Romanian Australians

Romanian Australians may include those who have immigrated to Australia from Romania, and Australian-born citizens of Romanian descent. According to ABS (2006 census) figures, there are 18,320 people with Romanian ancestry in Australia.^[1]

Romanians were registered in Australia for the first time more than 80 years ago having emigrated for work seeking a more prosperous economic status, or as missionaries. But the first wave of Romanian emigrants to Australia came after World War II, when Romania was experiencing severe economic and political problems. The Romanians who were then emigrating to Australia principally settled in areas around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The number of Romanians who came to Australia at the time is estimated to be around 2,000 people.

The second wave of Romanian emigration to the Australian continent began after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, when the Communist regime fell and citizens received the right to leave Romania. They came in large numbers for the same reasons as the first-wave immigrants.

Demographics

Today, the largest communities of Romanian-Australians can be found in the Sydney (4,145^[2]), Melbourne (6,482^[3]) and Brisbane (1,912^[4]).

In the 2006 Census, among Romanian-born persons, the religious breakdown was as follows: 80.6% Christianity, 5.8% no religion or atheism, 4.4% Judaism, 3.0% other religions and 5.6% did not answer the question.^[5]

Notable Romanian Australians

• Victor Albert Bailey, physicist (his mother was Romanian)
• Greg Conescu, Former Rugby League player
• Daniela Costian, Olympic bronze medalist;
• Andrew Ilie, tennis player
• Lucy Kiraly, model and television presenter
• Ted Theodore, politician
• Hagi Gligor, footballer
• Raimond Gaita, philosopher and writer (his father was Romanian)
• Julian Savulescu, philosopher and bioethicist
• Mirka Mora, prominent artist (her mother was Romanian)
• Xonia, singer
• Aida Tomescu, artist

See also

• Immigration to Australia
• Demographics of Australia

References