French Australian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (French 24,675 (by birth, 2011) 110,399 (by ancestry, 2011) 98,332 (by ancestry, 2006) 19,189 (by birth, 2006)) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| France-born people by state or territory | |
| New South Wales | 8,936 |
| Victoria | 5,615 |
| Queensland | 4,980 |
| Western Australia | 2,792 |
| Languages | |
|
|
| Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
French Australians (French: Franco-Australiens), some of whom refer to themselves as Huguenots, are Australian citizens or residents of French ancestry, or French-born people who reside in Australia. According to the 2011 Census, there were 110,399 people of French descent in Australia and 24,675 French-born people residing in the country at the time of the census, representing an increase of 28.6 percent compared to the 2006 Census. The largest French Australian community is in the state of New South Wales, where they number 8,936 people–a large number of these people reside in Sydney.
According to the 2006 Australian census, 98,332 Australians (or 0.47% of the population) claim French ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry. Of these, 19,186 were born in France and 12,735 of them had since acquired Australian citizenship.
8,281 (or 43%) of the residents born in France had arrived in Australia in 1979 or earlier.
Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Jules Dumont d'Urville, Nicolas Baudin, François Péron and Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne were some of the early European explorers to reach the continent.
Many Australians with French ancestry are descended from Huguenot refugees. Some of the earliest Huguenots to arrive in Australia held prominent positions in English society, notably Jane Franklin and Charles La Trobe.
Others who came later were from poorer Huguenot families. They migrated to Australia from England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to escape the poverty in the East End of London, notably in the Huguenot enclaves of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. Their impoverishment had been brought about by the effect of the Industrial Revolution, which caused the collapse of the Huguenot-dominated silk-weaving industry.
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