Afghan Australians

rdf:langString Afghan Australians

rdf:langString Afghan Australians

rdf:langString Dari (Persian dialect), Pashto, other languages of Afghanistan and English.

rdf:langString Notable Afghan Australians:

rdf:langString Afghan Australians

rdf:langString Afghan Australians

rdf:langString Predominantly Islam, minority Christianity

rdf:langString Afghan Australians (Dari: استرالیایی های افغان‌تبار Ostorâliyâi-hāye Afghān tabar, Pashto: د اسټرالیا افغانان Da Asṭrālyā Afghanan) are Australians tied to Afghanistan either by birth or by ancestry. The Australian Bureau of Statistics categorise these people as part of Southern and Central Asian Australians. The first Afghans who migrated to Australia arrived mid the 19th century as cameleers. Over subsequent decades, they played a crucial role in facilitating British exploration of the country’s desert center of the Australian Outback. Cameleers were prohibited from bringing their wives to Australia. Therefore, the Afghan demographic was almost entirely made up of men during this period. The White Australia policy prevented further migration from 1901 until the 1970s. At the time of the 2016 census, 46,800 Australians were born in Afghanistan. In 2008, 19,416 people claimed Afghan ancestry, either part of a mixed ancestry or Afghan alone.