English Australian
Encyclopedia
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians are Australia
ns of English descent
, are the single largest ethnic group in Australia and the largest 'ancestry' identity in the Australia Census after "Australian" (which contains an unknown number of English Australians). In the 2006 census, 6.3 million or 32% of respondents identified as "English" or a combination including English, such as English-Australian. The census also documented 860,000 residents of Australia as being born in England
. Most of them are descendants of English settlers who arrived during the colonial era and the Big Brother Movement
.
was the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the site which is now the city of Sydney.
A number of English colonies were established under a system of proprietary governor
s, who were appointed under mercantile charter
s to English joint stock companies
to found and run settlements.
England also took over the Dutch
colonisation of Australia of New Holland
, renaming it the state of Australia
in 1774.
The decision to send English convicts to Botany Bay
was taken by the British Government on 18 August 1786, with the responsibility to organise and choose officials falling on then Home Secretary, Lord Sydney
and his junior, Evan Nepean
. Preparations to obtain ships, convicts, guards and provisions began soon after. At the time the five hulk
s in service held about 1300 men, and selected convicts, including women from county gaols were transferred to the hulk Dunkirk at Plymouth
and the New Gaol in Southwark
. Optimistically, it was hoped to be able to sail in October, but a series of postponements were made. In mid April 1787 the St James's Chronicle commented that “strange as it may appear, we are credibly informed of the Fact that the Transports for Botany Bay have not as yet sailed". [Gillen, p.xxiv]
An estimated 200,000 English emigrated to Australia after 1776. English settlers provided a steady and substantial influx throughout the nineteenth century. The first wave of increasing English began in the late 1850s and was sustained by unrest in the United Kingdom
until it peaked in 1862 and declined slightly for nearly a decade. Most of these were small farmers and tenant farmers from depressed areas in rural counties in southern and western England and urban laborers who fled from the depressions and from the social and industrial changes of the late 1820s-1840s. While some English immigrants were drawn by dreams of creating model utopian societies in Australia, most others were attracted by the lure of new lands, textile factories, railroads, and the expansion of mining. A number of English settlers moved to the United States from Australia
in the 1850s, when the California Gold Rush
boomed; these included the so-called “Sydney Ducks
” (see Australian American
s).
and to work with the activities of the Evangelical
and LDS Churches. The depression of 1893 sharply decreased English immigration, and it stayed low for much of the twentieth century. This decline reversed itself in the decade of World War II when over 100,000 English (18 percent of all European immigrants) came from England. In this group was a large contingent of war brides who came between 1945 and 1948. In these years four women emigrated from England for every man. Many English Indians and English Burmese settled the nation after India
and Burma (now Myanmar
) won independence from United Kingdom in 1947 and 1948 respectively. English immigration increased to over 150,000 and rose to 170,000 in the 1960s, which was also the time English settlers and Eurasian settlers of English descent left Singapore
and Malaysia for Australia after Singapore and Malaysia achieved its independence from Britain in 1963. While differences developed, it is not surprising that English immigrants had little difficulty in assimilating to Australian life. The Australian resentment against the policies of the British government was rarely transferred to English settlers who came to Australia in the first decades of the nineteenth century. South Africa
n settlers of English blood
entered Australia in 1994 when Nelson Mandela
was elected as the first non-white South African president. Before and after the return of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from United Kingdom
to People’s Republic of China in 1997, a number of English and Eurasians
of English blood from Hong Kong
moved to the nation. During all of Australian history English immigrants and their descendants were prominent on every level of government and in every aspect of Australian life.
While they are the second largest ethnic nationality identified in the 1990 census, they retain such a pervasive representation at every level of national and state government that, on any list of Australian senators, Supreme Court judges, governors, or legislators, they would constitute a plurality if not an outright majority.
The United Kingdom continues to be a major source of permanent migrants to Australia
. In 2005-06 the country was the largest source of migrants ahead of New Zealand, China and India.
have English ancestry. The extent of English Heritage varies, with earlier Prime Ministers being predominantly of English
stock.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
ns of English descent
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, are the single largest ethnic group in Australia and the largest 'ancestry' identity in the Australia Census after "Australian" (which contains an unknown number of English Australians). In the 2006 census, 6.3 million or 32% of respondents identified as "English" or a combination including English, such as English-Australian. The census also documented 860,000 residents of Australia as being born in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Most of them are descendants of English settlers who arrived during the colonial era and the Big Brother Movement
Big Brother Movement
The Big Brother Movement is a generic term used to describe the unofficial migration policy of Australia prior to and during the interbellum period, before the time it was superseded by the call to populate or perish...
.
Early Settlement and Colonisation
English settlement in Australia began with English naval Admiral and colonial administrator. Arthur PhillipArthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
was the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the site which is now the city of Sydney.
A number of English colonies were established under a system of proprietary governor
Proprietary Governor
Proprietary Governors were individuals authorized to govern proprietary colonies. Under the proprietary system, individuals or companies were granted commercial charters by the King of England to establish colonies. These proprietors then selected the governors and other officials in the colony....
s, who were appointed under mercantile charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
s to English joint stock companies
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
to found and run settlements.
England also took over the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
colonisation of Australia of New Holland
New Holland (Australia)
New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....
, renaming it the state of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1774.
The decision to send English convicts to Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
was taken by the British Government on 18 August 1786, with the responsibility to organise and choose officials falling on then Home Secretary, Lord Sydney
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney PC , was a British politician who held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century...
and his junior, Evan Nepean
Evan Nepean
Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet PC was a British politician and colonial administrator.-Early career:...
