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Updated on October 14, 2010
| INDIAN COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA: |
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| Useful links for Indians in Australia : |
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| NRIs or Indian Diaspora FAQs: http://www.india.gov.in/overseas/diaspora/faq.php |
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| MOIA : Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs: www.moia.gov.in |
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| India Investment Centre: http://iic.nic.in |
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| There is a rapidly growing Indian community of about 234,689 in Australia (2006 census), of which 147,100 are born in India and the rest have Indian ancestry. This number is estimated to have gone up to 239,295 in mid-2008, with the Indian community now having overtaken the Italian community to become Australia’s fourth biggest migrant community and the second largest source of skilled professionals for Australia after the UK. |
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| According to Australian records, a small group of Indians arrived in Australia in the years 1800-1816, sent as convict labourers by British colonial authorities. During the first 60 years of the 19th century, most of the Indians who arrived in Australia were recruited as labourers by the British Government; they later settled down in Australia. In the last four decades of the 19th century, many Indians, particularly Sikhs and Muslims from Punjab, settled on the northern coast of New South Wales as agricultural labourers, hawkers or traders. There were also several Indians from the Punjab and North West Frontier Province who ran the 'camel trains', which were the main means of transport into the interior of Australia before the road and rail networks were developed. They would transport goods and mail by camels over the outback and were collectively known as Afghans, abbreviated by Australians to "Ghans". Indians also took part in the gold rush in the Victorian gold fields. Several Sikhs also came to work on the banana plantations in Southern Queensland and through their hard work and enterprise, came to own their own plantations. |
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| At the beginning of the 20th century, Australian records indicate the presence of around 6500 ‐ 7000 Indians in Australia. This figure continued to remain the same until after the end of World War II. After India's independence in 1947, a large number of Anglo - Indians migrated to Australia. |
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| The next period of immigration from India began after 1966, with the influx of teachers, doctors and other professionals from India. Large numbers of Indian software professionals began arriving in Australia from the eighties. Persons of Indian origin also came here from other countries. |
| The numbers of Indian immigrants to Australia over the past 5 years is as follows: |
| 2002-03 |
5783 |
| 2003-04 |
8135 |
| 2004-05 |
9414 |
| 2005-06 |
11286 |
| 2006-07 |
13496 |
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| In all States and major cities, there are associations/organizations of Indians. There are also umbrella federations of Indian associations in the States/Territories. There are also several ethnic publications, Indian language programmes on radio, Indian language schools, and Indian dance schools in all major cities. |
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| The number of Indian students in Australia grew exponentially in the years 2004 to 2009, with the number of student enrolments increasing from 20,512 in 2004 to 120,569 in 2009. Following the incidents relating to Indian students in 2009-2010, the number of enrolments has dropped sharply. |
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