Anglo-Celtic Australians
 
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
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| Regions with significant populations | |
| All States and territories of Australia | |
| Languages | |
| English • Welsh • Irish • Scottish Gaelic | |
| Religion | |
| Christian (Roman Catholic and Anglican) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| European New Zealanders, White British, Irish people |
Anglo-Celtic Australians are Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the countries of the British Isles (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland).
The British Government initiated European settlement of the Australian continent by establishing a penal settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788. Between then and 1852, about 100,000 convicts (mostly tried in England) were transported to eastern Australia. Scotland and Wales contributed relatively few convicts. The convicts were augmented by free settlers, including large numbers who arrived during the gold-rush in the 1850s. As late as 1861, people born in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland outnumbered even the Australia-born population. The number of settlers in Australia who were born in the United Kingdom peaked at 825,000 in 1891, from which point the proportion of British among all immigrants to Australia steadily declined.
From the beginning of the colonial era until the mid-20th century, the vast majority of settlers to Australia were from the British Isles, with the English being the dominant group, followed by the Irish and Scottish. Among the leading ancestries, increases in Australian, Irish, and German ancestries and decreases in English, Scottish, and Welsh ancestries appear to reflect such shifts in perception or reporting. These reporting shifts at least partly resulted from changes in the design of the census question, in particular the introduction of a tick box format in 2001.
Until 1859, 2.2 million (73%) of the free settlers who immigrated were British. Those born in the United Kingdom were the largest foreign group throughout the 20th century. Prior to the last quarter of the century, the United Kingdom was strongly favoured as a source country by immigrant selection policies and remained the largest single component of the annual immigration intake until 1995–96, when immigrants from New Zealand surpassed it in number. However, their share of the total immigrant population is in decline. Those from the United Kingdom comprised 58 per cent of the total overseas-born population in 1901, compared to 27 per cent in 1996. An even greater decline has occurred for those born in Ireland. In 1901, those born in Ireland comprised 22 per cent of all immigrants, while in 1996 the Ireland-born represented just 1 per cent of the immigrant population.
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