Greeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia, after those declaring their ancestry simply as "Australian". The 2006 census recorded 97,218 people of Greek Ancestry born in Greece and 18,381 in Cyprus, though it is uncertain how many of the latter are Greek Cypriots. A total of 365,147 persons declared having Greek ancestry, either alone or in conjunction with another ethnicity. The Greek language is spoken at home by 252,222 Australia...
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Greeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia, after those declaring their ancestry simply as "Australian". The 2006 census recorded 97,218 people of Greek Ancestry born in Greece and 18,381 in Cyprus, though it is uncertain how many of the latter are Greek Cypriots. A total of 365,147 persons declared having Greek ancestry, either alone or in conjunction with another ethnicity. The Greek language is spoken at home by 252,222 Australian residents, a 4.125% decrease from the 2001 census data. Greek is the fourth most commonly spoken language in Australia after English, Chinese and Italian.
The first Greek migrants to Australia were seven convict sailors convicted of piracy by a British naval court in 1829 and sent to serve out their terms in New South Wales. Though eventually pardoned, two of the seven settled in the country. Groups of Greeks first settled in significant numbers during the gold rushes of the 1850s. The 1901 census recorded 878 Greek-born, but this must...
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