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Aside from anglo immigration most started arriving in Australia between 1950 and 1980..this was mainly european migration, from the 80s up until now its predominantly Asian.
America has a larger generational gap, i'll provide an eg of my heritage which is Greek, any Greek over the age of 60 in Australia probably struggles to speak English, when i was in New York i found many older Greeks that were exactly the same, but also heaps of Greeks in that age bracket that speak fluent Greek and English, being totally clueless at the time i eventually realised that America had 2 large waves of Greek immigration, the first between 1900 and 1930, and the post WW2 up until 1980...im assuming Italian-Americans had a similar migration pattern, since Australia only had 1 huge wave that was recent you tend to find that ethnic groups in Australia are all the same (immigrants, immigrants kids, and now the kids of those)...in America you have that but also 4th,5th and 6th generations.
Of course this comparision is purely euro centric.
Yes, there was an earlier wave of Italian and Greek immigrants, many of them rural, who are more assimilated, but the urban Italians one associates with places like Carlton, Brunswick, Leichhardt (sp), Fremantle really started to come after the War. The film 'They're a Weird Mob' is a good film for anyone interested in the immigrant history of Australia.
a higher percentage of Australians are of irish ancestry than americans of irish heritage
I think the reason Australia is sometimes forgotten as a land of immigrants is due to it relatively small population , their are more people in texas than in Australia , add to that immigration to Australia didn't kick off in a diverse sense until the second half of the twentieth century , prior to that it was completely made up of british and irish
I think the reason Australia is sometimes forgotten as a land of immigrants is due to it relatively small population , their are more people in texas than in Australia , add to that immigration to Australia didn't kick off in a diverse sense until the second half of the twentieth century , prior to that it was completely made up of british and irish
There was significant non-Anglo Irish migration to Australia as far back a the gold rush days of the 1850s. Even at that time, around 1 in four immigrants were from continental Europe or Asia. Following that there was a lot of German migration, particularly to SA and Qld, significant numbers of Italian speaking Swiss, Japanese and Chinese working in the pearling industry in the Top End, and the first waves of other groups. Migration from Italy, for example, was already underway, from small beginnings, before the end of the 19 th century: http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Resea...armonyDay1.pdf
Last edited by Richard1098; 12-07-2013 at 01:03 PM..
^ Yes, and a lot of that was in the rural areas. At one time 1/4 of all farms in Far North Queensland were owned by Chinese immigration. Gradually, however, they were usurped and were forced into the cities or back to China because of economic circumstances. This legacy is not well known today. Another group were the Afghan camel traders, after which the train 'The Ghan' from Adelaide to Darwin is named after.
There was significant non-Anglo Irish migration to Australia as far back a the gold rush days of the 1850s. Even at that time, around 1 in four immigrants were from continental Europe or Asia. Following that there was a lot of German migration, particularly to SA and Qld, significant numbers of Italian speaking Swiss, Japanese and Chinese working in the pearling industry in the Top End, and the first waves of other groups. Migration from Italy, for example, was already underway, from small beginnings, before the end of the 19 th century: http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Resea...armonyDay1.pdf
well I did not know that , goes to show their is a lot of misinformation out there about this issue , was always led to believe no one from outside the uk and Ireland was let into Australia until after WW2
well I did not know that , goes to show their is a lot of misinformation out there about this issue , was always led to believe no one from outside the uk and Ireland was let into Australia until after WW2
My great great great grandparents immigrated from Germany in 1845!
They were winemakers in Germany, but got into dairy farming upon arrival in Australia.
Not sure how early non-Anglo immigration started, but I'd imagine it to be rare in the 1840s.
I met a girl who was born in Melbourne who had a pretty foreign sounding accent. She was Cambodian Australian but had grown up in Springvale, an ethnic enclave where only 29% of people speak English at home! Her first language was not English. So it depends on where you grow up.
Interesting. I knew a few people in Springvale when I lived in Melbourne and all the ones who had grown up in Australia spoke with Australian accents, including one who migrated here from mainland China when she was about 10. All of their parents, who were adult migrants, had heavy accents and in a lot of cases really poor English and all of the younger generation would have been speaking their parents' native language at home but this didn't affect their Australian accents.
In fact of the people I know who speak other languages at home and grew up in Australia the vast majority speak with an Australian accent. Usually this is due to the interactions they have outside of the home, especially at school and in other activities. If they retain their parents' accent, they are probably spending far too much time with only their family. I know people like that too and let's just say they are not the most well socially-adjusted.
Regarding food, the difference in availability in major supermarkets of ethnic foods is quite stark between the US and Australia. I'm not talking about obscure ingredients or making my own curry paste from scratch. But it's hard to find the equivalent to Patak's or Kan-Tong, ie foreign food made for Westerners. I did find a decent Asian shop fortunately. But I'm still looking for desiccated coconut though it's been suggested that might be available at the Indian shop.
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