Irish migration to Australia has been almost continuous throughout the era of European settlement. The first 155 Irish convicts (from County Cork) arrived in Sydney in 1791. An estimated further 7000 Irish convicts were sent to Australia during the remaining years of transportation, which ended in 1868.
The Irish settler in Australia, both voluntary and forced, was crucial to the survival and prosperity of the early colonies both demographically and economically. 300,000 Irish free settlers arrived between 1840 and 1914. By 1871, the Irish were a quarter of all overseas-born.
In Australia, home to the third-largest population of Irish migrants, about 2 million people, or 10 percent of the population, said they were of Irish descent in the 2011 census. In Canada, which also has many Irish emigrants, about 13 percent of the population claims Irish roots.
The cities with the largest Irish-born populations are Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Since 1791, Irish people have emigrated to Australia. Emigration initiatives such as the Earl Grey scheme for orphan girls in the 1840s, and events such as the Irish Famine in 1847, saw different waves of people arrive on Australian shores in the 1800s.
European Emigration to the U.S. 1851 - 1860
Although the Irish potato blight receded in 1850, the effects of the famine continued to spur Irish emigration into the 20th century. Still facing poverty and disease, the Irish set out for America where they reunited with relatives who had fled at the height of the famine.
British and Irish food habits heavily influenced early Australian cuisine until the 1950s, and for most Australians it reminded them of 'home'. Our meat-and-three-vegetable dinner regime, hearty puddings and fondness for tea and beer came from our Anglo-Celtic forebears.
A National Historic Site, the outport community on Fogo Island has survived relatively untouched for eight generations, and is so distinctively Celtic that the BBC called the area “Canada's little-known Emerald Isle.” The Irish Times dubbed it “the most Irish island in the world,” and “Irish on the rocks.”
At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated individual ancestries as a proportion of the total population were: English (33%) Australian (29.9%) Irish (9.5%)
The Irish famine of the 1840s caused large numbers of people to migrate due to poverty and difficult living conditions. They worked in Victoria as whalers, fishermen and farm hands and in townships as labourers and factory workers.
With the average monthly salary in Australia coming in at approximately A$4,209 according to Numbeo, a move Down Under looks very attractive when compared with an average salary of approximately A$2,911 in Ireland - an almost 45% increase when working in Australia compared to Ireland.
Is Ireland better than Australia? It is hard to say which country is better than the other. Australia offers a stable and flourishing economy with a lower unemployment rate but costlier living overall. Ireland offers slightly lower living costs but a somewhat higher rate of unemployment.
Pushed out of Ireland by religious conflicts, lack of political autonomy and dire economic conditions, these immigrants, who were often called "Scotch-Irish," were pulled to America by the promise of land ownership and greater religious freedom.
The Great Famine in the 1840s - a result of the potato disease that killed the crop most Irish depended on to survive - caused a million to leave Ireland, with many going to Britain and the USA. Ireland was then a part of Great Britain, ruled from London.
From as far back as the 16th century, historians taught that the Irish are the descendants of the Celts, an Iron Age people who originated in the middle of Europe and invaded Ireland somewhere between 1000 B.C. and 500 B.C. That story has inspired innumerable references linking the Irish with Celtic culture.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Black Irish" referred to Irish people with black hair and dark features who were considered to be descended from Spanish sailors as depicted in Black Irish (folklore).
You may have seen an Irish goodbye if you've ever attended to a party or social gathering and seen someone leave without saying goodbye. This phrase describes the act of departing from a gathering without telling anyone and frequently even without saying goodbye.
A traditional full Irish breakfast comprises bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, beans, soda bread or toast, tomatoes, mushrooms, and white or black pudding. For those wondering, black pudding coagulates the pig's blood into a sausage form. The white pudding is simply a pork sausage, usually flat.
Irish-born immigrants and their descendants have been a feature of the Australian population since the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales in 1788. Their influence upon, and contribution to, Australia's ever-changing and evolving cultural, economic, political and social life was of central significance.
Since the mid-1950s, the Italian flow of migrants to Australia assumed a sort of mass migration. Either nominated by relatives in Australia as a major component, or as assisted migrants, a notable number of migrants left Italy for Australia.