Serbian Australians

Serbian Australians^[a] (Serbian: Cрпски Аустралијанци/Srpski Australijanci), are Australians of ethnic Serb ancestry. In the 2021 census there were 94,997 people in Australia who identified as having Serb ancestry, making it a significant group with the global Serb diaspora.^[1][2][3]

Serbian Australians
Српски Аустралијанци
Srpski Australijanci

Total population
94,997 by ancestry (2021) 25,454 born in Serbia (2021)
Regions with significant populations
Sydney, Melbourne
Languages
Australian English, Serbian
Religion
Traditionally Serbian Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Other Serbian diaspora groups, Montenegrin Australian, Croatian Australian and Bosnian Australian

History

During the time of Federation a very small number of Serbs inhabited Australia. Despite a lack of accurate data it is assumed that ethnic Serbs deriving from Lika, Dalmatia and Montenegro did reside in largely mining communities throughout the Commonwealth, though exact numbers are unsubstantiated. The first significant, albeit small wave of Serbian migrants, comprising mostly former POWs, and displaced persons fleeing war and genocide began arriving in Australia as post-war immigrants.^[4][5] This initial wave also included members of the royalist Chetnik movement fleeing political persecution by the Communist regime of Josip Broz Tito.^[6][7][8]

The easing of emigration restrictions by Yugoslavia generated a second, larger wave of predominantly economic migration throughout the 1960s and 1970s. An agreement between Australia and Yugoslavia facilitated the recruitment of largely unskilled and semi-skilled immigrants, from predominantly rural backgrounds to work in Australia's manufacturing and construction industries.^[9] The developing political and economic issues in Yugoslavia during the 1980s, alongside its disintegration, ensuing wars, economic sanctions, and hyperinflation of the 1990s, resulted in the largest Serbian migration to Australia.^[10][11][12]

In recent years, some Serbian Australians have joined and become members of the "Serbian Chetniks Australia" organisation.^[13] This organisation promotes the concept of Chetnik forces fighting against the Nazi and Italian regimes during the second world war and as a result has participated in Anzac Day marches in Melbourne and Sydney. This is a highly controversial move due to the Nazi collaboration that Draža Mihailović participated in during the second world war and has attracted criticism from the large Croatian Australian and Bosnian Australian communities. ^[14]

Classification issue

For many years Serbian Australians were classified "Yugoslavs" as flawed Australian census data failed to recognise the diverse ethnic groups within the former Yugoslavia. Questions regarding ancestral heritage were not included in any Australian census until 1986.^[15][16] From 1971- 1991 Yugoslavian nationals ranked 4th largest in Australia's post-war migrant intake. Census data has established that Serbs ranked 3rd within the Yugoslav immigrant pool, behind declared Croat and Macedonian ethnicities.^[17]

Demographics

People with Serbian ancestry as a percentage of the population in Sydney by postal area (2011 census)

Serbian Australians comprise 0.36% of Australia's population, with 69.67% residing in the states of New South Wales and Victoria alone. Serbs reside mainly in state capitals and major metropolitan areas throughout Australia. The largest Serbian communities can be found predominantly in Melbourne's western and south-eastern suburbs, and in Sydney's south-eastern suburbs.^{[18][19][20][21]}

States and territories		Serbian Australian population
	New South Wales	36,056
	Victoria	30,133
	Queensland	10,121
	Western Australia	8,563
	South Australia	7,329
	Australian Capital Territory	2,191
	Tasmania	469
	Northern Territory	142

Ancestry

Ancestral composition of Serbian Australians as declared in the census (2016)

1. Serbs (67.06%)
2. Other (6.97%)
3. Australians (5.85%)
4. Croats (4.63%)
5. English, Irish, Scots, Welsh (4%)
6. Macedonians (2.7%)
7. Germans (1.79%)
8. Italians (1.71%)
9. Bosniaks (1.36%)
10. Hungarians (1.24%)
11. Greeks (0.74%)
12. Montenegrin (0.53%)
13. Russians (0.51%)
14. Poles (0.46%)
15. Romanians (0.24%)
16. Slovenes (0.13%)

The Australian Bureau of Statistics allows the provision of two ancestries in a multi-response question. In the 2016 census there were 73,901 people in Australia of Serbian descent, 0.31% of the total population. 67.06% of Serbian Australians declared full Serbian ancestry. Individuals identifying as Serbian in the first response comprised 11.84%, whilst 21.09% declared Serbian heritage in the second response.^[22][21]

