Demographics of Melbourne

Melbourne's Chinatown, established in 1854, is the oldest in Australia and one of the oldest in the world

The first European settlers in Melbourne were British and Irish. These two groups accounted for nearly all arrivals before the gold rush, and supplied most immigrants to the city until the Second World War.

Melbourne was transformed by the 1850s gold rush; within months of the discovery of gold in August 1852, the city's population had increased by nearly three-quarters, from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants.[20] Thereafter, growth was exponential and by 1865, Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city.[21]

Many Chinese, German and American nationals were to be found on the goldfields and subsequently in Melbourne. The various nationalities involved in the Eureka Stockade revolt nearby give some indication of the migration flows in the second half of the nineteenth century.[22]

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Melbourne experienced unprecedented inflows from Mediterranean Europe and the Balkans, primarily Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, and West Asia, mostly from Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, the city has received a larger wave of primarily Asian immigration, with China and India the largest sources of immigrants in the 21st century.

At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:[N 2][31]

0.5% of the population, or 24,062 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.[N 4][31]

Melbourne has the 10th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. In Greater Melbourne at the 2016 census, 63.3% of residents were born in Australia. The other most common countries of birth were India (3.6%), Mainland China (3.5%), England (3%), Vietnam (1.8%) and New Zealand (1.8%).[33]

As of the 2016 census, 62% of Melburnians speak only English at home.[33] Mandarin (4.1%), Greek (2.4%), Italian (2.3%), Vietnamese (2.3%), and Cantonese (1.7%) are the most common foreign languages spoken at home by residents of Melbourne.[33]

An Indian restaurant in West Melbourne.

Melbourne experiences comparatively high levels of migrant integration to the other capital cities, however some foreign ethnic groups are associated with the suburb in which they first settled:

• Italian Australians of Melbourne with Brunswick, Carlton, Fawkner, Thomastown, Bundoora, Heidelberg West, Pascoe Vale, Bulleen, Mill Park, Keilor East and interspersed in the Northwestern and Western suburbs
• Irish and Scottish with St Kilda East, Prahran, Canterbury, St Kilda, Glen Iris, Elsternwick, Balaclava and Mornington
• British with South Yarra, Prahran, Canterbury, St Kilda East, Malvern East, Glen Iris, Camberwell, Sandringham, Caulfield North and Mornington
• Greek community of Melbourne with Preston, Thornbury, Northcote, Thomastown, Brunswick, Oakleigh East, Clayton South, Hughesdale, Huntingdale and interspersed in Northern and Eastern Suburbs
• Indians with Tarneit, Truganina, Derrimut, Glenroy, Hillside, Caroline Springs, Craigieburn, Geelong (Waurn Ponds) and South Western Suburbs
• Hongkongers, Taiwanese, Chinese with CBD, Templestowe, Doncaster East, Doncaster, Kings Park, Cairnlea, Geelong (Waurn Ponds), Box Hill and Knox City
• French with Prahran, Armadale, Caulfield North, Glen Iris, Camberwell, St Kilda East and Glen Iris
• Dutch with Prahran, Caulfield North, Armadale, Malvern East, Canterbury, Camberwell, Glen Iris, Elsternwick and St Kilda East
• Polish with Caulfield North, Elsternwick, Caulfield, Glen Iris, Carnegie, Prahran and Murrumbeena
• Russian with Carnegie, Malvern East, Glen Iris, Caulfield North, Murrumbeena and Bentleigh East
• South African with Caulfield North and Hughesdale
• Spanish with Kensington, Flemington and Collingwood
• Jewish with North Caulfield, Carnegie and South Eastern Suburbs
• Hungarian with Oakleigh East and Clayton
• Maltese with Altona Meadows and Laverton North
• Yugoslavian (Croatian, Macedonian, Serbs and Bosnian) with Keilor, Flemington, Collingwood, Thomastown, Epping, Mill Park, Lalor and South Morang
• Maori, Fijians and Samoan with Tarneit, and Albanvale
• Sri Lankans with Yuroke, Craigieburn and Mickleham
• Middle Eastern with North Western Suburbs
  • Turkish with Broadmeadows, Dallas, Attwood, Meadow Heights, Greenvale and Coolaroo
• Lebanese with Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Coolaroo, Brunswick, Coburg, Campbellfield and Fawkner
• Egyptians with Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Attwood, Greenvale and Campbellfield
• Pakistani with Tarneit, Roxburgh Park, Derrimut, Caroline Springs and Greenvale
• Iranian and Afghan with Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn, Coolaroo and Greenvale
• Assyrians and Iraqis with Roxburgh Park, Greenvale, Craigieburn and Coolaroo
• Vietnamese with Springvale Sunshine West, Deer Park, Kings Park, Ardeer, Cairnlea, Tarneit, Albion and Sydenham
• Filipino with Hillside, Sydenham, Caroline Springs and Taylors Lakes
• Malaysian and Koreans with Sydenham, Caroline Springs, Hillside, Burnside, Tarneit and Cairnlea
• Thai, Cambodian, Indonesian and Burmese with Hillside, Sydenham, Burnside, Caroline Springs and Tarneit
• Sub Saharan African, Sudanese, Somali, Habesha, Ethiopian and Eritrea with Hillside, Burnside and Caroline Springs
• Japanese community of Melbourne

