Thai Australians refers to Australians who trace their ancestry to Thailand or Thais who trace their ancestry to Australia. The Australian census recorded 45,635 Australians with Thai ancestry in the 2011 census.[2]
History of immigration from Thailand
In 1911, the master of the Thai royal stables visited Australia and bought 126 horses. This started a trend of royal envoys from Thailand visiting Australia on horse-buying and other economic missions.[3]
Melbourne's Museum Victoria (2013) reveals that the first notable Thai to arrive in Australia was Butra Mahintra, sent by King Rama VI during the early 1920s to purchase racehorses. Connections with Thai royalty developed further with the arrival of Prince Purachatra in 1927, leading a group to observe Australian agriculture and infrastructure[4]
The number of Thais officially counted in New South Wales stayed under 50 until the 1950s. In January 1950, the Australian government launched the Colombo Plan, an aid program for sponsoring Asian students to study or train in Australian tertiary institutions. The main objectives of the plan were to dispel the negative impression of Asian countries toward the White Australia Policy[3] and to counter communism in Asia. Students from developing countries were brought to Australia to study. The idea was that when they had finished their studies students would return to use the skills and knowledge they had acquired to help their own people. Approximately 450 Thai students travelled to Australia on the Colombo Plan between 1954 and 1989.[5] Most did not settle in Australia permanently, but they increased awareness of Australia when they returned to Thailand. Between the 1950s and 1970s the majority of new arrivals from Thailand in Australia continued to be students, as well as spouses of Australians and those sponsored under military traineeships.
The number of migrants in Australia grew significantly when the Immigration Restriction Act was repealed in 1973. In 1975, Australia accepted many Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian refugees for settlement. Included in this group of Indochinese refugees were non-Thais born inside Thailand. By 1986, the Thailand-born population in Australia had risen to 6,998 people, but only half of these were of Thai ancestry.[6] This means that the Thai-born population of Thai ancestry in Australia at that time was less than one-twelfth of today's figure.
The latest Census in 2011 recorded 45,465 Thailand-born people in Australia, an increase of 48.8 per cent from the 2006 Census. The 2011 distribution by state and territory showed New South Wales had the largest number with 17,541, followed by Victoria (10,766), Queensland (7,022) and Western Australia (5,662). Among the total Thailand-born in Australia at the 2011 Census, 23.1 per cent arrived between 2001 and 2006 and 32.8 per cent arrived between 2006 and 2011.
Thailand-Born Resident Population in Australia
People born in Thailand as a percentage of the population in Sydney divided geographically by postal area, as of the 2011 census
Estimated Thailand-Born Resident Population, by State, 1996–2016[7]
Region
1996
%
2001
%
2006
%
2011
%
2016
%
Australia
19,890
100%
24,430
100%
34,060
100%
52,990
100%
71,250
100%
New South Wales
7,890
40%
10,170
42%
13,710
40%
20,530
39%
28,740
40%
Victoria
4,600
23%
5,580
23%
7,810
23%
12,450
23%
17,210
24%
Queensland
2,360
12%
3,080
13%
4,980
15%
8,140
15%
10,780
15%
South Australia
1,150
6%
1,350
6%
1,880
6%
2,510
5%
2,990
4%
Western Australia
2,540
13%
2,710
11%
3,850
11%
6,710
13%
8,360
12%
Tasmania
290
1%
280
1%
350
1%
560
1%
650
1%
Northern Territory
410
2%
520
2%
600
2%
900
2%
1,110
2%
ACT
650
3%
750
3%
890
3%
1,190
2%
1,390
2%
Estimated Thailand-Born Resident Population, 1992 to 2014[8]
^"Statistics from the 2011 Census"(PDF). The People of NSW. Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Commonwealth of Australia. 2014. Table 13, Ancestry. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
