Latvian Australians

Latvian Australians are Australian citizens of Latvian descent, or persons born in Latvia who reside in Australia. At the 2016 Census, 20,509 residents in Australia reported to have Latvian ancestry.[2]

Latvian Australians
Austrālijas latvieši
Total population
Latvian
3,758 (by birth, 2016 Census)[1]
20,509 (by ancestry, 2016 Census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Sydney and Melbourne
Languages
Australian English, Latvian
Religion
Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Lithuanian Australians, Latgalians, Livonians, Latvians, Polish Australians

Few Latvians arrived in Australia before 1947.[3]

Between 1947 and 1952, 19,700 Latvian refugees arrived in Australia as displaced persons under the supervision of the International Refugee Organisation.[4] The first voyage under Arthur Calwell's Displaced Persons immigration program, that of the General Stuart Heintzelman in 1947,[5] was specially chosen to be all from Baltic nations, all single, many blond and blue-eyed, in order to appeal to the Australian public.[6] Of the 843 immigrants on the Heintzelman, 264 were Latvian.[7]

Notable Latvian Australians

See also

References
  1. Australian Government Census 2016. "Latvian Australians".
  2. "Latvia country brief". dfat.gov.au. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  3. "History of Immigration from Latvia". Museum Victoria. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  4. "Origins: Immigrant Communities in Victoria: History of immigration from Latvia". Museum Victoria Australia. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  5. "First of the Fifth Fleet". Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  6. J. Franklin, Calwell, Catholicism and the origins of multicultural Australia, Proc. of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 2009 Conference, 42-54.
  7. "Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild: USAT General Stuart Heintzelman". Retrieved 27 February 2017.



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