Macedonian Australians (Macedonian: Македонски Австралијанци) are Australian citizens of Macedonian descent. Many arrived in the 1920s and 1930s, although larger numbers came to Australia after World War II and the Greek Civil War. By far the largest wave of immigration was during the 1960s and 1970s. As of the 2021 Australian census, Macedonian is the most-spoken Slavic language in Australia.
Demography
In 2001, 81,898 people claimed Macedonian Ancestry, in 2006 this rose to 83,978 in 2006. Macedonian was the 21st most common ancestry group. Of the total number who claimed Macedonian ancestry in 2001, 39,244 or 47.9% were born in Macedonia, 35,805 or 43.7% were born in Australia, 2,919 or 3.6% were born in Greece and roughly 5% were born elsewhere. In the 2021 Census, 41,786 Australian residents are listed as having been born in Macedonia, and a total of 111,352 residents declared their ancestry as Macedonian, either alone or in combination with another ancestry. In 2011 Macedonian was spoken at home by 68,843 residents, reducing slightly to 66,173 over the ten years to the 2021 census. In 2021, Macedonia was the 47th most common birthplace in Australia.
Australian cities with the largest Macedonian-born communities are Melbourne (17,286, in particular the outer suburbs), Sydney (11,630, in particular in the Southern) and Wollongong (4,279 - about 1.6% of the Wollongong population).
Most Macedonian Australians are of the Orthodox Christian faith, although there is a small number of Methodists and Muslims. 36,749 Macedonian-born Australian residents declared they were Christian, and 2,161 stated they were Muslim. In 2001 there were a total of 53,249 adherents to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. 28,474 or 53.5% of these were born in Macedonia, 21,324 or 40% were born in Australia, 1,340 or 2.5% were born in Greece and roughly 4% were born elsewhere.
+ Macedonian Australian demography by religion (note that it includes only Macedonian born in Macedonia and not Australians with a Macedonian background)Religious group202120162011 Eastern Orthodox 24,414 23,549 34,844 Catholic 699 246 232 Other Christian denomination 11,533 9,458 192 (Total Christian)36,646 33,253 35,268 Islam 2,846 2,199 2,511 Irreligion 1,904 1,649 879 Other 390 1,880 3,564 Total Macedonian Australian population 41,786 38,981 40,222
Language According to ABS data from 2021, 66,173 people were using Macedonian at home, making it the most-spoken Slavic language, with more speakers than Russian, Polish, Serbian, or Croatian. This makes Macedonian, on the night of the 2021 census, the 27th-most-spoken language at home in Australia (including English). In 2001, one-third of Macedonian speakers were aged over 65, 25.9% were aged from 55 to 64, 31.8% were aged from 25 to 54, 1.2% were aged from 13 to 24 and 7.7% were aged from 0–12. 53.2% or 38,826 speakers were born in Macedonia, 37.6% or 27,051 speakers were born in Australia, 4.4% or 3,152 speakers were born in Greece and a further 1.3% or 908 speakers were born in Yugoslavia.
Most Australians born in Macedonia use Macedonian at home (35,070 or 86% out of 40,656 in 2006). Proficiency in English for Australians born in Macedonia was self-described by census respondents as very well by 33%, well by 33%, 26% not well (8% didn't state or said not applicable).
The most significant populations of Macedonian speakers as of 2001 were Melbourne - 30,083,ABS CENSUS; Melbourne, 2001 Sydney - 19,980, Wollongong - 7,420,ABS CENSUS; Wollongong, 2001 Perth - 5,772, Newcastle - 1,993,ABS CENSUS; Newcastle, 2001 Geelong - 1,300, Queanbeyan - 1,105.
