A diverse people

Celebrating Australia Day (26 January)
Australians are a unique mix of people. Indigenous Australians have inhabited Australia for an estimated 60 000 years. The remainder of Australia’s population are settlers, or descendants of settlers, who have arrived during the past two centuries.
There are few countries in the world in which migrants have achieved the economic, political, social and cultural participation that they have in Australia.
Cultural and linguistic diversity was a feature of Australian life before European settlement. It remains a feature of modern Australian society, and continues to give Australia distinct social, cultural and business advantages.
From the time European settlement began in 1788, migration continued at a steady pace—reaching 50 000 a year during the gold rush period of the 1850s—until the population reached over 7 million in the 1940s. Most settlers were from a British or Irish background.
After the Second World War, the Australian Government began a formal migration program that has brought more than six million migrants to Australia. Since then, people from some 200 different countries have made Australia their home.
During the last 40 years there has been a significant change in the source countries for people who choose to settle in Australia. In the 1960s, 46 per cent of all settler arrivals were born in the United Kingdom and Ireland. By the 1990s, only 13 per cent were born in these two countries, with the countries in Australia’s region becoming an increasingly important source of settler and long-term visitor arrivals.
At 30 June 2002, 7.5 per cent of the Australian population had been born in north-west Europe, three-quarters of whom were born in the United Kingdom. People born in Asia comprised 5.7 per cent of Australia’s population.
The languages most commonly spoken in Australia are English, Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic, Vietnamese and Mandarin. Collectively, Australians speak over 200 languages, including over 45 Indigenous languages. About 15 per cent of Australians speak a language other than English.
Australia ranked third in the United Nations’ Human DevelopmentIndex for 2004. This index measures a country’s achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.
Top 10 countries of origin of migrants to Australia, 1901 and 2001
1901 Census |
2001 Census |
||||||
Birthplace |
Number |
% |
Birthplace |
Number |
% |
||
1 |
United Kingdom |
495 074 |
13.1 |
1 |
United Kingdom |
1 036 437 |
5.5 |
2 |
Ireland |
184 085 |
4.9 |
2 |
New Zealand |
355 684 |
1.9 |
3 |
Germany |
38 352 |
1.0 |
3 |
Italy |
218 754 |
1.2 |
4 |
China |
29 907 |
0.8 |
4 |
Vietnam |
154 831 |
0.8 |
5 |
New Zealand |
25 788 |
0.7 |
5 |
China |
142 717 |
0.8 |
6 |
Sweden and Norway |
9863 |
0.3 |
6 |
Greece |
116 531 |
0.6 |
7 |
India |
7637 |
0.2 |
7 |
Germany |
108 238 |
0.6 |
8 |
USA |
7448 |
0.2 |
8 |
Philippines |
103 989 |
0.6 |
9 |
Denmark |
6281 |
0.2 |
9 |
India |
95 456 |
0.5 |
10 |
Italy |
5678 |
0.2 |
10 |
Netherlands |
83 249 |
0.4 |
Top 10 total |
810 113 |
21.5 |
Top 10 total |
2415 886 |
12.9 |
||
Other |
47 463 |
1.3 |
Other |
1690 301 |
9.0 |
||
Total overseas-born |
857 576 |
22.7 |
Total overseas-born |
4106 187 |
21.9 |
||
Total Australian |
3773 801 |
100.0 |
Total Australian |
18769 791 |
100.0 |
* In February 2005 the estimated resident Australian population reached 20.3 million.
Almost one in four of Australia’s population of over 20 million was born overseas, and 43 per cent have one or both parents born overseas.
School children at Parliament House, Canberra, celebrate Australia's success as a diverse and harmonious nation on Harmony Day (21 March 2001). (Michael Jensen)
Australia’s migration policy
Australia has a global and non-discriminatory migration policy with two distinct programs: the migration program and the humanitarian program.
