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Greek Australians

Australians born in Greece or with Greek ancestry

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
15 min read
Source updated September 5, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Greek Australians (Greek: Ελληνοαυστραλοί, romanized: Ellinoafstralí) are one of the largest groups within the global Greek diaspora. As per the 2021 Australian census, 424,750 people stated that they had Greek ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), comprising 1.7% of the Australian population. At the 2021 census, 92,314 Australian residents were born in Greece.

Greek immigration to Australia has been one of the largest migratory flows in the history of Australia, especially after World War II and the Greek Civil War. The flow of migrants from Greece increased slightly in 2015 due to the economic crisis in Greece, with Australia as one of the main destinations for departing Greeks, mainly to Melbourne, where the Greek Australian community is most deeply established.

88% of Greek Australians speak Greek and 91% are Christians and members of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Australia and Greece have a close bilateral relationship based on historical ties and the rich contribution of Greek Australians to Australian society. In 2019, the export of Australian services to Greece was valued at $92 million, while services imports from Greece totalled $750 million. Australia's stock of investment in Greece in 2019 totalled $481 million, while investment in Australia from Greece was $192 million.

01History

Early Greek immigration

Greek immigration to Australia began in the early colonial period in the 19th century. The first known Greeks arrived in 1829. These Greeks were seven sailors, convicted of piracy by a British naval court, and were sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Though they were eventually pardoned, two of those seven Greeks stayed and settled in the country. One settled on the Monaro Plains in Southern New South Wales and one at Picton near Sydney. Their names were Ghikas Bulgaris known as Jigger Bulgari, and Andonis Manolis. Jigger Bulgari married an Irish woman, and they had many children. Jigger was buried at Nimmitabel Pioneer Cemetery. The Hellenic Club of Canberra laid a commemorative marble plaque over his resting place around 2000. Andonis Manolis' grave is in the old cemetery at Mittagong. The first known free Greek migrant to Australia was Katerina Georgia Plessos (1809-1907), who arrived in Sydney with her husband Major James Crummer in 1835. They married in 1827 on the island of Kalamos where Crummer, the island's commandant, met the young refugee from the Greek independence wars. In her youth, she must have been one of the last living people to speak to Lord Byron. They lived in Sydney, Newcastle and Port Macquarie. They had 11 children. The first wave of free Hellenic migrants commenced in the 1850s, and continued through the end of the 19th century, prompted in part by the recent discovery of gold in the country.

20th-century Greek immigration

From the last decade of the 19th century until World War I, the number of Greeks immigrating to Australia increased steadily and Hellenic communities were reasonably well established in Melbourne and Sydney at this time. The Greek language press began in Australia and in 1913, Australia had the first Greek weekly newspaper called Afstralia that was published in Melbourne.

Anna Perivolaris was a leading organiser of Greek culture in Sydney in the 1920s until she was head hunted to organise a Greek after school club in Perth.

There was a significant population of Greeks in Australia during World War I, especially from the Greek islands, which led to the community being heavily monitored and counted in a 'secret census' in 1916, due to questions of Greek loyalty as Greece was initially neutral during the war. Later the Greeks were raising money for the Greek Government in exile.

After the changes in Greece from the mid 1970s, including the fall of the Papadopoulos regime in 1974 and the formal inclusion of Greece into the European Union, Greek immigration to Australia has slowed since the 1971 peak of 160,200 arrivals. Within Australia, the Greek immigrants have been "extremely well organised socially and politically", with approximately 600 Greek organisations in the country by 1973, and immigrants have strived to maintain their faith and cultural identity.

By comparison, the Greek Cypriot community in Australia doubled following the Invasion of Cyprus and the Turkish-Greek Cypriot population exchange.

21st-century Greek immigration

As the economic crisis in Greece grew, the opportunities for temporary resident Greek Australians abroad were limited.

In the early 2010s, there was an increase of Greek immigration flows to Australia due to unemployment, among other issues, because of the economic crisis in Greece. This has led to the return of many Greek Australians which had gone to Greece before the crisis and also the arrival of newcomers from Greece, who have been received by the large Greek Australian community, mainly in Melbourne.

Orpheus Arfaras, Greek ceramicist, Sydney, 1952
Orpheus Arfaras, Greek ceramicist, Sydney, 1952
Greek Australians during a parade for Australia Day in Melbourne (2014)
Greek Australians during a parade for Australia Day in Melbourne (2014)

02Demographics

At the 2021 Australian census, 424,750 people stated that they had Greek ancestry (whether alone or in combination with another ancestry), comprising 1.7% of the Australian population. At the 2021 census, 92,314 Australian residents were born in Greece.

The largest concentration of Greek Australians is in the state of Victoria, which is often regarded as the heartland of the Greek Australian community. Victoria's capital Melbourne has the largest Greek Australian community in Australia.

The 2021 census showed that the following states had the largest numbers of people nominating Greek ancestry: Victoria (181,184), New South Wales (141,627), South Australia (40,704), Queensland (32,702), Western Australia (16,117).

One study investigating the 54 most common ethnic groups in Australia found that Greek Australians had a lower rate of intermarriage (marrying outside their ethnicity) than any other ethnicity in the first, second and third generations.