Countries of origin

Serbian Australians by country of birth according to 2016 census data

1. Australia (45%)
2. Serbia (22.7%)
3. Yugoslavia (10.7%)
4. Bosnia and Herzegovina (7.7%)
5. Croatia (7.4%)
6. Other countries (4.7%)

Religion

Religion of Serbian Australians as declared in the census (2016)

1. Serbian Orthodox (56.6%)
2. Other Christian (18.8%)
3. No religion (14.5%)
4. Roman Catholic (5.7%)
5. Other religions (1.4%)
6. Not stated or unclear (2.9%)

Serbian Australians predominantly belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Eastern Orthodox faith, estimated at approximately 75%. This is due to a statistical discrepancy amongst Serb Australians affiliated within the "Christianity (defined and not defined)" category in the 2016 Australian census. The largest religious body of Serbian Orthodox Australians is the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand, located in Alexandria, Sydney.^[23][24]

Unique underground Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy

17.4% of Serbian Australians declared "No Religion/Not Stated", 5.7% "Roman Catholic" whilst 1.4% professed "other faith's".^[21]

Notable people

Andrew Nikolic

Karl Stefanovic

Altiyan Childs

Nick Vujicic

Holly Valance

Aleks Marić

Bojana Novakovic

Jelena Dokić

Monika Radulovic

Biljana Dekic

Alex Antic

Nick Lalich

• Alex Antic – Australian senator^[25]
• Eli Babalj – Soccer player
• Milan Blagojevic – Soccer player
• Pedj Bojic – Soccer player
• Nick Cotric - Rugby league player
• Nina Marković-Khaze - Political scientist and journalist
• Nik Cubrilovic - Hacker and internet security expert.^[26]
• Miloš Degenek – Soccer player
• Biljana Dekic – Chess player
• Bobby Despotovski – Soccer player and coach^[27]
• Bronko Djura - Cricket and Rugby league player
• Dirty South – Musician
• Jelena Dokić – Tennis player
• Dragan Durdevic – Rugby league player
• Ivan Ergić – Soccer player
• Vedrana Grbović – Model^[28]
• Dan Ilic – Comedian
• Luke Ivanovic – Soccer player
• Milan Ivanović – Soccer player
• Marko Jesic – Soccer player
• Robert Jovicic – Immigration case
• Sam Kekovich – Australian Rules footballer & media personality
• Nick Lalich - Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Fairfield
• Ksenija Lukich – Model & TV presenter
• Aleks Marić – Basketball player
• Steven Marković – Basketball player
• Katrina Milosevic - Actress
• Danny Milosevic – Soccer player
• Nik Mrdja – Soccer player
• Andrew Nikolic – Australian politician and former Australian Army Brigadier
• Bojana Novakovic – Actress
• Abdullah Numan – Mufti of Serbia^[29]
• Tom Opacic - Rugby League player
• Andreja Pejic – Model.^[30]
• Vedrana Popovic – Soccer player
• Monika Radulovic – Model^[31]
• Rale Rašić – Soccer coach,

player and media personality

• Nikola Roganovic – Soccer player
• Tom Rogic – Soccer player
• Siluan - Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand^[32]
• Karl Stefanovic – TV presenter & journalist
• Peter Stefanovic – TV presenter & journalist
• Daniel Subotic – Socialite
• Aleksandar Šušnjar – Soccer player
• Vuko Tomasevic – Soccer player
• Jake Trbojevic – Rugby league player
• Tom Trbojevic – Rugby league player
• Doug Utjesenovic - Soccer player
• Holly Valance – Actress, singer and model
• Olympia Valance – Model and actress
• Dragan Vasiljković – Serbian paramilitary leader
• Lazar Vidovic – Australian rules footballer
• Tyla-Jay Vlajnic - Soccer player
• Nick Vujicic – Christian evangelist
• Danny Vukovic – Soccer player
• B. Wongar – Writer
• Ursula Yovich – Actress and singer
• Lew Zivanovic – Rugby league player
• Alexandar Popovic – Soccer player

Sports

• List of Serbian soccer clubs in Australia

See also

• Australia–Serbia relations
• European Australians
• Europeans in Oceania
• Immigration to Australia
• Serbian New Zealanders
• Serbian diaspora
• Serbian Americans
• Serbian Canadians

Annotations

1. ^
   The community is commonly known in English as Serbian Australians, and scarcer as Serb Australians. In Serbian, the community is known as Australian Serbs (аустралијски Срби / australijski Srbi), and scarcer as Serbs in Australia (Срби у Аустралији / Srbi u Australiji).