Serbian Australians

During the time of Federation a very small number of ethnic Serbs inhabited Australia. Despite a lack of accurate data, it is assumed that ethnic Serbs deriving from Lika, Dalmatia, and Montenegro did reside in largely mining communities throughout the Commonwealth, though exact numbers are unsubstantiated. The first significant, albeit small wave of Serb immigrants, comprising mostly former POWs, and displaced persons fleeing war and genocide began arriving in Australia as post-war immigrants.^[4][5] This initial wave also included members of the royalist Chetnik movement fleeing political persecution by the Communist regime of Josip Broz Tito.^[6][7][8]

The easing of emigration restrictions by Yugoslavia generated a second, larger wave of predominantly economic migration throughout the 1960s and 1970s. An agreement between Australia and Yugoslavia facilitated the recruitment of largely unskilled and semi-skilled immigrants, from predominantly rural backgrounds to work in Australia's manufacturing and construction industries.^[9] The developing political and economic issues in Yugoslavia during the 1980s, alongside its disintegration, ensuing wars, economic sanctions, and economic crisis of the 1990s, resulted in the largest Serbian migration to Australia.^[10][11][12]

In recent years, some Serbian Australians have joined the "Serbian Chetniks Australia" organisation.^[13] This organization promoting the concept of Chetnik forces fighting against the Nazi forces in Yugoslavia during the World War II has participated in Anzac Day marches in Melbourne and Sydney which drew criticism from the Croatian Australian and Bosnian Australian communities.^[14]

According to data from the 2021 census, 94,997 people stated that they had Serb ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), out of which 25,454 were Serbia-born.^[15] Serbian Australians comprise 0.37% of total Australian population.

The Serbian Australian community is heavily concentrated (about 70% of the total) in New South Wales and Victoria, with major hubs in Sydney's south-eastern suburbs and Melbourne's western and south-eastern suburbs.^[16][17][18]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics allows the provision of two ancestries in a multi-response question for foreign-born residents. In the 2016 census, 67% of Serbian Australians declared full Serb ancestry, 11.8% of individuals identifying as Serb in the first response comprised 11.8%, whilst 21.1% declared Serb heritage in the second response.^[19][18]

Serbian Australians predominantly (about 60%) belong to the Eastern Orthodoxy with the Serbian Orthodox Church (through its Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand) as the traditional church. Some 13.3% adhere to Protestantism, 7% to the Catholicism, while the rest are mainly irreligious.^[15]

Language retention is high: only 15.6% speak English exclusively at home, while 68.5% are proficient in English alongside another language (likely Serbian, though specifics are not available).^[15]

Education levels are solid, with 21.6% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 13.8% at Certificate III level.^[15]

More information State/Territory, Population (2021) ...

State/Territory Population (2021) New South Wales 36,056 Victoria 30,133 Queensland 10,121 Western Australia 8,563 South Australia 7,329 Australian Capital Territory 2,191 Tasmania 469 Northern Territory 142

City Population (2021) Sydney 25,161 Melbourne 20,789 Brisbane 6,495 Perth 3,977 Adelaide 2,786 Canberra 1,180

Close

• Immigration to Australia
• European Australians
• Serb diaspora
• Australia–Serbia relations
• Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand
• List of Serbian soccer clubs in Australia