03Culture

Religion

According to the 2016 Australian census, 91.4% of Australians with Greek ancestry are Christian, mainly Eastern Orthodox; however, minorities who belong to different Christian denominations like Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals also exist. Together, these other denominations make up 0.4% of the Greek Australian population. 5.6% identified as spiritual, secular or irreligious, and 2.6% did not answer the census question on religion. Greek Australians are predominantly Greek Orthodox. The largest religious body of Greek Orthodox Australians is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, with its headquarters at the Cathedral of The Annunciation of Our Lady in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern.

Greek Australian demography by religion (note that it includes only Greek born in Greece and not australian with a Greek background)
Religious group 2021 2016 2011
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Eastern Orthodox 83,089 90.01% 84,968 90.64% 93,346 93.4%
Catholic 549 0.59% 565 0.6% 601 0.6%
Other Christian denomination 2,550 2.76% 2,587 2.76% 2,149 2.15%
(Total Christian) 86,187 93.36% 88,117 94% 96,095 96.15%
Islam 340 0.37% 309 0.33% 427 0.43%
Irreligion 3,751 4.06% 2,938 3.13% 1,743 1.74%
Buddhism 39 0.04% 36 0.04% 46 0.05%
Hinduism 11 0.01% 7 0.01% 10 0.01%
Judaism 7 0.01% 7 0.01% 10 0.01%
Other 49 0.05% 43 0.05% 42 0.04%
Not stated 1,929 2.09% 2,273 2.42% 1,562 1.56%
Total Greek Australian population 92,314 100% 93,740 100% 99,938 100%
Greek Australian demography by religion (Ancestry included)
Religious group 2021 2016 2011
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Eastern Orthodox 383,544 74.18% 376,022 76.56% 387,940 81.12%
Catholic 26,251 5.08% 24,482 4.98% 22,774 4.76%
Other Christian denomination 27,007 5.22% 27,646 5.63% 26,609 5.56%
(Total Christian) 436,799 84.48% 428,153 87.17% 437,321 91.45%
Islam 1,943 0.38% 1,602 0.33% 1,263 0.26%
Irreligion 68,595 13.27% 45,873 9.34% 27,327 5.71%
Buddhism 678 0.13% 770 0.16% 741 0.15%
Hinduism 158 0.03% 147 0.03% 100 0.02%
Judaism 393 0.08% 344 0.07% 291 0.06%
Other 658 0.13% 561 0.11% 567 0.12%
Not stated 7,837 1.52% 13,708 2.79% 10,591 2.21%
Total Greek Australian population 517,058 100% 491,168 100% 478,205 100%

Greek language

In 2016, the Greek language was spoken at home by 237,588 Australian residents, a 5.8% decrease from the 2011 census data. Greek is the seventh most commonly spoken language in Australia after English, Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Italian. The remainder of the ethnic Greek population in Australia mainly use English as their first language. Most Greek Australians speak the Greco-Australian dialect. Greco-Australian is an Australian-based dialect of Greek that is spoken by the local disapora, including by both Greek immigrants and Australians of Greek descent.

Media

The Greek language press began in Australia in 1913 when the first Greek weekly newspaper was published in Melbourne. In South Australia, the local Greek community published a short-lived newspaper called Okeanis (Oceania), around 1914 before it moved to Sydney. On 16 November 1926, George Marsellos and John Stilson published a broadsheet under the name Panellenios Keryx (Panhellenic Herald or The Greek Herald), becoming the second national Greek newspaper in Australia. In 1935 and 1936 a third newspaper, Pharos (Lighthouse), was published, and a number of short-lived titles were issued in the late 1960s, with the longest of these being Tachydromos (Mailman), founded in September 1968. In 1957, Hellenic/Greek language newspaper Neos Kosmos was founded by Dimitri Gogos, Bill Stefanou and Alekos Doukas, the latter also being an exceptionally well known author. Since 1994, a publication called Paroikiako Vema (Steps in the adopted Country) and printed in Renmark, has served the Greek community in rural South Australia.

Multicultural broadcaster SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) airs a Greek-language radio program every afternoon from 4 PM to 6 PM. The program features news, current affairs, music, interviews, and a talkback segment, where listeners can dial into the program from 5:30 PM onwards and express their opinion on a topic being focused on. Additionally, SBS also airs Greek public broadcaster ERT's Eidiseis news program every morning as part of their WorldWatch programming block.

04Notable individuals

Academic

Art and design

Business

Fashion

Film, theatre, and television

Journalism

Justice

Music

Politics and government

Federal

Federal government ministers:

Other members of parliament:

State and territory

Religion

Science and technology

Sport

Australian rules football

Boxing and kickboxing

Cricket

Soccer

Mixed martial arts

Rugby league

Sailing

Shooting

Skateboarding

Skiing

Tennis

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Andrew Demetriou, former chief executive of the Australian Football League (AFL)
Andrew Demetriou, former chief executive of the Australian Football League (AFL)
Andrew N. Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical Company
Andrew N. Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical Company
Watch videos about Greek AustraliansExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Greek Australians”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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