Finnish Australians () are Australian citizens of Finnish ancestry or Finland-born people who reside in Australia. According to Finnish estimates, there are approximately 30,000 Australians of Finnish ancestry, and about 7,500 Finland-born Finns residing in Australia.

History

The first person from Finland to arrive in Australia was

Herman Spöring Jr. Herman Diedrich Spöring Jr. (1733–1771) was a Finnish explorer, draughtsman, botanist and a naturalist. Early life Herman Spöring Jr. was born in 1733 in the town of Turku, at that time a major Finnish city and administrative center of th ...

from

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, who was part of the

first voyage of James Cook The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, HMS ''Endeavour'', from 1768 to 1771. The aims were to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti and to ...

that landed on the continent in 1770. The first Finns to migrate permanently were joining the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

in the 1850s. More migration followed in the following decades to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. In 1899, Matti Kurikka tried to establish a utopian community in Chillagoe with about a 100 Finns, though the experiment failed within a year. Many Finnish immigrants began arriving in Australia between 1947 and 1971. When these new immigrants came to Australia, they were taken to migrant camps. Once in the camp, they were given free room and board until the head of the family was assigned his first job. The largest and best-known of these camps was Bonegilla, a former military camp in northern Victoria. Most of these Finns, along with more than 300,000 immigrants from other countries, began their new lives in Bonegilla during this period. Bonegilla camp 1954

The first group of Finnish immigrants who arrived in Australia came to work in the gold mines of Victoria in the 1850s. Years later, after the first significant wave of Finnish immigration in the 1920s, a second major wave of immigrants from the Nordic country takes place again, this being more numerous than the first one. Finns were usually hired to perform heavy physical labour. Despite this, they were particularly attracted by the income from the sugar cane fields and mining in

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

, in north

. As a result, Mount Isa has one of the largest Finnish communities in Australia. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, around 20,000 Finns had moved to Australia. In the last three decades the Finnish immigration has dropped significantly. In the mid-1950s an economic crisis occurs in Finland causing a new wave of Finnish

immigration to Australia The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago. European colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of a B ...

. One of the main reasons for leaving Finland, besides crisis, was Australia's reinvigorated assisted passage scheme.

Statistics

The below table shows the number of residents in Australia that were Finnish-born or Australian-born with Finnish ancestry at different times.

Notable people

* Matt Acton, goalkeeper * Carsten Haitzler, software engineer *

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian former professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as List of World Number One male golfers, world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 88 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA ...

, professional golfer * Connie Garner, bodybuilder, actor, fitness model and cybersecurity * Sanna Jalomäki, singer, songwriter and painter *

Paul Sironen Paul Sironen (born 23 May 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of Finnish descent who was a prominent Second-row forward for the Balmain Tigers during the late 1980s, and early 1990s. He was part of the team tha ...

, rugby league player * Satu Vänskä, violinist * Shane Jacobson, actor, director, writer, and comedian * David Michael, Western Australian politician

References

{{Portal bar, Australia, Finland *

History

Statistics

Notable people

See also

References