American Australians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (American 77,010 (by birth, 2011 census) 62,960 (by ancestry, 2011 census)) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra | |
| Languages | |
| Australian English · American English | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Americans · European Americans · Hispanic and Latino Americans · Asian Americans · Native Americans · Pacific Islander Americans |
American Australians are Australian citizens who are of American descent, including immigrants and residents who are descended from migrants from the United States and its territories. This can include people of European, African American, American Indian, Hispanic or Latin American, Asian, or Pacific Islander backgrounds.
At the 2006 Australian Census, 71,718 Australian residents declared that they were American-born. Concentrations of American-born residents were in Sydney (16,339), Melbourne (11,130), Brisbane (6,057), Perth (5,558), Adelaide (2,862), and Canberra (1,970). Also at the census, residents could nominate up to two ancestries; 56,283 respondents declared they had American ancestry with 3,901 who declared Hispanic ancestry, 1,798 declared an African American ancestry, 3,936 declared a native North American Indian ancestry and 224 declared Puerto Rican ancestry.
The first North Americans to make landfall in Australia were British crewmen from the Endeavour under Captain Cook, who sojourned at Botany Bay in 1770. Once a permanent colony was established in New South Wales, "trade links were developed almost exclusively with North America."
The North American colonies — including both contemporary Canada and the United States — had been used by Britain for penal transportation. With the independence of the United States in the 1770s, the British Government sought new lands to exile convicts, and Australia became the pre-eminent prison colony of the British Empire.
From the 1770s to the 1840s, North Americans settled in Australia primarily as demobilised British soldiers and sailors, as convicts — a number of United States citizens were arrested at sea for maritime offences, tried, and transported — and as whalers, sealers or itinerants. Many of these settlers moved on to New Zealand for a time, and often returned to New South Wales. African Americans had a noted presence in the earliest British outposts in Australia, usually after a period of service in the British Navy.
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