American Australians
Total population
American
77,010 (by birth, 2011 census)
62,960 (by ancestry, 2011 census)
Regions with significant populations
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra
Languages
Australian English · American English
Related ethnic groups
African Americans · European Americans · Hispanic and Latino Americans · Asian Americans · Native Americans · Pacific Islander Americans

American Australians are Australian citizens who are of American descent, including immigrants and residents who are descended from migrants from the United States of America and its territories. This includes people of European, African American, American Indian, Hispanic or Latin American, Asian, and Pacific Islander backgrounds.

Demography

People born in the United States as a percentage of the population in Australia divided geographically by statistical local area, as of the 2011 census
Number of permanent settlers arriving in Australia from the US since 1991 (monthly)

At the 2006 Australian Census, 71,718 Australian residents declared that they were American-born. Concentrations of American-born residents were in Sydney (16,339), Melbourne (11,130), Brisbane (6,057), Perth (5,558), Adelaide (2,862), and Canberra (1,970).[1] At that census, residents could declare up to two ancestries: of the 56,283 respondents declaring American ancestry, 3,901 also declared Hispanic ancestry; 1,798, African American; 3,936, North American Indian; and 224, Puerto Rican.[2]

Community history

The first North Americans to land in Australia were British crewmen from the Endeavour under Captain Cook, who sojourned at Botany Bay in 1770. Once a permanent colony was established in New South Wales, "trade links were developed almost exclusively with North America."[3]

The North American colonies, including what are now Canada and the United States, had been used by Britain for penal transportation. With the recognition of the independence of the United States in the 1780s, the British Government sought new lands to exile convicts, and Australia became the pre-eminent prison colony of the British Empire.[4]

From the 1770s to the 1840s, North Americans settled in Australia primarily as demobilised British soldiers and sailors; as convicts (some United States citizens were arrested at sea for maritime offences, tried, convicted, and transported);[4] and as whalers, sealers, or itinerants. Many of these settlers moved on to New Zealand for a time, and often returned to New South Wales. African Americans had a noted presence in the earliest British outposts in Australia, usually after a period of service in the British Navy.[5]

In the 1850s, large numbers of United States citizens arrived, most often after spending time in California during its gold rush. These migrants settled predominantly in rural Victoria, where the discovery of gold had encouraged a large colony of prospectors and speculators. Some born in the United States played eminent roles in the Eureka Stockade, particularly in the miners' paramilitary self-defence groups. The colonial authorities suspected the American-born and others, such as the Irish, of promoting republicanism.

At the time of Federation, in 1901, there were 7,448 United States-born persons in Australia.[3] About this time, many of these American-Australians worked in the labour movement, including the formation of trade unions and the Australian Labor Party (hence the spelling of Labor in the American way instead of the more common Labour; both spellings were acceptable in Australian English at the time). Despite North American socio-cultural influences, Australian public opinion was wary of the United States: the visit of the "Great White Fleet" of the United States Navy to Sydney and Melbourne in 1908 was greeted with fanfare,[6] but provoked immediate comment that the (British) Royal Navy should make an even greater show of force to restate in the strongest military terms Australia's position as the south-eastern guarantor of the British Empire.[6]

During the Second World War, more than a million United States soldiers were stationed, not all simultaneously, in Australia at the request of the Australian Government after the surrender of the British garrison in Singapore to the Japanese in 1941. When the war ended, 12,000 Australian women migrated to the United States as war brides, and 10,000 United States citizens settled in Australia—including ex-servicemen as war husbands.

The ANZUS Treaty, binding the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, was signed in 1951, locking the three countries into a mutual defence pact. This increased social and political ties between Australia and the United States and led Australia and New Zealand to commit soldiers to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. These connections, along with increased worldwide travel, prompted more Americans to migrate permanently; in 1971 there were 39,035 United States–born residents in Australia.[3]

Education

The American International School of Sydney is defunct.

