Romanian Australians

Romanian Australian

Ted Theodore • Xonia •
Regions with significant populations
Sydney, Victoria, Queensland
Languages
Australian English, Romanian
Religion
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox with Roman Catholic and Protestant minorities.

Romanian-Australians may include those who have immigrated to Australia from Romania, and those born in Australia from Romanian ancestry. According to ABS (2006 census) figures, there are 18,320 people with Romanian ancestry in Australia..

Romanians were for the first time registered in Australia more than 80 years ago. They were people that came there for working, missionaries, or seeking a more prosperous economic status. But the first wave of Romanian emigrants to Australia came after World War II, when Romania was experiencing severe economic and political problems. The Romanians who were then emigrating to Australia principally settled in areas around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The number of Romanians who came to Australia at the time is estimated to be around 2,000 people.

The second wave of Romanian emigration to the Australian continent began after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, when the Communist regime fell and citizens received the right to leave Romania. They came in large numbers for the same reasons as the first-wave immigrants.

Demographics

Today, the largest communities of Romanian-Australians can be found in the Sydney (4,145), Melbourne (6,482) and Brisbane (1,912).

In the 2006 Census, among Romanian-born persons, the religious breakdown was as follows: 80.6% Christianity, 5.8% no religion or atheism, 4.4% Judaism, 3.0% other religions and 5.6% did not answer the question.

Notable Romanian-Australians

• Victor Albert Bailey, physicist (his mother was Romanian)
• Greg Conescu, Former Rugby League player
• Daniela Costian, Olympic bronze medalist;
• Andrew Ilie, tennis player
• Lucy Kiraly, model and television presenter
• Ted Theodore, politician
• Frank Timiş, businessman