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Lebanese Australians

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Lebanese Australians are the ninth largest ethnic group in Australia, numbering 162,239 or 0.8 % of respondents in the 2001 Census.

The census recorded 71,310 Lebanon-born persons in Australia.

Lebanese migrants to Australia were not habitually distinguished from Turks prior to 1918 because the area now known as Lebanon was a province of the Ottoman Empire until it passed to French colonial rule. Thereafter the Lebanese were not distinguished from Syrians as Lebanon and Syria were two French colonies in proximity. (This was a common enough practice in Australian immigration information — for example, the UK and Ireland were not statistically separate until as late as 1996.) Nevertheless, it is understood that the first Lebanese migrants to Australia were Christian tradespeople who arrived in 1876, making the Lebanese population one of the older established communities in the country — of similar vintage to the Greeks, Italians and Germans, in fact. By 1947 there were 1,886 Lebanon-born in Australia, almost all Christian.

Between 1947 and 1961 there was a steady increase in the migration and by 1966 there were 10,688 Lebanon-born in the country. By 1976 this number had nearly tripled to 33,424 in response to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and the beginning in 1975 Lebanese Civil War For the remainder of the 1970s and 1980s unrest in Lebanon caused a large increase in the number of Lebanese migrating to Australia, and for the first time the settlers included substantial numbers of Muslims. By the 1990s the Lebanese community in Australia was a heterogeneous one which better reflected the diversity of the population in Lebanon. All main Lebanese groups — Maronites, Melkites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Druze, Shi'a, Sunnis, Armenians and Kurds (amongst others) — are now represented.

According to data from the 2001 Census, Lebanese Australians are concentrated in New South Wales. 74.7 % of the Lebanon-born live in NSW, mainly in Greater Sydney, compared to only 33.3 % of the Australian population as a whole (that live in NSW). It is likely that Australian-born children of the Lebanon-born are also mainly found in NSW.

Lebanese Australians have a moderate rate of return migration to Lebanon. In December 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs estimated that there were 25,000 Australian citizens resident in Lebanon. These must mostly be returned Lebanese Muslim emigrants with Australian citizenship, and their Lebanese Australian children.

According to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2004, Lebanese Australians are, by religion, 43.0 % Catholic, 0.9 % Anglican, 11.8 % Other Christian, 40.2 % Other Religions (mainly Shi'a and Sunni), and 4.0 % No Religion.

In 2001, the Arabic language was spoken at home by 209,400 persons in Australia, including the majority of the Lebanese Australian community. Arabic is the fifth most widely spoken language in the country after English, the Chinese languages, Italian and Greek. 43.2 % of Arabic speakers in Australia were born there, the fourth highest proportion after indigenous Australian languages, English, and Greek.

Notable Lebanese Australians

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