Notable people

NameBorn – diedNotable forConnection with AustraliaConnection with United States
Janet Andrewartha1952–actressworks in Australiaborn in Camarillo, California
Aaron Baddeley1981–golf playermoved to Australia when 2 years old; raised in Australiaborn in Lebanon, New Hampshire
Carsten Ball1987–tennis playerraised in Australiaborn in Newport Beach, California
Duncan Ball1941–authormoved to Australia in 1974; naturalised Australian in 1980born in Boston, Massachusetts
Cate Blanchett1969–actressborn and raised in Australiafather Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr was an American from Texas
Betty Bobbitt1939–2020actress and authormoved to Australia in 1962born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jonah Bolden1996–basketball playerborn and raised in Australiafather Bruce Bolden is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia
Chelsea Brown1946–2017comedian and actressmoved to Australia in 1977; married to actor Vic Rooney until his death in 2002born in Chicago, Illinois
Cal Bruton1954–basketball player and coachmoved to Australia in 1979; naturalised 1983; played for the men's national team and named to the NBL 25th Anniversary Team in 2003.born in New York City, New York; played college basketball at Wichita State University
C. J. Bruton1975–basketball playermoved to Australia with his father Cal in 1979; naturalised along with his father; played for the men's national teamson of Cal Bruton; born in Wichita, Kansas while his father was playing at Wichita State
John Butler1975–musician, founder John Butler TrioAustralian father; moved to Australia in 1986born in Torrance, California
Arthur Calwell1896-1973Australian politicianborn in Australiaparental grandfather is American
Kate Ceberano1966–actress and singerborn and raised in Australiaher father Tino Ceberano is American of Filipino Hawaiian descent
Didier Cohen1985–artists and repertoire (a&r), media personality, actor, and modelraised in Australiaborn in Los Angeles
Toni Collette1972–actress, producer, and singerborn and raised in Australiaher biological paternal grandfather was American
Mason Cox 1991- Football Player (AFL) Moved to Australia to play AFL for Collingwood Born and raised in Texas
Bruce Djite1987–football (soccer) playermoved to Australia when 3 years old; raised in Australiaborn in Arlington County, Virginia
Aisha Dee1993–actress, and singerborn in Australia; Australian motherfather is African American
Joe Dolce1947–singer/songwriter, poet, and essayistrelocated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1978born in Painesville, Ohio, to Italian-American parents
Dante Exum1995–basketball playerborn and raised in Australiafather Cecil Exum is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia
Mel Gibson1956–actor and directormoved to Australia when 12 years old; paternal grandmother was Australian; honorary Officer of the Order of Australiaborn Peekskill, New York and holds dual US and Irish citizenships
Virginia Giuffre1983-advocate and campaigner for survivors of sex traffickingmoved to Australia at the age of 19 in 2002 with her Australian husband; became a naturalised Australian citizen at an unspecified dateborn in Sacramento, California, United States to American parents
Ricky Grace1966–basketball playermoved to Australia in 1990; naturalised c. 1996; played for the men's national team and named to the NBL 25th Anniversary Team.born in Dallas, Texas; played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma
Bill Hayden1933–Australian politicianborn in Australiafather is American
Colleen Hewett1950–singer and actressborn and raised in Australiaher family on her maternal side are of African American descent; great-great-grandfather is a native of Guayana
Marcia Hines1953–singer and actressmoved to Australia in 1969; member of the Order of Australia (naturalised 1994)born in Boston, Massachusetts
Deni Hines1970–singer and actressborn in AustraliaDaughter of Marcia Hines; Father is of Somalian/Ethiopian descent
Kyrie Irving1992–basketball playerborn in Australia; family returned to the U.S. when 2 years oldparents are American
Terri Irwin1964–Zoologist, naturalist, author and television presenterwife of Steve Irwin. Moved to Australia in 1992; naturalised in 2009 three years after her husband's deathborn in Eugene, Oregon
Bindi Irwin1998–Singer, actress, conservationist and television personalityborn in Australiadaughter of Terri and Steve Irwin
Robert Irwin2003–Conservationist and television personalityborn in Australiason of Terri and Steve Irwin
