Immigration History in Australia

Immigration to the continent now called Australia began over 50,000 years ago, when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived via Indonesia and New Guinea. Europeans began landing in the 1600's and 1700's, and the country was colonised by Britain in 1788.

Humans first arrived in Australia through Indonesia and New Guinea, either by paddling canoes across the Timor Sea or by crossing a land bridge across what is now Torres Strait, between New Guinea and Australia. Estimates of the date vary considerably: the best current guess is about 53,000 years ago, but much room for debate remains.

On January 26, 1788,  (Australia Day), a landing was made by the British at Sydney Cove. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on February 7.

The Gold rush era, beginning in 1851, led to an enormous expansion in population, including for the first time large numbers of Irish Catholics, Germans and other Europeans, and Chinese.

After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration program. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans, including for the first time large numbers of Jews, migrated to Australia.

Since the end of World War II, the population has more than doubled; non-European immigration, mostly from the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, has increased significantly since 1960 through an extensive, planned immigration program. From 1945 through 2000, nearly 5.9 million immigrants settled in Australia, and about 80% have remained; nearly two of every seven Australians is foreign-born. Britain and Ireland have been the largest sources of post-war immigrants, followed by Italy, Greece, New Zealand, and the former Yugoslavia.

Immigration has been a key to Australia's development since the beginning of European settlement in 1788. Most settlers have come from the British Isles, and the people of Australia are still predominantly of British or Irish origin, with a culture and outlook similar to those of Americans.