South African Australian
Encyclopedia
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...
who are of 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 ancestry.
According to the 2006 Australian census 104,128 Australians were born in 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...
. Also in the Census 79,513 residents claimed South African ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry. Immigration from South Africa to Australia, particularly by professionals, accelerated in the 1990s. The majority of South African immigrants to Australia were of British descent, only a very small percentage, around 2-3% were of Afrikaans origin.
More than half of the South African Australians arrived following the election of 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...
in 1994. a behaviour stigmatised by white South Africans who remained in their homeland as "Packing for Perth". In 2007-08 4,000 South Africans permanently settled in Australia, a number that is slightly lower than previous years.
Sydney has the largest number of South African born residents (28,425), followed by Perth (18,828), Melbourne (17,318) and Brisbane (12,821).
Notable people
- John Maxwell CoetzeeJohn Maxwell CoetzeeJohn Maxwell Coetzee ; is an author and academic from South Africa. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in Adelaide, South Australia...
(writer, 2003 Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
laureate) - Bryce CourtenayBryce CourtenayArthur Bryce Courtenay AM is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist and one of Australia's most commercially successful authors.-Background and early years:...
(writer) - Damian CupidoDamian CupidoDamian Cupido is a former Australian League footballer whose 53 game Australian Football League career spanned two clubs in the Australian Football League.-AFL career:...
(AFL player) - Collette DinniganCollette DinniganCollette Dinnigan is an Australian based fashion designer. Born in South Africa, Dinnigan moved to New Zealand, then Australia, where she obtained work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
(fashion designer) - Anton EnusAnton EnusAnton Enus, is a South African-born Australian news presenter for SBS television.Until December 2007, Enus anchored the late edition of SBS World News Australia, which aired on weeknights at 9.30pm...
(SBS newsreader) - David GonskiDavid GonskiDavid Michael Gonski, BComm, LLB, AC, is an Australian public figure and businessman. The Sydney Morning Herald has described him as "one of the country's best-connected businessmen" and dubbed him "Mr Networks" for being "arguably Sydney's most networked man".David Gonski was born in 1953 in...
(chair, Australian Stock Exchange) - Dean GeyerDean GeyerDean Stanley Geyer is an Australian Singer-Songwriter and Actor who came third in the 2006 season of the talent show television series, Australian Idol.-Early life:...
(singer, actor) - Frances HargreavesFrances HargreavesFrances Hargreaves born 1954, a South-African-born actor who became famous in Australia in the 1970s through her long running role of Marilyn McDonald in soap opera Number 96....
(actress) - Craig JohnstonCraig JohnstonCraig Johnston is a former football player who was one of the first Australians to make a major impact in the English game. He is remembered for his time spent with Liverpool throughout the 1980s...
(soccer player) - Kerr NeilsonKerr NeilsonKerr Neilson is a successful Australian funds manager and co-founder of Platinum Asset Management.Neilson was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He started his financial management career in the investments department of Courtaulds in London...
(fund manager) - Gail KellyGail KellyGail Kelly is an Australian business person of South African descent. She is the current chief executive officer of Westpac, one of Australia's big four banks. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and, as of 2005, was the highest paid woman in an...
(CEO, Westpac) - Clyde RathboneClyde RathboneClyde Rathbone , nicknamed "Rattlebones", is an Australian rugby union player. He previously played for the Brumbies in Super 14 and internationally for Australia...
(rugby player) - Tammin SursokTammin SursokTammin Pamela Sursok is an Australian actress and musician of South African origin. She is best known for the role of Dani Sutherland on Home and Away, as Colleen Carlton on The Young and the Restless and as Siena in Disney Channel's Hannah Montana...
(actress) - SelwynSelwyn (singer)Selwyn is an R&B singer from Perth, Western Australia. He was a contestant on the Australian reality series Popstars 2, but did not make it through to the final group lineup. He was re-discovered while working at a shopping centre as a trolley boy...
(R&B singer) - Daniel VickermanDaniel VickermanDaniel Vickerman is a rugby union footballer for the New South Wales Waratahs and Australia who left a successful international career in 2008 to attend the University of Cambridge, where he read a degree in Land Economy at Hughes Hall, and returned to Australian Rugby in 2011...
(rugby player) - Margaret WildMargaret WildMargaret Wild is an Australian author. She was born in 1948 in Eschew, a small town in South Africa, and came to Australia in 1972. She now lives in Sydney. Before becoming a fulltime writer, Margaret was a journalist for newspapers and magazines and then she worked for sixteen years as a book...
(writer) - Marius KloppersMarius KloppersDr Marius Kloppers is CEO of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company. He is presently the group president of BHP's non ferrous metals division.- Education :...
(CEO, BHP) - Giam Swiegers (CEO, Deloitte Australia)
- Kyle Snyman (Cricketer)