Aku Kadogochoreographer, director, actress, and educatoreducated and performed in Australiaborn, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan.[7]
Kristina Keneally1968–Premier of New South Wales 2009–2011, Senator 2018—2022moved to Australia in 1994; naturalised Australian in 2000born Kristina Marie Kerscher in Las Vegas, Nevada to American father and Australian mother
Nicole Kidman1967–actressdual citizen by descent (Australian parents)dual citizen by birth (born in Honolulu, Hawaii)
Don Lane1933–2009TV presenter, cabaret performermoved to Australia 1965born Morton Donald Isaacson in New York City, New York
Cheltzie Lee1993–figure skaterborn in Australiamother is American
Leroy Loggins1957–basketball playeras an Australian citizen competed in the 1992 Olympic Gamesborn New Brunswick, New Jersey
Bob Meyer1932–2009logicianmoved to Australia 1974born in US
King O'Malley1858–1953Australian politicianlived in Australia from 1888claimed to have been born in Canada, more likely that he was born in US
Mike Nahan1950–Australian politicianmoved to Australia in 1978; naturalised Australian in 1988born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Caleb Patterson-Sewell1987–football (soccer) playermoved to Australia when 2 years old; raised in Australiaborn in Hendersonville, Tennessee to American father and Australian mother
Don Pyke1968–Australian rules footballerfather is Australianborn in Bloomington, Illinois
James Mahmud Rice1972-sociologistraised in Australiaborn in Honolulu, Hawaii to American father and Indonesian mother
Peter Ruehl1947–2011journalist and television news personalitymoved to Australia in 1987born in New York City, New York
Penny Sackett1956–astronomermoved to Australia in 2002; naturalised Australian in 2008born Lincoln, Nebraska
Brian Schmidt1967–astrophysicistmoved to Australia 1994, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011born Missoula, Montana
Jon Hunter Spence1945–2011Jane Austen scholarbecame an Australian citizen in 2011born Camilla, Georgia
Ben Simmons1996–basketball playerborn and raised in Australiahis father Dave Simmons is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia
Archie Smith1995–football player (AFL)born and raised in Australiahis father is Andre Moore is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia
Irwin Thomas1971–singer-songwriter and guitaristmother was an Australian-born folk singer and dancer; she returned to Australia in 1980, with her son.[8]born in 1971 in Manhattan, New York City.[9]
Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman1981–Noted political activistborn in Australiadual citizen
Sanford Wheeler1970–2020Australian rules footballermigrated to Australia in 1975born in US to Australian father and American mother
Lydia Williams1988–football (soccer) playerborn in Australiamother is American
Makenzie Vega 1994-actressmoved to Australia in 2016born in Los Angeles, California, sister of Alexa Vega
Bert McCracken 1982-musician moved to Australia in 2004born in Provo, Utah,
Logan Huffman 1989-actormove in Australia dual U.S. citizenborn in

Noblesville, Indiana,

Mark Webber 1980-actor directormove in Australia dual U.S.citizenborn in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Brent DeBoer 1967-musicianmove in Australia dual U.S.citizenborn in Portland, Oregon
Brooke Harman 1985-actressMother is AustralianBorn in Orange County, California
Kenneth Moraleda 1973-actoreducated and performed in Australiaborn in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Filipino American parents
Orlando Jordan 1974-actor, stuntman, and semi-retired American professional wrestlermove in Australia dual U.S. citizenborn in Salem, New Jersey

See also

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics – Ethnic Media Kit
  2. ↑ ibid, Ancestry (full classification list) by Sex – Australia
  3. 1 2 3 "Publications: Statistics – Community Information Summaries". Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  4. 1 2 Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore. London: Routledge (1986).
  5. ↑ The Colony. SBS Television (2002)
  6. 1 2 Macintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2004).
  7. ↑ Gabriel, Larry. "Dancing back". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "Item details for: B44, V1980/48695, Title: Whittridge, Renalda". National Archives of Australia. 31 May 2000. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Irwin Thomas aka Jack Jones | Australian Music Database". www.australianmusicdatabase.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
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