The cities of Whittlesea, Wyndham, Hume, Brimbank and Dandenong on Melbourne's fringe are particular current migrant hotspots.[34]

Melbourne exceeds the national average in terms of proportion of residents born overseas: 34.8% compared to a national average of 23.1%. In concordance with national data, Britain is the most commonly reported country of birth, with 4.7%, followed by Italy (2.4%), Greece (2.1%) and then China (1.3%). Melbourne also features substantial Vietnamese, Indian and Sri Lankan-born communities, in addition to recent South African and Sudanese influxes

Over two-thirds of people in Melbourne speak only English at home (68.8%). Italian is the second most common home language (4.0%), with Greek (3.8%) third and Chinese (3.5%) fourth, each with over 100,000 speakers.[35]

As a result of large migrant populations, Melbourne has a proliferation of areas where restaurants, cafes and services of similar international demographic establish, particularly Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisines. Some of these areas include:

• Lonsdale Street, top end, Melbourne city – Greek cuisine
• Lygon Street, southern end, Carlton – Italian cuisine (Little Italy)
• Johnston Street, western end, Fitzroy – Spanish/Mexican
• Caulfield & North Caulfield – Kosher Jewish cuisine
• Oakleigh – Greek cuisine
• Sydney Road, Coburg/Brunswick – Lebanese and Turkish
• Little Bourke Street, eastern end, Melbourne city – Chinese and East Asian cuisine (Chinatown)
• Central Box Hill – Chinese and East Asian cuisine
• Koornang Road, Carnegie – Korean cuisine
• Central Footscray – Vietnamese, Chinese and African cuisine
• Robinson, Walker and Foster streets, Dandenong – Indian (Little India)
• Thomas Street, Dandenong – Afghan (Afghan Bazaar)
• Central Springvale – Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian
• Glen Waverley/Doncaster – Chinese, Malaysian and Sri Lankan cuisines
• Victoria Street, Abbotsford/Richmond – Chinese, Vietnamese (Little Saigon)
• Areas notable for large variety of mixed cuisine – Dandenong, St Kilda, Ormond, Brunswick, Melbourne city

In 1848, the first large group of Buddhists to come to Australia came as part of gold rush. The great majority stayed briefly for prospecting purposes rather than as permanent settlers. In 1856, a temple was established in South Melbourne by the Sze Yap group. The first specific Australian Buddhist group, the Buddhist Study Group Melbourne, was formed in Melbourne in 1938 but ended a short time later during the Second World War.[37]

The largest religious group is Christianity. 64% of people from Melbourne consider themselves Christians but this is subdivided into a number of denominations of which over half are members of the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and the Uniting churches. The city has two large cathedrals, St Patrick's (Roman Catholic),[38] and St Paul's (Anglican).[39] Both were built in the Victorian era and are of considerable heritage significance as major landmarks of the city.[40]

The majority of Australian Hindus live along the Eastern Coast of Australia and are mainly located in Melbourne and Sydney. As a community Hindus live relatively peacefully and in harmony with the local populations. They have established a number of temples and other religious meeting places and celebrate most Hindu festivals.[41]

There are approximately 500,000 Muslims living in Australia with over 100,000 settled in Melbourne. They are noted for their diversity with heritages from more than 60 countries.[42] [43] The first Muslims to settle permanently in Australia were the cameleers, mainly from Afghanistan from as early as the 1860s.

Four out of ten Australian Jews call Melbourne home. The city is also residence to the largest number of Holocaust survivors of any Australian city,[44] indeed the highest per capita concentration outside Israel itself.[45] To service the needs of the vibrant Jewish community, Melbourne's Jewry have established multiple synagogues, which today number over 30,[46] along with a local Jewish newspaper.[47] Melbourne's largest university–Monash University is named after prominent Jewish general and statesman, John Monash.[48]

Sikhism is a small but growing minority religion in Australia, that can trace its origins in the nation to the 1830s. The Sikhs form one of the largest subgroups of Indian Australians with 125,000 adherents according to the 2016 census, having grown from 17,000 in 2001 and 12,000 in 1996[1] [2]. Most adherents can trace their ancestry back to the Punjab region of South Asia, which is currently divided between India and Pakistan. Whereas, as per anecdotal evidence collected by Sikh Council of Australia inc, there are approximately 100,000 Sikhs in Australia and the number of Punjabi speakers is even higher. They are often mistaken for who they are not, due to Sikh men required to wear a "Turban" as one of the 5 articles of faith. The largest Sikh community’s are situated on the Eastern Sea Board, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, followed by Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Cairns, Townsville. Sikh’s also make up a significant population in the town of Woolgoolga near Coffs Harbour, NSW where they own Banana Plantations. There is also a significant Sikh population in Griffith NSW, Renmark SA, associated with Farming. Kahlon Estate’s in Renmark which produce Australia’s Premium Wines are owned by Sikh emigrants

Melbourne, like the rest of Australia, is partially irreligious, with the proportion of people identifying themselves as Christian declining from 96% in 1901 to 64% in 2006 and those who did not state their religion or declared no religion rising from 2% to over 30% over the same period.[49]