Papua New Guinean Australians () are the citizens and residents of
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 ...
(including the
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...
, where 6.5% of all people claimed Papua New Guinean ancestry)
who were born in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
(PNG) or have Papua New Guinean ancestry.
Due to the country's proximity, the vast majority of Papua New Guinean Australians live in
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 ...
, particularly in
Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...
and the
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...
.
Cairns
Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
, the largest city in Far North Queensland, has the highest number of Papua New Guineans than anywhere outside Papua New Guinea itself.
History
A handful of people from Papua New Guinea, crew members of boats and mission-sponsored villagers, visited Australia in the 1870s. In the early 1880s, more than 3000 Papuan workers were recruited to work in the
sugarcane industry in Queensland. A majority of these labourers later returned to Papua New Guinea, but a minority remained in Australia.
From 1914 to 1975, Papua New Guinea was administered by Australia, divided into the
Territory of Papua
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the ...
and the
Territory of New Guinea
The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered League of Nations and then United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an adm ...
(a
League of Nations mandate
A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I, involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing th ...
). Despite being administered by Australia, the indigenous peoples of the island were nonetheless subject to the
White Australia policy. As a result, only limited numbers of Papuans were allowed to enter the rest of Australia, notably to work in the Queensland pearling industry.
The number of Papua New Guineans in Australia is considered relatively small, given the countries are neighbours and PNG's status as a former Australian territory. Other Pacific island countries have much larger populations in Australia.
Demographics
At the time of the
2021 Australian census
The 2021 Australian census, simply called the 2021 Census, was the eighteenth national Census of Population and Housing in Australia. The 2021 Census took place on 10 August 2021, and was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ...
, there were 22,664 people of Papua New Guinean descent in Australia and 29,995 Papua New Guinea-born people residing in the country. The gap between the two figures reflects the fact that many of those born in PNG were the children of Australian expatriates; only 8,752 (less than one-third) of Australian residents born in PNG reported that they were of Papua New Guinean ancestry.
Notable PNG-Australians
See also
*
Portal:Australia
*
Papuan people Papuans may refer to:
* Indonesian Papuans – the Native Indonesians of Papua-origin
* Papua New Guineans – the nationals of Papua New Guinea
* Indigenous people of New Guinea
{{Disambiguation
Language and nationality disambiguation page ...
*
Australia–Papua New Guinea relations
Foreign relations exist between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is Australia's closest neighbour (roughly 3.75 km separates the two countries at Saibai Island in the Torres Strait) and a Territory of Papua and New Guinea, ...
References
{{Ethnic groups in Australia
Oceanian diaspora in Australia
Papua New Guinean diaspora