Lithuanian Australians

Lithuanian Australians refers to Australian residents of Lithuanian national background or descent. According to the 2016 Census, there were 16,290 people of Lithuanian descent in Australia and 2,609[2] Lithuania-born people residing in the country at the moment of the census. The largest Lithuanian Australian community is in the state of New South Wales, with 1022 Lithuania-born people, especially located in Sydney.[1]

Lithuanian Australians
Australijos lietuviai
Total population
Lithuanian
2,609 (by birth, 2016 census)
16,290 (by ancestry, 2016 census)[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Lithuania-born people by state or territory
New South Wales1022
Victoria770
South Australia272
Queensland255
Western Australia206
Australian Capital Territory39
Tasmania36
Northern Territory10
Languages
Australian English · Lithuanian
Religion
Christianity, predominantly Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Latvian Australians, Polish Australians

History

Only small numbers of Lithuanians arrived in Australia before 1947.[3] Many Lithuanians and other Eastern Europeans fled the Red Army in 1944 and became Displaced Persons 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 first voyage under Arthur Calwell's Displaced Persons immigration program, that of the General Stuart Heintzelman in 1947,[4] was specially chosen to be all from Baltic nations, all single, many blond and blue-eyed, in order to appeal to the Australian public.[5] Of the 843 immigrants on the Heintzelman, 442 were Lithuanian.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Census 2016, Ancestry by Birthplace of Parents (SA2+)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  2. "Lithuania country brief" (PDF). Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  3. "Early Lithuanians in Australia". Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  4. "First of the Fifth Fleet". Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  5. J. Franklin, Calwell, Catholicism and the origins of multicultural Australia, Proc. of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 2009 Conference, 42-54; L. Popenhagen, Australian Lithuanians, UNSW Press, 2012.
  6. "Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild: USAT General Stuart Heintzelman". Retrieved 27 February 2017.


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