Lebanese Australian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lebanese Australians
|
|---|
| Total population |
|
74,848 (Lebanese born, 2006) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Sydney and Melbourne |
| Languages |
| Australian English, Arabic |
| Religions |
| Predominantly Catholic, and Muslim (mainly Shi'a and Sunni), with minorities of Judaism and Atheism |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Arab diaspora,Sierra Leonean-Lebanese, Lebanese New Zealanders |
Lebanese Australian refers to citizens or residents of Australia of Lebanese origin.
Lebanon has been a source of immigrants to Australia over several decades, with 181,751 Australians claiming a Lebanese ancestry either alone or in combination with one other ancestry. The 2006 census recorded 86,310 Lebanon-born persons in Australia, with 72.8% of all Lebanese living in Sydney (where they make up 1.3% the population)[2]. The Western Sydney suburbs of Bankstown, Lakemba and Punchbowl are associated with the Lebanese population as well as the Northern Melbourne suburbs of Broadmeadows and Coburg, Brunswick Fawkner and Altona.
Contents |
[edit] Community history
Lebanese migrants to Australia were not habitually distinguished from Turks prior to 1918 because the area of modern Lebanon was a province of the Ottoman Empire until it passed to French colonial rule. Thereafter the Lebanese were not distinguished from Syrians, as Lebanon and Syria were two French colonies in proximity. (This was a common enough practice in Australian immigration information — for example, the UK and Ireland were not statistically separate until as late as 1996).[citation needed] Nevertheless, it is understood that the first Lebanese migrants to Australia were Christian tradespeople who arrived in 1876, making the Lebanese population one of the older established non-English speaking minorities in the country — of similar vintage to the Greeks, Italians and Germans. By 1947 there were 1,886 Lebanon-born in Australia, almost all Christian. The Lebanese in Melbourne have opened restuarents and grocery's and middle eastern shops and lebanese bars on sydney road which is usually called little lebanon.
Between 1947 and 1961 there was a steady increase in the migration and by 1966 there were 10,688 Lebanon-born in the country. By 1976 this number had nearly tripled to 33,424 in response to the Lebanese Civil War which started in 1975. For the remainder of the 1970s and 1980s unrest in Lebanon caused a large increase in the number of Lebanese migrating to Australia, and for the first time the settlers included substantial numbers of Muslims. All main Lebanese groups — Maronites, Melkites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Druze, Shi'a, Sunnis, Armenians and Kurds (amongst others) — are now represented.
[edit] Return Migration
Lebanese Australians have a moderate rate of return migration to Lebanon. In December 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs estimated that there were 25,000 Australian citizens resident in Lebanon. During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, the Australian Government organised mass evacuations of Australians resident in Lebanon.
[edit] Religion
While 60% of Lebanese in their homeland are Muslim, the majority of diasporic Lebanese are Christian. In Australia 60% are Christian and only 40% are Muslim, of those born in Lebanon. [3].
[edit] Notable Lebanese Australians
[edit] Entrepreneurs
- Jack Nasser - Former CEO of Ford Motors
- Ron Bakir - Cellular phone retailer
- Max Basheer - Former administrator with the South Australian National Football League
- Ahmed Fahour - CEO National Australia Bank
- Nicholas Shehadie - Lord Mayor of Sydney (1973-1975)
- Barbara Perry - NSW parliamentarian
- John Symond - Founder and Managing Director of Aussie Group
[edit] Politicians
- Anthony Alexander Alam - member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
- Steve Bracks - Former Premier of Victoria
- Marie Bashir - Governor of New South Wales
- Sam Doumany - Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in Queensland
- Bob Katter - member for Federal Division of Kennedy
- Jim Saleam - leader of the far right National Action Party
[edit] Athletes
- Benny Elias - Former National Rugby League player
- Hazem El Masri - Canterbury Bulldogs Rugby league player
- Ahmad Elrich - International Football (soccer) player
- Tarek Elrich - Newcastle United Jets Football (soccer) player
- Robbie Farah - Wests Tigers Rugby league player
- Milham Hanna - former Australian rules footballer with Carlton
- Phillip Elias - world class martial artist
- Bachar Houli - Essendon Bombers Australian Rules Football player
[edit] Entertainers
- Firass Dirani - actor
- Joe Hasham - actor
- Sleek the Elite - actor and hip hop artist
- Tamara Jaber - member of reality TV pop band
[edit] Criminals
- Mahmoud Chami - gang rapist
- Mohammed Ghanem - Gang rapist
- H (gang rapist)
- Tony Mokbel
- Mohammed Sanoussi - Convicted serial rapist
- Mahmoud Sanoussi - Convicted serial rapist
- Bilal Skaf - convicted rapist
- Mohammed Skaf - Convicted serial rapist
- Tayyab Sheikh - Convicted serial rapist
- Belal Hajeid - Convicted rapist
- Bilal Khazal - Al-Qaeda associate, jihadist, Qantas baggage handler.
[edit] Other
- Joe Hachem - 2005 World Series of Poker champion
- Sabrina Houssami - 2006 Australian representative at Miss World
- Amer Haddara - Jailed terror suspect
- David Malouf - writer
- Feiz Mohammad - Fundamentalist cleric
- Fehmi Naji - Grand Mufti of Australia
- Keysar Trad - community spokesman
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Australian Lebanese Foundation
- Australians for Lebanon
- Australian Lebanese Historical Society
- Australian Lebanese Youth Association
- Lebanese-Australian Embassy
- United Australian Lebanese movement
- United Australian Lebanese Assembly
- World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) Geographic-Regional Council (GRC) for Australia and New Zealand
|
||||||||
