Latvian Australians are

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

citizens of

Latvian Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latvi ...

descent, or persons born in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

who reside in Australia. At the

2016 Census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: * 16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film d ...

, 20,509 residents in Australia reported to have Latvian ancestry. Few Latvians arrived in Australia before 1947. Between 1947 and 1952, 19,700 Latvian refugees arrived in Australia as

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

s under the supervision of the

International Refugee Organisation The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was an intergovernmental organization founded on 20 April 1946 to deal with the massive refugee problem created by World War II. A Preparatory Commission began operations fourteen months previously. ...

. The first voyage under

Arthur Calwell Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections. Calwell grew up in Melbourne and attended St J ...

's Displaced Persons immigration program, that of the '' General Stuart Heintzelman'' in 1947, was specially chosen to be all from Baltic nations, all single, many blond and blue-eyed, in order to appeal to the Australian public. Of the 843 immigrants on the ''Heintzelman'', 264 were Latvian.

Sport

Soccer

In 1955, the Melbourne Latvian community established its own

Association football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to ...

club that competed in the modern-day

Football Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for association football, soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the n ...

state-league system, later folding at the conclusion of the 1959 league season. The club was founded as 'Brunswick' (later renamed as 'Brunswick Latvia'), being named after the relevant inner-northern suburb where many European immigrants settled in Melbourne following the

second world war 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The club were premiers of the 'Victoria Metropolitan League South', being the southern conference of the modern day

Victorian State League 1 State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian lea ...

, which was the fourth state league tier at the time which was achieved in its inaugural season of 1955. The club's highest ladder achievement in its highest level of competition was in 1958 where the club finished eighth in the 'Victorian Metropolitan League Division One North', being the northern conference of the modern-day

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues V ...

, being the state's second division at the time. The club's last season was the following season in 1959, and throughout its existence all of the club's home matches were played on the soccer ovals of

Royal Park Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in the neighboring suburb of Parkville.

Notable Latvian Australians

Theodore Boronovskis Theodore "Ted" Boronovskis (born 27 July 1943) is an Australian judoka who won a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics.Peter Dombrovskis Peter Dombrovskis ( lv, Pēteris Dombrovskis; 2 March 194528 March 1996) was an Australian photographer, known for his Tasmanian scenes. In 2003, he was posthumously inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame, the first Australia ...

, Australian Latvian photographer *

Peter Greste Peter Greste ( lv, Pēteris Greste; born 1 December 1965) is an Australian journalist and correspondent, who holds dual citizenship of Australia and Latvia. He has worked as a correspondent for Reuters, CNN and the BBC, predominantly in the Mid ...

, Australian Latvian journalist *

Konrāds Kalējs Konrāds Kalējs (26 June 1913 – 8 November 2001) was a Latvian soldier who was a Nazi collaborator and an alleged war criminal during World War II. He gained notoriety for evading calls for his prosecution across four countries, more than o ...

, Australian Latvian alleged war criminal *

Ilsa Konrads Ilsa Konrads ( lv, Ilze Konrade; born 29 March 1944) is an Australian former freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. In her career, she set 13 individual ...

, Australian Latvian Olympic swimmer *

John Konrads John Konrads ( lv, Jānis Konrads; 21 May 1942 – 25 April 2021) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, a ...

, Australian Latvian Olympic swimmer *

Andrej Lemanis Andrej Lemanis ( lv, Andrejs Lēmanis, born 18 March 1969) is a Latvian-Australian professional basketball coach and former player. Lemanis served as the head coach of Australia national team from 2013 to 2019. Lemanis coached the New Zealand Br ...

, Latvian Australian basketball coach and former player *

John Spalvins John Spalvins, (born Jānis Gunnars Spalviņš, 1936) in Latvia, was Managing Director of the Adelaide Steamship Company from 1977 until the company's collapse in 1991. During this period under Spalvins' control, "Adsteam" became Australia's majo ...

, Australian businessman and former manager of the

Adelaide Steamship Company The Adelaide Steamship Company was an Australian shipping company and later a diversified industrial and logistics conglomerate. It was formed by a group of South Australian businessmen in 1875. Their aim was to control the transport of goods b ...

Imants Tillers Imants Tillers (born 1950), is an Australian artist, curator and writer. He lives and works in Cooma, New South Wales. Early life and education Imants Tillers was born in Sydney in 1950, the child of Latvian immigrants. In 1973 he graduated fro ...

, Australian Latvian painter *

Nadine Wulffius Madame Nadine Wulffius (1899–1992) was a ballet dancer and choreographer and the founder of her own Ballet School in Maddington, Western Australia. Life in Latvia under the Czars Wulffius (née Nadezhda Krivko) was born in Russian ruled Latv ...

, Australian Latvian ballet dancer *

Feliks Zemdegs Feliks Aleksanders Zemdegs (, lv, Fēlikss Zemdegs; born 20 December 1995) is an Australian Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is the only speedcuber ever to win the World Cube Association World Championship twice, winning in 2013 and 2015, and is ...

, Australian speedcuber *

Andrew Zesers Andris Karlis Zesers (born 11 March 1967) is a former Australian cricketer. He played as a right-arm specialist fast bowler. The son of a Latvian-born construction worker, Zesers ascended quickly to first-class ranks. He was selected at the a ...

, Australian World Cup-winning cricketer

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

] (Latvians in Sydney)
Sydney Latvian Society

Melbourne Latvian House
{{Latvian diaspora European Australian Latvian diaspora *Main

Sport

Soccer

Notable Latvian Australians

See also

References

External links