – ancestral origin. While not an official ancestral classification, they are often referred to as Anglo-Celtic Australians. Other significant ancestries include Italian, German, Greek, Dutch, European New Zealanders, Polish, Maltese, and Scandinavian.^[10][11]

Classification

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Census does not collect data based on race. Instead, it collects information on distinct ancestries, of which census respondents can select up to two. For the purposes of aggregating data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG) has grouped certain ancestries into certain categories, including the following two broad European groupings:^[2]

• North-West European Australians, including Austrian Australians, Belgian Australians, Danish Australians, Dutch Australians, English Australians, Finnish Australians, French Australians, German Australians, Icelandic Australians, Irish Australians, Norwegian Australians, Scottish Australians, Swedish Australians and Welsh Australians
• Southern and Eastern European Australians, including Albanian Australians, Belarusian Australians, Bosnian Australians, Bulgarian Australians, Croatian Australians, Cypriot Australians, Czech Australians, Estonian Australians, Greek Australians, Hungarian Australians, Italian Australians, Latvian Australians, Lithuanian Australians, Macedonian Australians, Maltese Australians, Montenegrin Australians, Polish Australians, Portuguese Australians, Romanian Australians, Russian Australians, Serbian Australians, Slovak Australians, Slovene Australians, Spanish Australians and Ukrainian Australians

While officially part of the North-West European classification, Australians of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh or Cornish ancestral origins are often informally referred to as Anglo-Celtic Australians.^{[citation needed]}

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most people nominating "Australian" ancestry have at least partial Anglo-Celtic European ancestry, although they are officially categorised as part of the Oceanian group.^[2]

History

Early sightings by Europeans

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The first records of European mariners sailing into 'Australian' waters occurs around 1606, and includes their observations of the land known as Terra Australis Incognita (unknown southern land). The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutchman, Willem Janszoon.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1606 and 1770, an estimated 54 European ships from a range of nations made contact. Many of these were merchant ships from the Dutch East Indies Company and included the ships of Abel Tasman. Tasman charted parts of the north, west and south coasts of Australia which was then known as New Holland.^{[citation needed]}

Seebaer van Nieuwelant (born 27 July 1623), son of Willemtgen and Willem Janszoon, was born south of Dirk Hartog Island, in present-day Western Australia. Nieuwelant was the First white child born in Australia.

In 1770, Englishman Lieutenant James Cook charted the Australian east coast in his ship HM Barque Endeavour. Cook wrote that he claimed the east coast for King George III of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 when standing on Possession Island off the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, naming eastern Australia "New South Wales'. The coast of Australia, featuring Tasmania as a separate island, was mapped in detail by the English mariners and navigators Bass and Flinders, and the French mariner, Baudin. A nearly completed map of the coastline was published by Flinders in 1814.^{[citation needed]}

This period of European exploration is reflected in the names of landmarks such as the Torres Strait, Arnhem Land, Dampier Sound, Tasmania, the Furneaux Islands, Cape Frecinyet and La Perouse. French expeditions between 1790 and the 1830s, led by D'Entrecasteaux, Baudin, and Furneaux, were recorded by the naturalists Labillardière and Péron.^{[citation needed]}

Luis Vaez de Torres from Spain was also one of the first Europeans to explore Australia.^[12]

First settlement by Europeans

The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Sydney Cove by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788.^[13] This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. These land masses included the current islands of New Zealand, which was administered as part of New South Wales until it became a separate colony in 1841.^[14] Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was first settled in 1803.

British and Irish settlers

The first European Australians came from United Kingdom and Ireland.^[15][16]

The First white child born in New South Wales was Rebecca Small (22 September 1789 – 30 January 1883), was born in Port Jackson, the eldest daughter of John Small^[17] a boatswain in the First Fleet which arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788.

The First white child born in Victoria was William James Hobart Thorne (25 November 1803^[18] – 2 July 1872) was born at Port Phillip, in what was still part of New South Wales but became Victoria

Other British settlements followed, at various points around the continent, most of them unsuccessful. In 1824, a penal colony was established near the mouth of the Brisbane River (the basis of the later colony of Queensland). In 1826, a British military camp was established in Western Australia at King George Sound, to discourage French colonisation. (The camp formed the basis of the later town of Albany.) In 1829, the Swan River Colony and its capital of Perth were founded on the west coast proper and also assumed control of King George Sound. Initially a free colony, Western Australia later accepted British convicts, because of an acute labour shortage.^{[citation needed]}

The British Colonial Office in 1835 issued the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, implementing the legal doctrine of terra nullius upon which British settlement was based, reinforcing the notion that the land belonged to no one prior to the British Crown taking possession of it and quashing earlier treaties with Aboriginal peoples, such as that signed by John Batman. Its publication meant that from then, all people found occupying land without the authority of the government would be considered illegal trespassers.^[19]

Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1840, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1863 as part of South Australia. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868.^{[citation needed]}

The European population grew from 0.3 percent of the population of the continent at 1800 to 58.6 percent at 1850.^[20] In 1868, the population of European Australians was 1,539,552.^[21]

