Salvadoran Australians

Salvadoran Australians (Spanish: Salvadoreño-australiano) are Australians of Salvadoran descent. Salvadoran immigration to Australia was caused principally by economic and political turmoil in El Salvador.[3]

Salvadoran Australians
Salvadoreño-australiano
Total population
10,119 (by birth, 2021 Census)[1]
20,000 (by ancestry)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Salvadoran Spanish, English
Religion
Christianity (mostly Catholic)
Related ethnic groups
Hispanic and Latin American Australians, White Hispanics, Mestizos

History

The largest flow occurred when refugees left El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s. The first wave were former political prisoners whose immigration was facilitated by the Special Humanitarian Program in 1983. After this first group, which consisted of 75 people, another 10,000 Salvadorans arrived in Australia by 1986. Subsequent groups came—not directly from El Salvador—but from countries like Mexico and Costa Rica that housed Salvadoran refugees.[4] Most Salvadoran-born Australians came prior to 2001; little followed after the civil war.[5] The majority of Salvadorians that live in Australia are of white and mestizo ancestry. The majority of Salvadorans in Australia reside in Melbourne,[6](32%), followed by Brisbane, (21%), and Sydney, (18%).[7]

Census data records showed 25% of Salvadoran Australians work in managerial or professional roles. A further 23% work in production, transport and trades; 20% are labourers. Many migrants from El Salvador are skilled workers, but their lack of fluent English forced them into unskilled jobs. Over 92% speak Spanish at home, and the majority are Catholic. Evangelical born-again Christians of Salvadoran descent exist in increasing numbers.[8]

A 2006 estimation placed the Salvadorian population as high as 18,755.[9]

Ethnicity

Many of the Salvadoran immigrants are of mixed European and Amerindian (mestizo) ancestry, with a smaller minority of people with predominant or full European ancestry.[10] Many can trace their roots back to Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, and other European countries. In northern departments like the Chalatenango Department, it is well known that residents in the area are of pure Spanish descent.[11] The governor of San Salvador, Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, ordered families from northern Spain (Galicia and Asturias) to settle the area to compensate for the lack of indigenous people to work the land; it is common to see people with blond hair, fair skin, and blue or green eyes in municipalities like Dulce Nombre de María, La Palma, and El Pital. However, the majority of Salvadorans of full Spanish descent possess Mediterranean racial features: olive skin and dark hair and eyes (black or dark brown) and identify with the mestizo majority. A majority of Central European settlers in El Salvador arrived during World War II as refugees from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Switzerland, most of them stayed in Chalatenango. Many Jews emigrated to El Salvador during World War II as refugees with the help of José Castellanos Contreras. Indigenous Salvadorans make up less than one percent of the population and are mostly of Pipil and Lenca ancestries; some are Mayan.[12]

Notable people

See also

References
  1. Australian Government - Australian Bureau of Stadistics. "People in Australia who were born in El Salvador". Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "El Salvador country brief". Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. Hayes, Anna (2016-05-13). Cultures in Refuge: Seeking Sanctuary in Modern Australia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-15574-4.
  4. Jupp, James (28 October 2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins: 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press. p. 642. ISBN 9780521807890.
  5. "Community Information Summary El Salvador-born" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  6. - From El Salvador to Australia Archived 2012-01-31 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ABS Census - ethnicity
  8. History of immigration from El Salvador
  9. El Salvador en el Mundo (Spanish)
  10. Hayes, Anna (2016-05-13). Cultures in Refuge: Seeking Sanctuary in Modern Australia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-15574-4.
  11. Nunez, Salvador (2021-05-25). El Salvador: Hidden Truths. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-6641-0534-8.
  12. Murphy, Brian; Brian, Murphy (1993-09-06). The Other Australia: Experiences of Migration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44194-0.
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