PERIOD | Annual Average | Total Number | 1/7/1947-30/6/1951 | 8,320 | 33,280 | 1/7/1951-30/6/1961 | 17,042 | 170,420 | 1/7/1961-30/6/1966 | 8,524 | 42,621 | 1/7/1966-30/6/1971 | 5,942 | 29,712 | 1/7/1971-30/6/1976 | -892 | -4,463 | 1/7/1976-30/6/1980 | 125 | 500 | Total 1/7/1947-30/6/1980 | | 272,070 |
Italians have been arriving in Australia since the continent was settled by Europeans. The first substantial numbers arrived in Northern Queensland to work in the sugar industry at the turn of the 20th Century. In 1928 there was a substantial increase due to the US laws limiting Italian immigration to that country. The post-war years saw the biggest waves of Italian migration to Australia, peaking in the 1950s. After the early 1960s (when the Italian economic boom started in earnest), migration virtually disappeared. Source:Ware, Helen, A Profile of the Italian Community in Australia, Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs and CO.AS.IT, Italian Assistance Association, Melbourne, 1981.pp. 13-17. |