Ethiopian Australian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,600 (by ancestry, 2006) 5,633 (by birth, 2006). |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Melbourne | |
| Languages | |
| Various languages of Ethiopia, Australian English | |
| Religion | |
| Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Islam, Pentecostalism |
Ethiopian Australians is a term that may be used to refer to immigrants from Ethiopia to Australia and their descendants. However, as Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country with significant inter-ethnic tensions, not all immigrants from Ethiopia accept the label "Ethiopian", instead preferring to identify by their ethnic group. In particular, various Oromo groups use the term Oromo Australian instead.
Ethiopian refugees who would eventually settle in Australia began flowing out of their home country as early as the 1970s, when the Derg came to power. They lived in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, mainly Sudan and Kenya, some for as long as 20 years before they found a country willing to resettle them. More left as refugees after Eritrea gained independence in 1993. The United States, rather than Australia, was the first-choice destination for most refugees; as a result, the Ethiopians in Australia tend to have less educational background and occupational skills than Ethiopian populations who relocated elsewhere.
The peak of Ethiopian refugee resettlement to Australia came in 2003, when 700 came to the country. Late in the following year, 350 more Ethiopians from the Abu Rakham camp in Sudan, largely single or widowed mothers and their families, were resettled in Australia. These were mostly Christians of Amhara and Tigray descent. In total, about 3,000 Ethiopians settled in Australia between 2000 and 2005.
According to the 2006 Australian census 5,633 Australians were born in Ethiopia while 5,600 claimed Ethiopian ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry. The similar figures for ancestry and place of birth are indicative of the very recent immigration of this group.
Australia's 2001 census found about 3,600 residents of the country who reported their place of birth as Ethiopia. This made them the 15th-largest group of Ethiopian-born people in a country outside of Ethiopia, ahead of the United Arab Emirates and behind Norway. About 85% of those lived in Melbourne, alongside communities of immigrants from other countries in the Horn of Africa, mainly Eritrea and Somalia; they are primarily settled in Footscray and neighbouring suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Braybrook, Flemington, Kensington, and Sunshine. Other community of immigrants from Ethiopia can be found in New South Wales and Tasmania.
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