Criteria for migration are set down in the Migration Act 1958 and migration regulations. An applicant’s nationality, ethnic origin, sex, race or religion play no part in determining eligibility.
Migrants under Australia’s humanitarian program are refugees or others in need of humanitarian assistance for whom resettlement in Australia is the most appropriate solution. Refugees are identified and referred to Australia by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Others under the humanitarian program include people who have suffered substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of their human rights and who have close links with Australia.
Australia’s humanitarian program is the third-largest in the world. In the last 50 years, over 635 000 refugees have been resettled in Australia.
A tolerant and inclusive society
Australia accepts and respects the right of all its citizens to express and share their individual cultural heritage with an overriding commitment to Australia’s democratic foundations and English as the official language. Australia is committed to the principles of cultural respect, social equity and productive diversity.
Cultural respect gives all Australians—subject to the law—the rights to express their own culture and beliefs and obliges them to accept the right of others to do the same.
The principle of social equity entitles all Australians to equality of treatment and opportunity so that they can contribute to the life of the nation free from discrimination, including on the grounds of race, culture, religion, language, location, gender or place of birth.
Australia’s principle of productive diversity tries to maximise the cultural, social and economic dividends that stem from the nation’s plurality.
Every year on 21 March, Australia celebrates Harmony Day. It is an opportunity for all Australians to reflect on the nation’s multicultural society.
Indigenous Australia
Australia’s Indigenous population is projected to increase to more than 500 000 in 2006
Stuart Owen Fox/Tourism Australia
Australia’s Indigenous population comprises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are ethnically and culturally different from one another. Historically, Aboriginal people are from mainland Australia and Tasmania. Torres Strait Islanders come from the islands between the tip of Queensland and Papua New Guinea. They share many cultural similarities with the people of Papua New Guinea and other Pacific islands.
It is estimated there were some 750 000 Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia at the start of European settlement in 1788. This population declined dramatically during the 19th and early 20th centuries due to a number of factors, including the impact of new diseases.
An increasing number of Australians are now identifying themselves as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. At the time of the 2001 Census, Australia’s Indigenous population was around 410 000. Australia’s projected total Indigenous population in 2006 is likely to
pass 500 000.
Today, Indigenous Australians live all across Australia—30 per cent in major cities; 43 per cent in regional areas; and 27 per cent in remote parts of the country and outlying islands. In 2001, more than half of all Indigenous people lived in New South Wales and Queensland, with the majority residing in urban areas. In that year, New South Wales had the greatest number of Indigenous people (135 000) and the Northern Territory had the highest proportion of its population identifying as Indigenous, at around 29 per cent.
Indigenous cultures today are diverse, and a vital part of Australia’s national identity. Indigenous people contribute significantly across many fields, including the arts, media, academia, sport and business.
The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that opportunities exist for Indigenous people to access and own land with which they have an ongoing traditional association or which can assist with their continued social, cultural and economic development. Approximately 16 per cent of Australia is either owned or controlled by Indigenous people, predominantly inland areas.
The Government oversees programs and policies to help the Indigenous community overcome the inequalities that persist in some areas. These initiatives include efforts to improve health, housing, education and employment opportunities. In 2004–05, the Australian Government will spend around $2.9 billion on special programs for Indigenous people.
At the time of European settlement, there were an estimated 250 languages spoken by the Indigenous people of Australia, including about 700 dialects. In the past 200 years this number has dropped to about 45, with some languages spoken by fewer than 10 people.
Around 51 000 Australians speak Indigenous languages—those with the largest numbers of speakers are Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri and Arrernte.
Projects taking place to stem the loss of languages include recording the oral histories of elders; Indigenous language studies in schools and universities; and incorporating Indigenous languages in the arts. The renaming or dual naming of prominent landmarks is another way that Indigenous language is being given status—for example, Uluru in the Northern Territory is now the preferred name for what had formerly been called Ayers Rock.
Online
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies - Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
Last update May 2005