. Preparations to obtain ships, convicts, guards and provisions began soon after. At the time the five hulk
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...
s in service held about 1300 men, and selected convicts, including women from county gaols were transferred to the hulk Dunkirk at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
and the New Gaol in Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
. Optimistically, it was hoped to be able to sail in October, but a series of postponements were made. In mid April 1787 the St James's Chronicle commented that “strange as it may appear, we are credibly informed of the Fact that the Transports for Botany Bay have not as yet sailed". [Gillen, p.xxiv]
An estimated 200,000 English emigrated to Australia after 1776. English settlers provided a steady and substantial influx throughout the nineteenth century. The first wave of increasing English began in the late 1850s and was sustained by unrest in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
until it peaked in 1862 and declined slightly for nearly a decade. Most of these were small farmers and tenant farmers from depressed areas in rural counties in southern and western England and urban laborers who fled from the depressions and from the social and industrial changes of the late 1820s-1840s. While some English immigrants were drawn by dreams of creating model utopian societies in Australia, most others were attracted by the lure of new lands, textile factories, railroads, and the expansion of mining. A number of English settlers moved to the United States from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the 1850s, when the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
boomed; these included the so-called “Sydney Ducks
Sydney Ducks
The Sydney Ducks was the name given to a gang of criminal immigrants from Australia in San Francisco, during the mid-19th century. Because many of these criminals came from the well-known British penal colonies in Australia, and were known to commit arson, they were blamed for an 1849 fire that...
” (see Australian American
Australian American
An Australian American is a citizen of the United States who identifies with an Australian national background. This can include people of European, Asian, African or Pacific Islander backgrounds.-History:...
s).
English immigration after 1850
After independence, English immigration continued, and instead of decrease, it greatly increased. During the last years of 1860s, annual English immigration increased to over 60,000 and continued to rise to over 75,000 per year in 1872, before experiencing a decline. The final and most sustained wave of immigration began in 1879 and lasted until the depression of 1893. During this period English annual immigration averaged more than 80,000, with peaks in 1882 and 1888. The building of Australia's transcontinental railroads, the settlement of the great plains, and industrialization attracted skilled and professional emigrants from England. Also, cheaper steamship fares enabled unskilled urban workers to come to Australia, and unskilled and semiskilled laborers, miners, and building trades workers made up the majority of these new English immigrants. While most settled in Australia, a number of skilled craftsmen remained itinerant, returning to England after a season or two of work. Groups of English immigrants came to Australia as missionaries for the Salvation ArmySalvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and to work with the activities of the Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
and LDS Churches. The depression of 1893 sharply decreased English immigration, and it stayed low for much of the twentieth century. This decline reversed itself in the decade of World War II when over 100,000 English (18 percent of all European immigrants) came from England. In this group was a large contingent of war brides who came between 1945 and 1948. In these years four women emigrated from England for every man. Many English Indians and English Burmese settled the nation after India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Burma (now Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
) won independence from United Kingdom in 1947 and 1948 respectively. English immigration increased to over 150,000 and rose to 170,000 in the 1960s, which was also the time English settlers and Eurasian settlers of English descent left Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Malaysia for Australia after Singapore and Malaysia achieved its independence from Britain in 1963. While differences developed, it is not surprising that English immigrants had little difficulty in assimilating to Australian life. The Australian resentment against the policies of the British government was rarely transferred to English settlers who came to Australia in the first decades of the nineteenth century. South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n settlers of English blood
Anglo-African
Anglo-Africans are primarily White African people of largely British descent who live or come from Sub-Saharan Africa and are Anglophone. A large majority live in South Africa...
entered Australia in 1994 when Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was elected as the first non-white South African president. Before and after the return of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from United Kingdom
Transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong
The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, referred to as ‘the Return’ or ‘the Reunification’ by the Chinese and ‘the Handover’ by others, took place on 1 July 1997...
to People’s Republic of China in 1997, a number of English and Eurasians
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
of English blood from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
moved to the nation. During all of Australian history English immigrants and their descendants were prominent on every level of government and in every aspect of Australian life.
While they are the second largest ethnic nationality identified in the 1990 census, they retain such a pervasive representation at every level of national and state government that, on any list of Australian senators, Supreme Court judges, governors, or legislators, they would constitute a plurality if not an outright majority.
The United Kingdom continues to be a major source of permanent migrants to Australia
Immigration to Australia
Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...
. In 2005-06 the country was the largest source of migrants ahead of New Zealand, China and India.
Prime Ministers of English descent
Many of the Prime Ministers of AustraliaPrime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
have English ancestry. The extent of English Heritage varies, with earlier Prime Ministers being predominantly of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
stock.
- Edmund BartonEdmund BartonSir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....
, 1st Prime Minister 1901-1903 (English parents.) - Alfred DeakinAlfred DeakinAlfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
, 2nd Prime Minister 1903-1904, 1905–08, 1909-10 (English parents.) - Sir Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister 1913-14 (Born in Silverdale, StaffordshireSilverdale, StaffordshireSilverdale is a suburban village and civil parish in Staffordshire, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1932 it became part of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and is now, with the exception of the north-eastern end, part of the Silverdale and Parksite ward....
, England.) - Earle Christmas Grafton Page, 11th Prime Minister 1939 (Father from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England.) - Harold Edward Holt, 17th Prime Minister 1966-67
- Sir John Grey GortonJohn GortonSir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...
, 19th Prime Minister 1968-71 (English father.) - Edward Gough Whitlam, 21st Prime Minister 1972-75 (English descent.)
- John Winston Howard, 25th Prime Minister 1996-2007
- Kevin RuddKevin RuddKevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
, 26th Prime Minister 2007-10 (His 4th great-grandparents, convicts Thomas Rudd from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Mary Cable from EssexEssexEssex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.)