Zimbabwean Australians

Zimbabwean Australians are Australian citizens who are fully or partially of Zimbabwean descent or Zimbabwe-born people who reside in Australia. They include migrants to Australia of people from Zimbabwe (Rhodesia or Southern Rhodesia until 1980), as well as their descendants. Today, there are over 65,000 Zimbabwean Australians, with significant growth since 2000, coinciding with the sociopolitical crisis there.[1]

Zimbabwean Australians
Total population
65,000
Regions with significant populations
Perth; Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Western Australia; southeast Queensland
Languages
Related ethnic groups
African Australians; South African Australians

Australia's Zimbabwean community is now well established, with some of the highest incomes in the country,[2] as well as with community institutions such as Zimbabwean language schools.[3]

Background
The number of permanent settlers arriving in Australia from Zimbabwe since 1991 (monthly)

Much like South Africans, Zimbabweans began immigrating to Australia in the late 1970s, in modest numbers of mostly white Zimbabweans until the late nineties. Since 2000, the volume of migration has increased and diversified significantly, with a mix of professionals, investors, students and recent graduates choosing to move to Australia. Compared to their contemporaries in South Africa, the Zimbabwean community in Australia is highly educated and firmly within the middle class.[4] The vast majority are skilled and educated, with 74.5% of the Zimbabwe-born aged 15 years and over possessing higher non-school qualifications, compared to 55.9% of the Australian population.[4] Some Zimbabweans had originally moved to South Africa or the UK, but decided to settle in Australia instead.[5]

Population distribution

Australia's Zimbabwean population is biggest in Sydney. Historically, Perth was a popular first stop for recent migrants, thanks to its relative proximity to Southern Africa and its already established South African Australian population, but increasingly modern immigrants are increasingly drawn to Sydney and Melbourne[6] although a large proportion of Zimbabweans in Australia still reside in Western Australia.[4] Many white Zimbabweans have settled in Queensland,[7] whereas people of indigenous Shona and Ndebele ethnicities commonly settle in Sydney or Melbourne.[4]

New South Wales

Australians who speak a language indigenous to Zimbabwe at home are most numerous in Sydney. One in three of Australia's Ndebele-speakers and one in three of Australia's Shona-speakers live in Sydney.[8][9]

Victoria

English, Shona and Afrikaans are the main languages Zimbabwean Australians in Victoria speak at home. 53% of Zimbabwean Australians in Victoria speak English, while 36% speak Shona and 1% speak Afrikaans.[10]

Notable Zimbabwean Australians
George Gregan
Kevin Parker

See also

References
  2. "Irish among Australia's best paid workers". Irish Echo.
  3. "Learning parents' language helps keep culture alive". SBS.
  4. "The Zimbabwe-born Community". Department of Social Services.
  5. "Zimbabwe: First Family Has Low Opinion of the People". AllAfrica.
  6. Ndlovu, Ray (19 Apr 2013). "Rough estimates: Millions of Zimbabweans Abroad". AllAfrica.
  7. "White Zimbabwean families make their way to country Qld". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  8. "Languages in Sydney". Australian Burea of Statistics.
  9. "Redirect to Census data page". Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  10. "History of immigration from Zimbabwe". Museum Victoria.
  11. Weiner, Jonah (21 May 2019). "The Cosmic Healing of Tame Impala". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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