Many suburbs have large Macedonian-speaking communities, the largest are Port Kembla (20.9%), Thomastown (16.7%), Banksia (16.1%), Coniston (15.9%) and Lalor (14.8%). In 2001, Cringila was titled the "most Macedonian" suburb in all of Australia with 32.8% of its population speaking Macedonian at home.ABS census, Cringila; 2001
History
Macedonians have been arriving in Australia since the late 1880s as Pečalba. These Pečalbari (the man in the family) would go and work overseas to earn money then return home with the spoils. This restricted major settlement. The two major waves of early Macedonian immigration, according to Peter Hill, were when in 1924 America implemented tougher immigration policies and in 1936 when the Ioannis Metaxas regime came into power.Hill (1989) p. 10 By 1921 there were 50 Macedonians in Australia, by 1940 this number had reached over 6,000, the majority of whom were from Florina, Kastoria and Bitola. The general population pre-WWII commonly considered themselves ethnically as Macedonian Bulgarians or simply as Bulgarians.The most prominent non-Balkan scholars, who deal with the Macedonian diasporas, seem to be unanimous that until 1945, the majority of the Macedonian immigrants of Slavic origin identified themselves as Bulgarians and, more rarely, as Greeks. Victor Roudometoff acknowledges the ethnic identity of the early immigrants, pointing out that: 'In the case of the Macedonian diasporas, there are three distinct groups holding out different images of Macedonia. These are the Greek Macedonians, the Bulgarian Macedonians, and the post-1945 ethnic Macedonians. The last group is by far the most recent addition to the list. The American anthropologist Loring Danforth, who became famous for his work on the identity conflict between the Greek and Macedonian diasporas in Australia, also confirms the observations of Roudometof. Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Peter Lang, 2010, , p. 117.Hugh Poulton, Who are the Macedonians? C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, , p. 120.The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people, and their origins, James Jupp, Cambridge University Press, 2001, , p. 573."Until the late 19th century both outside observers and those Bulgaro-Macedonians who had an ethnic consciousness believed that their group, which is now two separate nationalities, comprised a single people, the Bulgarians. Thus the reader should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle ages which appear in some modern works. In the Middle ages and into the 19th century, the term 'Macedonian' was used entirely in reference to a geographical region. Anyone who lived within its confines, regardless of nationality could be called a Macedonian...Nevertheless, the absence of a national consciousness in the past is no grounds to reject the Macedonians as a nationality today." "The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century," John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991, , pp. 36–37."At the end of the World War I there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed... Of those Macedonian Slavs who had developed then some sense of national identity, the majority probably considered themselves to be Bulgarians, although they were aware of differences between themselves and the inhabitants of Bulgaria... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians." The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Loring M. Danforth, Princeton University Press, 1997, , pp. 65-66."Yugoslav Communists recognized the existence of a Macedonian nationality during WWII to quiet fears of the Macedonian population that a communist Yugoslavia would continue to follow the former Yugoslav policy of forced Serbianization. Hence, for them to recognize the inhabitants of Macedonia as Bulgarians would be tantamount to admitting that they should be part of the Bulgarian state. For that the Yugoslav Communists were most anxious to mold Macedonian history to fit their conception of Macedonian consciousness. The treatment of Macedonian history in Communist Yugoslavia had the same primary goal as the creation of the Macedonian language: to de-Bulgarize the Macedonian Slavs and to create a separate national consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia." For more see: Stephen E. Palmer, Robert R. King, Yugoslav communism and the Macedonian question, Archon Books, 1971, , Chapter 9: The encouragement of Macedonian culture. However, clear national consciousness existed mostly among a small educated class of people, i.e. intelligentsia, revolutionaries and clergy, while foreign observers described the wider Macedonian population as anational peasants. Per political scientist James Jupp, almost all of the early Macedonian settlers in Australia were of peasant background, and the peasantry generally lacked national loyalty and was not involved in national debates.Loring M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton University Press, 1997, , p. 86. Before the Second World War, when the Macedonian identity gained popularity,Dimitar Bechev (2009). Historical dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. pp. 139–140. . many Macedonians had mainly regional identity.
After World War II and the Greek Civil War many Macedonians from Greece came to Australia; these people are known as Aegean Macedonians, settling in areas including Richmond and Footscray. When the Yugoslav policies that encouraged its citizens to work overseas were introduced, many ethnic Macedonians within Yugoslavia left for Australia. The peak of this emigration was in the early 1970s. They settled in mainly industrial districts, particularly in Wollongong and Newcastle, in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown and the Sydney suburb of Rockdale. Many Macedonians from Yugoslavia would also settle in isolated parts of Australia such as Port Hedland. Most of these immigrants were from an agricultural background. Macedonian migration had slowed by the 1980s only to restart in the early 1990s after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
As at the 2006 census 64% of Australian residents born in Macedonia had arrived before 1980.
Victoria
Macedonians have been migrating to Victoria since the late 1880s. Many "pečalbari" decided to settle and they travelled the countryside looking for work as itinerant labourers. Others established market gardens or small businesses in both rural and city areas. Many thousands of Aegean Macedonians came to Victoria in the post war period, today the largest group of Aegean Macedonians can be found in Victoria. During the 1960s and 1970s they were joined by thousands of Macedonians from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. In 1982, KUD Jane Sandanski was established in St Albans and is still in operation to this day. In 1991, Macedonia declared its independence from the Yugoslav federation. Business migrants from Macedonia soon began to arrive in Australia. By 1986 there were 24,090 Macedonian speakers in Victoria, this reached a peak in 1996 with 32,949 people using Macedonian at home. As of 2006 37,434 people in Victoria had either full or partial Macedonian ancestry. Currently, there are over 40,000 people in Greater Melbourne of Macedonian descent, making up around one percent of the population - the 17th largest ethnicity in the city behind Lebanese but ahead of Croatian.