Albanian Australians () are residents of Australia who have Albanian heritage or descent; many are from Albania and North Macedonia but some are from Kosovo, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia and Italy. Albanian Australians are a geographically dispersed community; the largest concentrations are in the Melbourne suburb Dandenong and in the regional city Shepparton, both of which are in Victoria. The Albanian community has been present in Australia for a long period, and its presence in the country is stable and peaceful.
History
Early Albanian immigration In 1885, Naum Konxha settled in Brisbane, Queensland, becoming the first-recorded Albanian to settle in Australia. Other Orthodox Christians from southern Albania followed; Spiro Jani to Queensland (1908), Kristo Zafiri and Dhimitër Ikonomi to Townsville (1913); these were followed by Jan Konomi (1914), and Vasil and Thomas Kasneci (1920).
Early–to–mid 20th century: Immigration from Albania
Arrival of young male Kurbetxhi (migrants)
After the First World War, concerns rural labour shortages and the readiness of Australia's small population to resist possible invasion made authorities accept European non–British migrants. The first major phase of Albanian emigration to Australia began in 1924 after the United States implemented quota restrictions on people from southern Europe. For Albanian men who were unable to re-enter the US from 1925 onward, Australia became a new destination, and was seen as a land of economic opportunity where success could be attained.
Albanian migrants arrived in Australia while the White Australia Policy, a series of laws that curtailed the migration of non–white populations and attempted to remove people of non–white origin already present, was in force. Due to the White Australia Policy, during the interwar period, many Muslims were restricted from migrating whereas Albanians were accepted in Australia because they were considered Europeans and had a lighter European complexion. The Australian government's position was they were "required white settlers who were willing to dwell in remote and solitary surroundings and who have the experience in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, such as the Albanian possessed". The Albanians' arrival revived the Australian Muslim community, whose aging demographic had been in decline, and Albanians became some of the earliest Muslim groups to establish themselves in post–colonial Australia.
Albanian migrants (), originating from a rural background, followed a migration tradition (Kurbet) in which sons temporarily left for another country to earn enough funds to purchase property once back in Albania. In October 1924, the first five Albanian migrants Bejxhet Emini, Bektash Muharem, Musa Ibrahimi, Rexhep Mustafa and Riza Ali arrived from Korçë region. They, and others who followed, embarked on a seven–week voyage and arrived at Fremantle; they often became casual labourers, mainly working in the grain–growing industry. Later, Albanian migrants sought better employment options and relocated to rural areas of Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria. The migrants' English–language skills were poor or non–existent, and some others were illiterate; as a result, Albanian migrants had difficulties gaining employment. Albanians arriving in the 1920s left urban centres and settled in rural areas, working in the agriculture industry as horticulturalists, sugarcane workers, tobacco farmers, and market gardeners, mainly at orchards and farms. Albanians were also employed in mining, scrub clearing, road works and fishing.
As with other Southern European migrants, most Albanians who arrived in Australia in the 1920s were single males between ages 15 and 30, numbering 1,000, who worked, earned money and returned to Albania to reinvest in their properties. Women remained in Albania because Albanian men planned to be in Australia for a short period. Unlike the usual two–or–three years Albanian migrants spent in parts of Europe or the Middle East, Australia's distance resulted in decade–long stints and made return trips to Albania difficult. The greatest number of Albanian arrivals occurred in 1928.
Despite Albanians being considered "white" the federal government preferred mainly British Christian migrants, and laws to limit the number of visas given to southern Europeans were sought. The move was driven by government concerns over job competition, migrant integration within society and disruption of Australian society's Anglo–Celtic character. In 1928, a quota was established, making it more difficult for groups like Albanians to enter Australia unless they had £40 as an insurance guarantee or a document from a sponsor. By 1929, only 24 visas were obtained on a monthly basis by Albanians. During the late 1920s and the early 1930s, Albanian chain migration resulted in the arrival of family and friends in Australia. Friendship networks provided assistance to new arrivals who often originated from the same place or neighbouring villages as previous migrants from Albania. Albanians also made long–term friendships with non–Albanians. From a life of hardship in Albania, the migrants took with them values that encompassed mutual support, respect and friendship, and a readiness to work and adapt to new surroundings in Australia.
