Indian Australian
Encyclopedia
An Indian Australian is an Australia
n of Indian heritage. They include both those who are Australian by birth, and increasingly, those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian diaspora. They are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in Australia today.
In 2005-2006 India
was the fourth major source of permanent migrants to Australia
behind the United Kingdom
, New Zealand
and China
. Between 2000–2001 and 2005–2006, the number of skilled migrants coming to Australia from India increased from 4,700 to 12,300 people.
In 2008-2009 Australia's Indian-born population recorded the fastest growth in the country, increasing by 44,012 (17%).
in north-western India, religiously, they were predominantly Sikhs
and Hindus
. Between 1860 and 1901, more Indians arrived and worked as agricultural labourers, hawkers and domestic help. A number of Indians also worked in the gold fields.
Migration from India was curtailed after the Australian Government introduced the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, but following India's independence from Britain in 1947, the number of Anglo-Indians and Indian-born British citizens immigrating to Australia increased.
, of which 79,025 held Australian citizenship. The states with the largest Indian-born residents were New South Wales (57,156), Victoria (52,853) and Western Australia (15,157). 64,968 declared they were Hindu
, 49,975 declared they were Christian
and 26,500 declared they were Sikh
. Other minorities include Muslims and Zoroastrians. 243,722 Australian residents declared that had Indian ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry.
The Indian-born community more than doubled between 2004 and 2009 to 308,542, making it the second largest non-Anglo community in Australia after Chinese-born Australians.
In 2009 there were an additional 90,000 Indian Students studying at Australian tertiary institutions according to Prime Minister Rudd
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n of Indian heritage. They include both those who are Australian by birth, and increasingly, those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian diaspora. They are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in Australia today.
In 2005-2006 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was the fourth major source of permanent migrants to Australia
Immigration to Australia
Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...
behind the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Between 2000–2001 and 2005–2006, the number of skilled migrants coming to Australia from India increased from 4,700 to 12,300 people.
In 2008-2009 Australia's Indian-born population recorded the fastest growth in the country, increasing by 44,012 (17%).
History
The first Indians that arrived in Australia were predominantly Punjabis from the Punjab regionPunjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
in north-western India, religiously, they were predominantly Sikhs
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
and Hindus
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. Between 1860 and 1901, more Indians arrived and worked as agricultural labourers, hawkers and domestic help. A number of Indians also worked in the gold fields.
Migration from India was curtailed after the Australian Government introduced the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, but following India's independence from Britain in 1947, the number of Anglo-Indians and Indian-born British citizens immigrating to Australia increased.
Demographics
At the 2006 Census 147,106 Australian residents declared that they were born in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, of which 79,025 held Australian citizenship. The states with the largest Indian-born residents were New South Wales (57,156), Victoria (52,853) and Western Australia (15,157). 64,968 declared they were Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, 49,975 declared they were Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and 26,500 declared they were Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
. Other minorities include Muslims and Zoroastrians. 243,722 Australian residents declared that had Indian ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry.
The Indian-born community more than doubled between 2004 and 2009 to 308,542, making it the second largest non-Anglo community in Australia after Chinese-born Australians.
In 2009 there were an additional 90,000 Indian Students studying at Australian tertiary institutions according to Prime Minister Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
.
Notable Indian Australians
- Aravind AdigaAravind AdigaAravind Adiga is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Man Booker Prize.-Early life and education:...
- Purushottama BilimoriaPurushottama BilimoriaPurushottama Bilimoria is a professor at the Deakin University and Melbourne University in Australia. He has written widely on topics relating to the Indian diaspora and Hinduism in the diasporas....
- Christabel ChamaretteChristabel ChamaretteChristabel Marguerite Alain Chamarette, sometimes Christabel Bridge was a Greens Western Australia Senator for Western Australia from 1992 to 1996.-Personal life:...
- Samantha DownieSamantha DownieSamantha Downie is an Australian model, who participated of the fourth cycle of Australia's Next Top Model.-Australia's Next Top Model:...
- Daniel KerrDaniel KerrDaniel Matthew Kerr is an Australian rules footballer.Kerr was recruited from East Fremantle Football Club and made his AFL debut in 2001 with the West Coast Eagles. He is a hard-running midfielder who is a vital part of the midfield at the Eagles.-Background:Kerr is of Anglo-Indian descent...
- Samantha KerrSamantha KerrSamantha May Kerr is an Australian female football player currently playing for Australian W-League team Perth Glory...
