Italian community of Melbourne

Inaugural records of the Italian community of Melbourne are debated as official records are obscured. It is known that the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s attracted approximately 4,000 ethnic Italians to the colony. These immigrants primarily came from the Valtellina region in Lombardy or the southern Swiss cantons. The drain on the labour supply occasioned by the gold rush caused Australia to also seek workmen from Europe for land use and the development of cultivation. Once the gold rush ended in the late 1860s, most Italians returned home. The exact number of Italians who came to Victoria during this period is unknown as until 1871 Italians did not receive a special place in any Australian census figures.

A group of musicians from the town of Viggiano in the Basilicata region formed a small community in Little Lonsdale Street in the 1890s and relocated to Carlton. Immigrants from the Aeolian Islands in Sicily began to settle in the inner-city suburbs, working in as fruiterers. By 1891, there were 1,700 Italians in Victoria (91% were male).[3] In 1896, the Dante Alighieri Society branch in Melbourne was founded to promote Italian language and culture in the city.[4]

The northern inner-suburbs saw the highest population densities of Italian migration between the 1940s-60's. These suburbs consisted of Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West, Carlton, Carlton North, Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Parkville and Princes Hill. Of all the listed suburbs, the highest concentration in Carlton, saw the eventual establishment of Melbourne's current Little Italy, on Lygon Street, between the intersections of Elgin & Queensberry streets.

In the recent years, Australia has been witnessing a new wave of migration from Italy in numbers not seen in half a century, as thousands flee the economic hardship in Europe, with the Financial crisis of 2007–08 playing a large role, many Italians migrated from Italy to Australia in large numbers. The explosion of numbers saw more than 20,000 Italians arrive in Australia in 2012-13 on temporary visas, exceeding the number of Italians that arrived in 1950–51 during the previous migration boom following World War II.[5]

Today, the city of Melbourne is a sister city to Milan, Italy,[6] with the city's population consisting of 68,823 residents by birth, and 279,112 residents by heritage, as of 2011.[1] Recent restaurant expansion on Lygon street has seen many new Italian restaurants open in the Brunswick East side and also seen the re location of Mondo Music (50 Lygon Street Brunswick East) - the iconic retail store specialising in Italian DVD's, CD's and other Italian merchandise. The recently redeveloped Abruzzo club opened 377 on Lygon in late 2015,[7] and the international award-winning 400 gradi restaurant, that was declared to have the 'world's best pizza' in 2014.[8]

Football (soccer) has been a fundamental characteristic of sport in Melbourne's Italian community. Many clubs in the past seventy years, competing competitively or defunct, have been in suburbs all over Melbourne, with two clubs participating in the former National Soccer League, being Brunswick Juventus Junior FC (formerly Brunswick Juventus) and Carlton SC. There are currently at least eighteen active clubs based in Melbourne who are competing in various divisions throughout Victoria.

As of 8 June 2016

In Melbourne, there are numerous social and sports clubs founded by and/or have a strong Italian following, or have official Italian recognitions.

Active clubs as of the 2022 Victorian football season

In June 2007 the Victorian Football League-Australian Football League announced a (VFL/AFL) Italian Team of the Century, in recognition of the role of Italian Australian players have had in the sport.[11] The vast majority of the official players were born &/or raised in Melbourne. These players consist of: