People of English ancestry as a fraction of total persons, in Australia, Australia, according to the 2011 census results.English Total Responses as a fraction of total persons, in Inner Sydney, Australia, according to the 2011 census results.
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians,[3] are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether sole or partial).[1] It is the largest self-identified ancestry in Australia.[1] People of ethnic English origin have been the largest group to migrate to Australia since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.[4]
English Australians are a subset of Anglo-Celtic Australians, who are themselves a subset of European Australians. Other subsets of Anglo-Celtic Australians (that is, Australians with ancestry originating in the British Isles) include Irish Australians, Scottish Australians and Welsh Australians. There is a tendency to refer to these ancestries collectively due to their long history in Australia and the high degree of intermixture which has occurred over centuries. In light of this history, there is a tendency for Australians with English or other Anglo-Celtic ancestries to simply identify their ancestry as 'Australian'.[5]
History
18th and 19th centuries
English born population of New South Wales, 1846-1891
New South Wales was established in 1788 by the British government as a penal colony.[7] Visitors described the English character of Sydney for at least the first 50 years after 1788, noting the traditional English appearance of the churches overlooking the convict barracks. First-generation colonial Sydney residents were predominantly English. 160,000 convicts came to Australia between 1788 and 1850.[8] Between 1788 and 1840, 80,000 English convicts were transported to New South Wales, with the greatest numbers coming between 1825 and 1835. The New South Wales Census of 1846 accounted for 57,349 born in England, 47,547 born in Ireland and 14,406 born in Scotland.[9] Until 1859, 2.2 million (73%) of the free settlers who immigrated were British in origin.[10]
Many more English people immigrated to Victoria by the gold rush of the 1850s. By 1854 there were 97,943 English-born people in Victoria. Immigration policies and assistance schemes helped maintain high levels of immigration from England. Of the 1 million immigrants who arrived between 1860 and 1900, just over half came from England.[11]
Between 1840 and 1870 there were more Irish than English assisted migrants which did not change until the 1870s, when there were more English.[9]
At least 75 per cent of all overseas-born people in Australia during the 19th century were from the British Isles. The proportion who had been born in England or Wales remained quite stable (at about 47 per cent) from 1861 to 1911, as did the proportion born in
Scotland (about 12 per cent).[12]
Australians of English ancestry made up more than 50 per cent of the population at the time of Federation (1901).[25] From 1922 the Empire Settlement Act assisted thousands of migrants from England. After the Second World War, even as immigration from other countries expanded dramatically, English citizens had almost unrestricted entry into Australia. Arthur Calwell, Minister for Immigration, wanted nine out of ten new immigrants to be UK-born.[11] The majority of England-born migrants received assisted passages until the scheme was abolished in 1982.
Surges of English immigration in the 1910s, 1920s, 1950s and 1960s sustained the English-born as the largest single immigrant group throughout the 20th century.[9] In 1978 Australians of predominantly English ancestry made up over 45 per cent of the population.[26] English ancestry was reported by 6.6 million people (46%) in 1986, and 6.4 million (37%) in 2001.[27] While the English-born continue to be well-represented among immigrants to Australia, the overall decline of English immigration to Australia since the 1980s has meant that the English-born are declining as a proportion of immigrants to Australia. Regardless, Australian society continues to be influenced by its strong English heritage.[4]
Demographics
In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether wholly or partial).[28]
People of English descent were by far the single most influential ethnic group in colonial Australia.[34] The founding of Australia by English people is still evident in place names, Australia's common law legal system, popular dishes such as fish and chips and Sunday Roast and English as Australia's national language.
James Blackburn – known for contributions to Australian architecture and civil engineering
William Bland – naval surgeon transported for killing a man in a duel; prospered and was involved in philanthropy; had a seat in the legislative assembly[35]
William Buckley – escaped and lived with Aboriginal people for many years
John Cadman – had been a publican; as a convict became Superintendent of Boats in Sydney; Cadmans Cottage is a cottage granted to him
Henry Kable – First Fleet convict, arrived with wife and son (Susannah Holmes, also a convict, and Henry) filed 1st lawsuit in Australia, became wealthy businessman
Simeon Lord – pioneer merchant and magistrate in Australia
Nathaniel Lucas – one of the first convicts on Norfolk Island, where he became Master carpenter, later farmed successfully, built windmills, and was Superintendent of carpenters in Sydney
William Sykes – historically interesting because he left a brief diary and a bundle of letters
John Tawell – served his sentence, became a prosperous chemist, returned to England after 15 years, and after some time murdered a mistress, for which he was hanged
Samuel Terry – wealthy merchant and philanthropist
James Hardy Vaux – author of Australia's first full length autobiography and dictionary
Mary Wade – youngest female convict transported to Australia (age 11); had 21 children and at the time of her death had over 300 living descendants
The majority of Prime Ministers of Australia have been of at least partial English ancestry. To date all Australian Prime Ministers have had whole or partial Anglo-Celtic ancestry.
^Adair, Daryl (1998). "Conformity, Diversity, and Difference in Antipodean Physical Culture: The Indelible Influence of Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race during the Formative Years of Organized Sport in Australia, c. 1788–1918". In Cronin, Mike; Mayall, David (eds.). Sporting Nationalisms: Identity, Ethnicity, Immigration and Assimilation. Routledge. p. 22. ISBN9780714644493.
^D. Richards 'Transported to New South Wales: medical convicts 1788–1850' British Medical Journal Vol 295, 19–26 December 1987, p. 1609
^Fitzhardinge, Laurence (1964). William Morris Hughes: A Political Biography / Vol. 1: That Fiery Particle, 1862–1914. Angus & Robertson. ISBN0207137463.
Haines, Robin F. Emigration and the labouring poor: Australian recruitment in Britain and Ireland, 1831–60 (Springer, 1997).
Richards, Eric. Britannia's children: emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1600 (A&C Black, 2004) online.
Richards, Eric. "How did poor people emigrate from the British Isles to Australia in the nineteenth century?" Journal of British Studies 32.3 (1993): 250-279. online
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