Slovene Australians


Slovene Australians are Australian citizens who are fully or partially of Slovene descent or Slovenia-born people who reside in Australia.

History

Central European people called Slovenians began migrating to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. Until the 1900s, there was only a small number of Slovenian immigrants to Australia. The largest number of Slovenians migrated to Australia after World Wars One and Two. The exact number who came after WW1 is impossible to determine because Slovenians were often classified as Austrians.
A lot of Slovenian Axis collaborators and their families migrated to Australia after World War II, fleeing persecution by the post-war socialist government of Josip Broz Tito.

Demographics

Numbers

In the 2001 Australian Census, 14,189 Australians declared that they were of Slovenian origin. In the 2006 Australian Census, 16,093 Australians declared that they were of Slovenian origin. Because many Slovenians came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire they identified themselves as Austrians.

Distribution

According to the 2016 Australian Census, there were 5,557 Slovenian-born people living in the country. The majority of them lived in either Victoria or New South Wales.

Notable individuals