Tongan Australians


Tongan Australians are Australians who are of ethnic Tongan descent or Tongans who hold Australian citizenship.

Background

According to the 2011 Australian census 10,560 Australians were born in Tonga, while 25,096 claimed Tongan ancestry. In 2006, 18,426 claimed Tongan ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.

History

Tongans were historically subject to the White Australia policy. In 1948, Akanesi Carrick – a cousin of Queen Sālote – and her two children were deported from Australia because of their race, despite being married to a British subject, Stewart Carrick. A Tongan man was deported from Australia in January 1975 because he had entered the country by "posing as a Maori". A decade later, another Tongan man sued the Australian Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs for racial discrimination, alleging the department was targeting Pacific Islanders in its administration of immigration law.

Population

Tongan migrants to Australia have tended to make their homes in the "arrival city" suburbs of Sydney's west. This pattern began in the 1970s, intensified in the 1980s, and continues today. However, Tongans aren't exclusively settling in Western Sydney and actually widespread all over Sydney. There are Tongan communities on the Northshore areas of Sydney, such as the Northern beaches, Hornsby & Ryde area, South Sydney & the Eastern Suburbs. As of 2011, over 60% of Tongan-born Australians live in the state of New South Wales.
The 2006 Australian census recorded that the majority of the Tongan Australians live in New South Wales, followed by Victoria and Queensland.
Despite there being relatively few Australians of Tongan descent, Tongan Australians have excelled in the football codes of Rugby league and Rugby Union as evidenced by the list of notable Tongan Australians which include: