South African Australians (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Australiërs) are citizens or residents of Australia who are of South African descent.
Total population | |
---|---|
144,666 (by ancestry, 2021)[1] (0.6% of the Australian population)[1] 189,207 (by birth, 2021)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
New South Wales | 39,548 |
Queensland | 35,226 |
Western Australia | 33,310 |
Victoria | 26,082 |
South Australia | 6,288 |
Languages | |
Related ethnic groups | |
According to the 2021 Australian census, 189,207 Australian residents were born in South Africa, making up 0.7% of the country's population. In addition, 144,666 people born in Australia claim South African ancestry, making up 0.6% of the total population. A strong majority of South African Australians are Australian citizens, with 76% possessing Australian citizenship. In the same 2021 census, 144,666 Australian residents claimed "South African" ancestry while another 6,153 stated their ancestry as "Afrikaner" and 501 as "Zulu".[2]
According to the 2016 Australian census, most South African-born Australians were native English-speakers (118,147) while a large minority spoke Afrikaans at home (38,415).[3] By 2021, the number of Australian residents who spoke Afrikaans at home increased to 49,375. Afrikaners are particularly concentrated in greater Perth. While 0.2% of Australian residents in 2021 spoke Afrikaans at home, 0.6% of the residents of greater Perth (11,870) did.[4] Other official languages of South Africa spoken in Australia are Ndebele (1676), Zulu (652), Tswana (559), and Xhosa (152).[5]
Immigration from South Africa to Australia, particularly by professionals, accelerated in the 1990s. More than half of the South African Australians arrived following the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994.[6] A behaviour stigmatised by white South Africans who remained in their homeland as "Packing for Perth" ("PFP") was also a humorous dig and reference to supporters of the Progressive Federal Party – a political party formed in 1977 that drew support mainly from liberal English-speaking white people.[7] As per 2021 census, 60% of Australians who are born in South Africa, claimed English, Dutch, German and Scottish ancestry, while only 40% claimed "South African" as an ancestry.