Lithuanian Australians refers to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n residents of Lithuanian national background or descent. According to the 2021 Census, there were 19,430 people of Lithuanian descent in Australia and 2,582 Lithuania-born people residing in the country at the moment of the census.
, the largest Lithuanian Australian community resides in the state of
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, with 1022 Lithuania-born people, especially located in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
.
History
Only small numbers of Lithuanians arrived in Australia before 1947. Many Lithuanians and other Eastern Europeans fled the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
in 1944 and became
Displaced Persons
Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...
in refugee camps in Western Europe. From 1947 they were able to emigrate to countries such as Australia under the sponsorship of the
International Refugee Organization
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 King's Counsel, KC (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party through three federal elections, l ...
'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, 442 were Lithuanian.
Population
There were 16,290 people of Lithuanian descent in Australia and 2,609 Lithuania-born people residing in the country at the moment of the 2016 Census.
See also
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European Australians
European Australians are citizens or residents of Australia whose ancestry originates from the peoples of Europe. They form the largest panethnicity, panethnic group in the country. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categor ...
*
Europeans in Oceania
Age of Discovery, European exploration and settlement of Oceania began in the 16th century, starting with the Spanish people, Spanish (Crown of Castile, Castilian) landings and shipwrecks in the Mariana Islands, east of the Philippines. This was ...
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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 ...
*
Latvian Australians
Latvian Australians are Australian citizens of Latvian descent, or persons born in Latvia who reside in Australia. At the 2016 Census, 20,509 residents in Australia reported to have Latvian ancestry.
Few Latvians arrived in Australia before ...
*
Lithuanian Americans
Lithuanian Americans refer to American citizens and residents of Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania.
New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population in the United States. ...
*
Lithuanian Canadians
Lithuanian Canadians () are Canadians who are of full or partial Lithuanian descent. Over two-thirds of Lithuanian Canadians reside in Toronto, with other much smaller populations scattered around most of the Canadian provinces and territories.
...
References
European diaspora in Australia
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
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