Egyptian Australians () are Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents of Egyptian descent. According to the Australian 2011 Census, 36,532 Australian citizens and permanent residents declared that they were born in Egypt, while based on the 2006 Census, at least an additional 31,786 declared that they were of full or partial Egyptian ancestry and born in a country other than Egypt (including most numerously Australian-born persons of full or partial Egyptian ancestry). Total responses: 25,451,383 for total count of persons: 19,855,288. The 2021 Census shows that the majority of Egypt-born Australians are located in Sydney (19,680) and Melbourne (13,312).
The majority of Egyptian Australians are Christians, which is in contrast to the religious affiliation to Islam of the majority of the population of ethnic Egyptians within modern Egypt. Some 19,928 Australian citizens and residents declared membership of the Coptic Orthodox Church at the 2006 Census. Most Egyptian Christians, however, may simply have declared themselves "Christian" without specifying the Coptic denomination, while other Egyptian Christians may belong to various other denominations, either born into or converted. In 2003, however, it was claimed in the New South Wales Parliament that there were in fact 70,000 Copts in New South Wales alone. An additional 1,890 persons in the 2006 Census reported themselves as being of "Coptic" ancestry. The term Coptic ordinarily refers to adherents of Coptic Christianity, but when used as a term referring to ethnicity means "Egyptian" (almost always in the context of Coptic Christian Egyptians). The 1,890 persons who described their ancestry as "Coptic" are thus most likely Egyptian Australians. Copt as an ethnonym is etymologically derived from the Greek "Aiguptious," literally meaning "Egyptian," from the Late Egyptian word "Gyptios", via the Classical Arabic "Qubt", into the English "Copt". The word ordinarily refers to Coptic Christian Egyptians, though there have been instances of Muslim Egyptians referring to themselves as "Copts" to emphasise the non-Arabian ancestral origin of Egyptians in general.
History First history of short term Egyptian migrants in Australia dates back to 1860s to 1900 period when small groups of mainly Muslim cameleers were shipped in and out of Australia at three-year intervals, to service South Australia's inland pastoral industry by carting goods and transporting wool bales by camel trains, who were commonly referred to as "Afghans" or "Ghans", despite their origin often being mainly from British India, and some even from Afghanistan and Egypt and Turkey.
Permanent emigration from Egypt began in the late 1940s and 1950s, disproportionately so for non-ethnic Egyptian minorities escaping the growing Arab nationalist movement in Egypt which saw the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy and the subsequent Suez Crisis.
In total numbers, Egyptian Christians were the largest contingent of emigrants to leave Egypt for other countries, including to Australia. Christians were the second largest in terms of proportion to their original community size in Egypt. Egyptian Jews, as a proportion of their original community size in Egypt, were the largest emigrant community to leave Egypt (they were the second largest in total numbers). The number of Jews in Egypt numbered around 75,000 in 1948; following the establishment of the State of Israel that same year, most of the population left, starting the Jewish exodus from Arab lands, and settling largely in Israel, USA, Europe, Latin America, with around 2,000 settling in Australia. The Egyptian Jewish population in Australia is concentrated particularly in Adelaide, South Australia. Officially, only 6 Jews remain in Egypt today.
Demographics + Egyptian Australian demography by religion (note that it includes only Egyptian born in Egypt and not australian with egyptian background)Religious group202120162011 Coptic Orthodox 16,259 15,213 13,214 Catholic 6,197 7,131 7,985 Eastern Orthodox 3,833 4,276 5,393 Protestant and Other Christian 3,872 3,816 2,853 (Total Christian)30,161 30,434 29,443 Islam 9,711 6,191 4,716 Irreligion 1,912 1,472 985 Buddhism 35 33 39 Hinduism 25 21 19 Judaism 337 389 456 Other 40 33 28 Not stated 939 1,143 752 Total Egyptian Australian population 43,213 39,776 36,532
+ Egyptian Australian demography by religion (Ancestry included)Religious group202120162011 Coptic Orthodox 41,465 37,571 30,747 Catholic 13,525 14,150 14,412 Eastern Orthodox 6,016 6,167 7,340 Protestant and Other Christian 9,197 8,622 6,216 (Total Christian)70,205 66,510 58,715 Islam 22,931 15,336 11,476 Irreligion 7,300 4,799 2,862 Buddhism 78 72 103 Hinduism 37 30 22 Judaism 768 739 856 Other 222 89 80 Not stated 1,767 2,551 1,496 Total Egyptian Australian population 103,377 90,296 75,651
Notable people Aziza Abdel-Halim Anne Aly Waleed Aly Bishop Angaelos Albert Bensimon Jonah Bolden Taj El-Din Hilaly Robert Kabbas Nick Kaldas Naguib Kanawati Peter Khalil Henry Ninio Ahmed Saad Theodore Saidden Akmal Saleh Sam Soliman Joseph Tawadros
See also
Australia–Egypt relations Egyptian diaspora in Australia related topics Arab Australians Coptic Orthodoxy in Australia Persecution of Copts in Egypt Persecution of Jews in Egypt Egyptian diaspora elsewhere Egyptian Americans Egyptian Canadians Egyptians in the United Kingdom
Notes
References
External links Coptic Orthodox Electronic Publishing Australia Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Melbourne Coptic Theological College of Sydney Australia (Egyptians in Sydney)