Massive areas of land were cleared for agriculture and various other purposes, in addition to the obvious impacts this early clearing of land had on the ecology of particular regions, it severely affected indigenous Australians, by reducing the resources they relied on for food, shelter and other essentials. This progressively forced them into smaller areas and reduced their numbers as the majority died of newly introduced diseases and lack of resources. Indigenous resistance against the settlers was widespread, and prolonged fighting between 1788 and the 1930s led to the deaths of at least 20,000 Indigenous people and between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans.^[22]

Irish formed about 25 per cent of the European Australian population in the nineteenth century.^[16] Germans formed the largest non-British community for most of the 19th century.^[23]

In 1971, nine out of the top ten birthplace groups were from European countries and accounted for 77.2% of all people born overseas. People from the United Kingdom still form the largest group. However, their number as a proportion of the total overseas-born population has declined, falling from 40.6% (1,046,356) in 1971 to 17.7% (1,078,064) in 2016.^[24]

After World War II

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Following World War II, the Australian government instigated a massive program of European immigration.^[25] After narrowly preventing a Japanese invasion ^{[citation needed]} and suffering attacks on Australian soil for the first time, it was seen that the country must "populate or perish". Prior to WWII, Australia had viewed itself as largely of British and Irish ancestry but after WWII the success of the United States and the reason for its success, that is largely the creation of a European diaspora, could not be ignored by Australia.^{[citation needed]} Immigration brought traditional migrants from the United Kingdom along with, for the first time, large numbers of southern and central Europeans, as well as Eastern European Australians. A booming Australian economy stood in sharp contrast to war-ravaged Europe, and newly arrived migrants found employment in government-assisted programs such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Two million immigrants arrived between 1948 and 1975, many from Robert Menzies' newly founded Liberal Party of Australia dominated much of the immediate post-war era, defeating the Australian Labor Party government of Ben Chifley in 1949. Menzies oversaw the post-war expansion and became the country's longest-serving leader. Manufacturing industry, previously playing a minor part in an economy dominated by primary production, greatly expanded. Since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy from Asia and other parts of the world, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself has been radically transformed.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, the vast majority of European Australians were descendants either of Anglo-Irish-Scots who arrived after 1850, or of Greeks, Italians, Hungarians, South Slavs, Poles and Germans who emigrated after 1945.^[26]

Demographics

Notably, Australia does not collect statistics on the racial origins of its residents, instead collecting data at each five-yearly census on distinct ancestries, of which each census respondent may choose up to two.^[27] At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within European ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 57.2% (including 46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European).^[1][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 (categorised within the Oceanian ancestry group although the Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most of them are likely to have at least partial Anglo-Celtic European ancestry),^[4][2] tending towards an undercount.

At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated European ancestries were as set out in the following table.^[1]

Persons nominating European Australian Ancestries in 2021^[1]

Ancestry	Population
English Australian	8,385,928
Irish Australian	2,410,833
Scottish Australian	2,176,777
Italian Australian	1,108,364
German Australian	1,026,138
Greek Australian	424,744
Dutch Australian	381,948
Polish Australian	209,281
Maltese Australian	198,989
Croatian Australian	164,362
Welsh Australian	156,108
French Australian	148,927
Spanish Australian	128,693
Macedonian Australian	111,352
Serbian Australian	94,997

Historical demographics

Australia enumerated its population by race between 1911 and 1966, by racial-origin in 1971 and 1976, and by self-declared ancestry since 1986.^[28] From 1986 onwards, only estimates can be obtained from ancestry. The 1991 and 1996 census did not include a question on ancestry.^[29]

The following table shows the proportion of Australian residents nominating European race or ancestry at various points in history.

Year	% of pop.	Ref(s)
1911	98.8	[30]
1921	99.0	[31]
1933	99.2	[31]
1947	99.3	[32]
1954	99.0	[33]
1961	99.4	[33]
1966	98.7	[33]
1976	96.22	[34][35]
1987	93.0	[36]
1999	88.2	[37]
2016	76.0	[38][39]
2021	57.2	[1][40]

Ancestral origins

The following table shows the numbers of Australians claiming various European ancestries at selected national census historical intervals.

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=European_Australian
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Ancestral origins	1986 / %		2001 / %		2006 / %		2011 / %		2016	2011-16
Albanian					11,313		13,142	0.1%	15,907
Australian	3,402,407	21.8%	6,739,594	35.9%	7,371,823	37.1%	7,098,486	33.0%	7,298,243	+2.81%
Austrian					41,490		42,341	0.2%	44,411
Basque					541	0.0%	612	0.0%
Belarusian					1,560	0.0%	1,664	0.0%
Belgian					8,896	0.0%	10,022	0.0%	11,968
Bosnian					18,463	0.1%	20,247	0.1%	23,630
British					5,681	0.0%	6,262	0.0%	9,385
Bulgarian					4,898	0.0%	5,436	0.0%	6,766
Catalan					112	0.0%	171	0.0%
Channel Islander					1,160	0.0%	1,127	0.0%
Croatian					118,049	0.6%	126,270	0.6%	133,268
Cypriot					10,722	0.0%	22,680	0.1%
Czech					21,194	0.1%	22,772	0.1%	24,475
Danish					50,414	0.3%	54,026	0.3%	59,293	+9.75%
Dutch					310,082		335,493	1.6%	339,549	+1.21%
English[41]