- Jordan McMahonJordan McMahonJordan McMahon is an Australian rules football player. McMahon, a native South Australian, was drafted from the Glenelg Football Club in the 2000 AFL Draft as a first round selection by the Western Bulldogs. Playing as a running defender, McMahon had seven seasons at the Western Bulldogs,...
- Kersi Meher-HomjiKersi Meher-HomjiKersi Meher-Homji is an Australian journalist, author and biographer. He writes often for the Sydney Morning Herald, and his most notable biography is The Waugh Twins , about Steve and Mark Waugh...
- Tharini MudaliarTharini MudaliarTharini Mudaliar is an Australian actress, singer, and violinist. She is best known for her role portraying the fictional character Kamala in The Matrix Revolutions...
- Indira NaidooIndira NaidooIndira Naidoo is an Australian author, journalist and television presenter.-Education:Naidoo was educated in England, Zimbabwe and Australia, where she attended Launceston Church Grammar School in Tasmania before matriculating as School Dux from Naracoorte High School in South...
- Pankaj OswalPankaj OswalPankaj Oswal is an Indian Australian businessman. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of Burrup Holdings Limited. BOY is a Perth based company and one of the world's largest liquid ammonia production companies. Oswal has a fortune of over A$2 billion making him one of Australia's richest...
- Siobhan ParekhSiobhan ParekhSiobhan Parekh is an Australian model. Parekh is of Irish and Indian ethnicity and lives in Sydney.The winner of FHM's 2005 Girl Next Door competition, Parekh later became the first Australian to become a playable online game character, appearing as a super-human martial artist in the short-lived...
- Clancee PearceClancee PearceClancee Pearce is an Australian rules footballer for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League and the Swan Districts Football Club in the West Australian Football League ....
- Eric Pearce
- Julian PearceJulian PearceJulian Pearce is a former field hockey player who represented Australia in 45 international matches including three Olympics Games...
- David ReyneDavid ReyneDavid Nicholas Reyne is an Australian actor, musician and television presenter. He was educated at The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza.-Music career:...
- James ReyneJames ReyneJames Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
- Rex SellersRex Sellers (cricketer)Reginald Hugh Durning Sellers Reginald Hugh Durning Sellers Reginald Hugh Durning Sellers (born 20 August 1940 in Bombay (now Mumbai) is a former Test cricketer (Australian Test Cap 230). He played one Test match for Australia in India in 1964; his playing career was severely restricted due to...
- Anu SinghAnu SinghAnu Singh is an Australian of Indian descent who, in 1997, while a law student at the Australian National University, murdered her boyfriend, Joe Cinque. She laced his coffee with Rohypnol, then injected him with heroin. The crime was very widely reported in Australia...
- Lisa SthalekarLisa SthalekarLisa Carprini Sthalekar is a female cricketer who plays for Australia, and captains New South Wales. One of the key players in the team, she is a right-handed all rounder who bowls off spin, and was rated as the leading all rounder in the world when rankings were introduced...
- Mathai VargheseMathai VargheseMathai Varghese is a mathematician and an Australian Research Council Australian Professorial Fellow at the University of Adelaide. His most influential contribution to date is the Mathai-Quillen formalism, which he formulated together with Daniel Quillen, and which has since found applications in...
- Peter VarghesePeter VarghesePeter Joseph Noozhumurry Varghese AO is an Australian diplomat and public servant. An ethnic Malayali Indian, Varghese was born in Kenya to Indian parents, and emigrated to Australia as a child...
- Akshay VenkateshAkshay VenkateshAkshay Venkatesh is an Indian Australian mathematician. His research interests are in the fields of counting, equidistribution problems in automorphic forms and number theory, in particular representation theory, locally symmetric spaces and ergodic theory...
- Rhys WilliamsRhys Williams (footballer)Rhys Williams is an Australian professional football player currently playing for Middlesbrough in the English Football League Championship and the Australia national football team...
See also
- Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginNon-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginA Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
- Sikhism in AustraliaSikhism in AustraliaSikhism is a small but growing minority religion in Australia, that can trace its origins in the nation to the 1830s. The Sikhs form one of the largest subgroups of Indian Australians with 26,500 adherents according to the 2006 census, having grown from 17,000 in 2001 and 12,000 in 1996...
- Hinduism in AustraliaHinduism in AustraliaHindus form a religious minority in Australia, roughly estimated to be 148,119 according to the 2006 census.Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Melbourne, Australia.- History :...
- Violence against Indians in Australia controversy