The Great Depression, discrimination and wider settlement
The Great Depression (1929) impacted the majority of Albanians in Australia. Rural jobs became scarce and many men, including those from the Albanian community, sought employment in the Western Australian goldfields. By 1934, competition, disputes and riots over work at the goldfields between some Anglo–Celtic Australians and Southern Europeans like Albanians made many Albanian men move to Queensland and Victoria in the 1930s. Albanians became labourers on tobacco and cotton farms in Queensland. On Queensland sugar cane farms, they worked as cutters in an industry subjected to racial tests because British Preference Leagues wanted all workers to be of an Anglo–Celtic background. News of the migrants' difficult circumstances reached the Albanian government, which as a result discounted return fares for those who wanted to return to Albania. Most Albanian migrants remained in Australia and sought opportunities in other parts of the country; only a minority took the government offer and returned to Albania.
In the 1920s, most migrants came from around the city of Korçë in southern Albania, and engaged in agriculture, especially fruit growing. Other rural Muslim Albanians from the surrounding Bilisht area emigrated to Australia. In Western Australia, early centres of Albanian settlement were Northam and York, where Albanians worked as wheat and sheep farmers, and other migrants settled in Moora. The first Albanian migrants in Northam were Sabri Sali and Ismail Birangi, who later, with their families and friends Fethi Haxhi and Reshit Mehmet, settled in Shepparton. Being seasonal labourers, some Albanians left Queensland and its sugar cane industry and others left Western Australia to work on farms in Shepparton and the Yarra Valley in Victoria.
Establishing the Shepparton community
In Victoria, most Albanians settled on rural properties around Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley and became one of the region's earliest Muslim communities. Migrants chose farm work and other agricultural employment because the work required little skill in English and resembled work they did in Korçë. Albanian migrants chose Shepparton because it reminded them of Korçë and its terrain, and prospective migrants among relatives in Albania were told it would be like home if they came. The community grew through chain migration from Albania; migrants sponsored relatives to move to Australia. By pooling resources, migrants bought businesses and established farms, and some families from the community were the first to set up orchards in the region, assisting Shepparton to establish a reputation as "the fruit–bowl of Victoria".
In the late 1930s, the Shepparton Albanian community numbered between 300 and 500; they were a mix of Muslims and Orthodox Christians, with some Orthodox Albanians self–identifying as Greeks. Tensions arose over the purchase of land in the Shepparton area by southern Europeans; the local press said Albanians were "buying land at inflated prices, hoarding the land and distributing it among relatives and fellow countrymen", and "stealing" prime irrigated land from locals. Other depictions in the metropolitan Sydney press said a quarter of Shepparton's inhabitants were "aliens" and the town was becoming a "second Albania", whereas local media said that was an exaggeration. Some Albanians experienced racism from a small section of the Australian community and wider society did not consider Albanians "white".
Some Albanian migrants often carried large amounts of remittance cash and pistols to protect it and their properties. For some single men, isolation became a problem and some violent incidents occurred between Albanians; these incidents later decreased as families outnumbered singletons. Local press stereotyped Albanians as prone to lawlessness and violence. Most of the Shepparton population, however, welcomed and accepted Albanians and other migrants into the community. Albanian songs were included in concerts held by primary schools, the Country Women's Association held functions for Albanian migrants, and Shepparton inhabitants held English classes that were attended by some Albanians. Alongside other local farmers, some Shepparton Albanian tomato growers were prominently involved in creating a union to better serve their interests in selling produce. In the 1930s, an Albanian migrant–turned–landowner Golë Feshti established an Albanian club in Shepparton. As Shepparton went from being a town to a significant regional city, Albanians became an important part of its expanding population, and were involved in its economy and growth of the urban centre.
Other settlement in Australia Other Albanian migrants settled in Melbourne because of its manufacturing industry. Albanians were employed in manufacturing and at the Melbourne docks, others operated small businesses like shops, cafés and boarding houses. In Queensland, Muslim Albanians established themselves in Mareeba and mainly Christian Albanians settled in Brisbane. Other Albanians went to live in Cairns. A smaller group of Albanians from Gjirokastër, who were speakers of the Tosk dialect group, settled mainly in urban centres such as Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, and later established small catering businesses. Some Albanians established orchards and market gardens in Werribee.
The 1933 Australian Census recorded 770 Albania–born individuals—mostly men—living in Australia; most of them were based in Queensland, with smaller concentrations in Victoria (249), Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales. During this time, some Albanians who had sufficient finances sponsored family members, including brides for single men, in Albania to move to Australia. Marriage partners were often from the Albanian community. Most Albanian migrants were Muslims; an academic estimate placed the number of Orthodox Christians at around 40 percent.
World War Two
Internment and designation as "enemy aliens"