Macedonian Australian - History of Macedonians in Australia

History of Macedonians in Australia

Further information: Macedonian-Australian People's League

Macedonians have been arriving in Australia since the late 1880s on Pečalba. Pečalbari (the man in the family) would go and work overseas to earn money then return home with the spoils. This restricted major settlement. The two major waves of early Macedonian immigration, according to Peter Hill, were when in 1924 America implemented tougher immigration policies and in 1936 when the Ioannis Metaxas regime came into power. By 1921 there were 50 Macedonians in Australia, by 1940 this number had reached over 6,000., the majority of whom were from Florina, Kastoria and Bitola. After World War II and the Greek Civil War many Macedonians from Greece came to Australia, these people are known as Aegean Macedonians, they settled in areas including Richmond and Footscray. However before the Second World War many Macedonians did not have a strong sense of national identity, but of regional identity. Most of them considered themselves as Macedonian Bulgarians.

When the Yugoslav policies that encouraged its citizens to work overseas were introduced many Ethnic Macedonians within Yugoslavia left for Australia. The peak of this emigration was in the early 1970s. They settled in mainly industrial districts, particularly in Wollongong and Newcastle, in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown and the Sydney suburb of Rockdale. Many Macedonians from Yugoslavia would also settle in isolated parts of Australia such as Port Hedland. Most of these immigrants were from an agricultural background. Macedonian migration had slowed by the 1980s only to restart in the early 1990s after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

As at the 2006 census 64% of Australian residents born in Macedonia had arrived before 1980.