Filipino Australians (Filipino: Mga Australyanong Pilipino) are Australians of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Filipino diaspora. At the 2021 census, 408,836 people stated that they had Filipino ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), representing 1.6% of the Australian population.[1] In 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that there were 310,620 Australian residents born in the Philippines.[2]
Population
People born in the Philippines as a percentage of the population in Sydney divided geographically by postal area, as of the 2011 census
Currently Filipinos are the third largest Asian Australian immigrant group behind Chinese Australians and Indian Australians.[3] At the 2021 census, 408,836 people stated that they had Filipino ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), representing 1.6% of the Australian population.[1] In 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that there were 310,620 Australian residents born in the Philippines.[2]
At the 2021 census, the states with the largest numbers of people reporting Filipino ancestry were: New South Wales (152,804), Victoria (95,186), Queensland (73,805), Western Australia (46,785) and South Australia (21,257).[3]
Females account for 61% while males represent 39% of Filipino Australians born in the Philippines.[4]
History
During the 1800s until the early 20th century, Broome became the pearling capital of the world. Filipinos worked as divers, crew, shell openers, and sorters. Eventually, they married with local women in Broome.[5]
Filipinos were excluded from entering Australia under the White Australia policy. As a consequence, their numbers in Australia remained minimal; confined to descendants of those few Filipinos who had migrated to the north west pearling areas of Western Australia and the sugar cane plantations of Queensland prior to 1901; until the abolition of racially selective immigration policies in 1966.[6] The 1901 census had recorded 700 Filipinos in Australia.[6]
The number of permanent settlers arriving in Australia from the Philippines since 1991 (monthly)
Martial law in the Philippines, declared by former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, and the renunciation of the White Australia policy made Australia an attractive destination for Filipino emigrants, particularly skilled workers. Many Filipinos also settled in Australia from the 1970s onward as either migrant workers or the spouses of Australian citizens. Marriages between Filipinos and Australians rose very sharply from 1978, peaked in 1986, and remained high as of 2000, despite a dip in the early 1990s.[7] The 1980s were the period of the greatest Filipino immigration, with 1987-1988 being the peak year.[6]
