Australian Americans are

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

who have Australian ancestry.

History

The history of the Australian American population almost follows the story of both

British American British American usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, Orkney, and the Isle of Man). It is primarily a demographic or histor ...

s and Irish Americans, as Australia was a British political territory at the time when they first immigrated and most of the settlers were English or Irish. The first wave of immigration from Australia to the United States came in the 1850s California Gold Rush when mostly Irish migrants who had escaped the Great Irish Famine had previously worked on the Australian goldfields. In San Francisco, the "

Sydney Ducks The Sydney Ducks was the name given to a gang of criminal immigrants from Australia in San Francisco, during the mid-19th century. Because many of these criminals came from the well-known British penal colonies in Australia, and were known to co ...

" as they were known came into violent conflict with nativist locals. Transpacific immigration then dried up while the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

took place. It picked up during the period of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

, but faltered again when Australia was hit by an economic depression in the late 1890s. Immigration to the United States peaked in the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, due to America's increased economic activity, and the exodus of 15,000 Australian

war bride War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great frequency during World War I and World War II. Among the largest and best documented examp ...

s who married U.S.

servicemen The term serviceman, alternatively service member, refers to enlisted members of a nation's armed forces. More generally, the term can be applied to officers as well. For more information see: *Soldier *Sailor *Airman *Marine *Coast guard ...

. From 1971 to 1990, more than 86,400 Australians and New Zealanders immigrated to the United States.

Population

At the 2000 U.S. Census, 60,965 Australian born people were enumerated in the United States, of which 15,315 were citizens. Around 40% of Australian Americans had entered the United States before 1980. Since 2010, a ''

Little Australia Little Australia is a name for any of the various communities where Australians congregate upon emigrating to other countries. Examples can be found in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The concept of "Little Australia" holds many ...

'' has emerged and is growing in

Nolita Nolita, sometimes written as NoLIta and deriving from "North of Little Italy",Roberts, Sam"New York’s Little Italy, Littler by the Year"''New York Times'' (February 21, 2011) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. No ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 2016, the Australian Consulate-General estimated there were 44,000 Australians living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Notable Australian Americans

History

Population

Notable Australian Americans

See also

References

Further reading