Indonesian Australians Explained

Group:Indonesian Australians
Native Name:Orang Indonesia di Australia
Native Name Lang:id
Population:87,075 (born in Indonesia, 2021)[1]
Popplace:Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide
Rels:Majority Christianity, with significant minorities of Muslim and Buddhism and small minorities of Hinduism
Related:Indonesians, Overseas Indonesians, Cocos Malays, Malaysian Australians

Indonesian Australians are Australian citizens and residents of Indonesian origin. 48,836 Australian residents declared Indonesian ancestry on the 2011 Australian Census, while 63,160 stated they were born in Indonesia.

Despite the proximity of the two countries (they share a maritime border), Australia’s Indonesian diaspora community is relatively small. According to the University of Melbourne, Australia is merely the 19th most popular destination for Indonesian migrants.[2]

Migration history

Pre-colonial era

As early as the 1750s, that is prior to European colonisation, seamen from eastern Indonesian ports such as Kupang and Makassar regularly visited Australia's northern coast, spending about four months per year there collecting trepang or sea cucumbers to trade with China.[3]

Colonial period migration

Beginning in the 1870s, Indonesian workers were recruited to work in colonial Australia, with almost 1,000 (primarily in Western Australia and Queensland) residing in Australia by federation.[4] The pearl hunting industry predominantly recruited workers from Kupang, and sugar plantations recruited migrant labourers from Java to work in Queensland.

Following federation and the enactment of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, the first in a series of laws that collectively formed the White Australia policy, most of these migrants returned to Indonesia.

1940s–1990s

Beginning in 1942, thousands of Indonesians fled the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and took refuge in Australia. Exact landing statistics were not kept due to the chaotic nature of their migration, but after the war, 3,768 repatriated to Indonesia on Australian government-provided ships.

In the 1950s, roughly 10,000 people from the former Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), who held Dutch citizenship and previously settled in the Netherlands, migrated to Australia, bypassing the White Australia policy. Large numbers of Chinese Indonesians began migrating to Australia in the late 1990s, fleeing the political and economic turmoil in the aftermath of the May 1998 riots and the subsequent fall of Suharto.

Between 1986 and 1996, the Indonesian-Australian community increased to 12,128. According to the Immigration Museum (Melbourne), many migrants were either students on temporary visas. However, other migrants came under either family reunion or skilled migration programs.

21st century

In 2010, Scotts Head, New South Wales opened the first and only English-Indonesian bilingual school in Australia.[5] As of 2016, the Indonesian-born population of Victoria was estimated to be 17,806. As of 2016, Australia is the single most popular destination for Indonesians seeking an undergraduate education abroad.[6]

Religion

Though Islam is the majority religion in Indonesia, Muslims are the minority among Indonesians in Australia. In the 2006 Australian Census, only 8,656 out of 50,975 Indonesians in Australia, or 17%, identified as Muslim.

However, in the 2011 census, that figure rose to 12,241 or 19.4%.[7] Indonesian communities in Australia generally lack their own mosques, but instead typically attend mosques established by members of other ethnic groups. In contrast, more than half of the Indonesian population in Australia follows Christianity, split evenly between the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations.

In 2016, 24.0% from Indonesian Australians population (73,217 people in 2016) identified as Catholic, 18.9% as Muslim, 10.0% as Buddhist, 9.2% as Atheist and 8.3% as Other Christian.[8]

In 2021, 23.4% from Indonesian Australian population (87,075 people in 2021) identified as Catholic, 19.3% as Muslim, 11.2% as Atheist, 10.4% as Buddhist and 9.4% as Other Christian.

Notable people

Artists and entertainers

Sports

Academics

Other notable Indonesian Australians

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/5202_AUS
  2. Web site: Grounds . Isobel . Two countries, two identities? The split lives of the Indonesian diaspora in Melbourne . 2022-04-30 . Indonesia at Melbourne . en-US.
  3. Book: Macknight, C. C. (Charles Campbell). The voyage to Marege : Macassan trepangers in northern Australia. 1976. Melbourne University Press. 0-522-84088-4. Carlton. 2706850.
  4. Web site: Immigration History from Indonesia to Victoria . 2022-04-29 . Immigration Museum, Melbourne.
  5. Web site: Abdellatif . Shayma . 2021-09-08 . NSW town becomes 'Kampung Indonesia' . 2022-05-03 . The Junction.
  6. Web site: Palmer . Wayne . Missbach . Antje . 2018-09-17 . Indonesia: A Country Grappling with Migrant Protection at Home and Abroad . 2022-04-29 . Migration Policy Institute . en.
  7. Web site: Community Information Summary – Indonesian-born. Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Community Relations Section of DIAC. 10 March 2016.
  8. Web site: 2016 People in Australia who were born in Indonesia, Census Country of birth QuickStats Australian Bureau of Statistics . 2023-04-12 . www.abs.gov.au.
  9. News: 22 September 2005 . Asia's Top 20 Heartbreakers . Asian Pacific Post . dead . 20 February 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080213165754/http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/40288182079598fe010796cf4e73013d.do.html . 13 February 2008.
  10. Thomas. Paul. Oodeen, A Malay Interpreter on Australia's Frontier Lands. 2012. Indonesia and the Malay World. 40. 117. 122–142. 10.1080/13639811.2012.684939. 162763070. 1363-9811.
  11. Brawley. Sean. 2014. Finding Home in White Australia. History Australia. 11. 1. 128–148. 10.1080/14490854.2014.11668503. 142524561. 1449-0854.