Pakistani Australian
Encyclopedia
Pakistani Australians refers to someone born in Australia
of Pakistani descent or to someone who has immigrated to Australia from Pakistan
. Most Pakistani Australians are Muslims
by religion though there is also a sizeable Christian minority.
") entered Australia as camel drivers in the late 1800s from areas which are now part of modern-day Pakistan. Since then the number of Pakistani immigrants increased dramatically, with thousands of Pakistanis entering the Australia each year since that time. Pakistani Australians tended to be urban, well-educated, and professional. Many of them had come from cities like Karachi
, Lahore
, Rawalpindi
, Islamabad
, Hyderabad
and Peshawar
, and were familiar with Western culture and ways of living. Still most of the Pakistanis immigrating to the Australia are mainly students, professionals and economic migrants who do tend to have some sort of education.
indicate that there are about 20,000 Pakistani Australians (this figure does not include those born in Australia of Pakistani descent or second/third generation Australians of Pakistani descent), since then the size of the Pakistani community in Australia has dramatically increased. Sydney
has one of the largest Pakistani communities in Oceania, and has been increasing since the point system was introduced to allow immigrants into Australia
. There are many other shops with Pakistani and other South Asian related items for sale such as Pakistani clothing and entertainment. It is home to the largest South Asian marketplace in Oceania.
In 2007, there were close to 5,000 Pakistani international students
studying in Australia. Under the Australia-Pakistan Scholarship Program, 500 scholarships are available to Pakistani students from 2005-2010 to facilitate postgraduate studies in Australia.
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...
of Pakistani descent or to someone who has immigrated to Australia from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Most Pakistani Australians are Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
by religion though there is also a sizeable Christian minority.
History in Australia
Immigration to Australia from Pakistan mostly occurred in the 1970s, however Pakistani migrants can be dated back to the early 1950s. Early Muslim migrants (known as "GhansAfghan (Australia)
The Afghans or Ghans were camel drivers who worked in outback Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. While called Afghans, not all of them were from Afghanistan; some came from the northern regions of British India, areas that now constitute modern-day Pakistan...
") entered Australia as camel drivers in the late 1800s from areas which are now part of modern-day Pakistan. Since then the number of Pakistani immigrants increased dramatically, with thousands of Pakistanis entering the Australia each year since that time. Pakistani Australians tended to be urban, well-educated, and professional. Many of them had come from cities like Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
, Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Sindh
is the second largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the seventh largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot...
and Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, and were familiar with Western culture and ways of living. Still most of the Pakistanis immigrating to the Australia are mainly students, professionals and economic migrants who do tend to have some sort of education.
Demographics
Figures from the 2001 Australian CensusCensus in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
indicate that there are about 20,000 Pakistani Australians (this figure does not include those born in Australia of Pakistani descent or second/third generation Australians of Pakistani descent), since then the size of the Pakistani community in Australia has dramatically increased. Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
has one of the largest Pakistani communities in Oceania, and has been increasing since the point system was introduced to allow immigrants into Australia
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...
. There are many other shops with Pakistani and other South Asian related items for sale such as Pakistani clothing and entertainment. It is home to the largest South Asian marketplace in Oceania.
In 2007, there were close to 5,000 Pakistani international students
Pakistani students abroad
There are hundreds and thousands of Pakistani students who travel abroad each year in order to attain higher education. Countries which have large Pakistani international student populations include those in Europe, North America, China and Australasia...
studying in Australia. Under the Australia-Pakistan Scholarship Program, 500 scholarships are available to Pakistani students from 2005-2010 to facilitate postgraduate studies in Australia.
Notable people
- Sohail InayatullahSohail InayatullahSohail Tahir Inayatullah is a Pakistan-born political scientist and futurist who lives in Australia. He holds a number of academic positions:*Professor, Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Tamkang University...
- Usman KhawajaUsman KhawajaUsman Khawaja is an Australian cricketer. He was awarded player of the Australian Under 19 Championship in 2005 and also played for Australia in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman. His club side is Randwick-Petersham....
- Irfan YusufIrfan YusufIrfan Yusuf is an Australian lawyer, social commentator and author of the memoir Once Were Radicals: My years as a teenage Islamo-fascist.-Education and work:...
- Rameez JunaidRameez JunaidRameez Junaid is an Australian tennis player of Pakistani descent.Junaid is based in Melbourne, Victoria. He usually plays doubles with Philipp Marx from Germany. Rameez is currently ranked top 100 in doubles, and has also played doubles with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi before, in Dubai in...
- Azhar AbidiAzhar AbidiAzhar Ali Abidi is a Pakistani Australian author and translator. He went to school in Pakistan and later studied electrical engineering at the Imperial College London and Masters of Business Administration at the University of Melbourne...
- Rafat HussainRafat HussainDr Rafat Hussain اردو: ڈاکٹر رفعت حسین is an Associate Professor in Health Management and Deputy Head of the School of Rural Medicine at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.-Early life:...
- Hanifa DeenHanifa DeenHanifa Deen is an award-winning third generation Australian writer, originally of Pakistani ancestry.. She has described how one of her grandfathers was a Kashmiri who jumped ship in Melbourne, while the other was a Punjabi small business man who came in the wake of the Afghan camel drivers, who...
External links
- High Commission For Pakistan
- Pakistan Cultural Association
- PakAus.com.au - Pakistani Community Site in Australia with Forum, blog, News, Videos, Chat, PKR rate and Matrimonial site
- Pakistan Association
- Sadaewatan Community News
- Pakistan Australia Friendship Association
- PakOZ.com.au - Pakistani Australian Site
- Pakistani Australian Christian Association
- History of Pakistani Australians