Maltese in Australia
Historical Background
The first Maltese arrived in Australia as convicts in 1810, followed by the first free settler in 1838. The first organised migrant group arrived in 1883 when 61 Maltese labourers were recruited to work on the sugar plantations in Queensland. Many of these migrants returned to Malta because of the harsh working conditions they experienced.
Maltese migration to Australia gradually gained momentum after 1905. The 1911 Australian Census reported 248 Malta-born residents. Between 1911 and 1919 a further 2000 migrated. The 1933 Census recorded 2782 Malta-born in Australia.
Immigration from Malta increased after 1944, when Maltese migrants were classified as 'white British subjects' for the purposes of Australia's immigration policy. (click here to read more)
In 1948 the Maltese were offered assisted migrant passage to Australia, and by 1954 in excess of 10 000 Maltese had settled in Australia. The majority of those who came to Australia left Malta because of poor socio-economic conditions or in response to government schemes to decrease Malta's population.
Before World War II, the Maltese in Australia had been engaged in a wide range of activities including mining, sugar cane plantation work, railway construction and maintenance, forestry and urban industries. Maltese Clubs were formed in the 1920s in Adelaide, Broken Hill, Innisfail, Mackay, Melbourne and Sydney. In the post-war period the industrial centres, especially Melbourne and Sydney became the major areas of Maltese settlement.
Most of the Maltese migrants who came in the 1950s were semi-skilled or unskilled workers and many were poorly educated, although a small number of Maltese medical practitioners also came to Australia.
The 1981 Census recorded 57 000 Malta-born people in Australia. Since then the population has been declining and at 2001 reached 46 980. The 2001 population made up 1.1 per cent of the overseas-born population.
Today
Geographic Distribution
The latest Census in 2006 recorded 43 700 Malta-born people in Australia, a decrease of 7.0 per cent from the 2001 Census. The 2006 distribution by state and territory showed Victoria had the largest number with 20 850 followed by New South Wales (16 980), Queensland (2780) and South Australia (1630).
New South
Wales
16 980
38.8%
Victoria
20 850
47.7%
South Australia
1630
3.7%
Western Australia
1000
2.3%
Queensland27806.4%
Northern
Territory
50
0.1%
AustralianCapital Territory3000.7%
Tasmania1200.3%
Age and Sex
The median age of the Malta-born in 2006 was 60.0 years compared with 46.8 years for all overseas-born and 37.1 years for the total Australian population. The age distribution showed 0.5 per cent were aged 0-14 years, 0.6 per cent were 15-24 years, 7.9 per cent were 25-44 years, 57.7 per cent were 45-64 years and 33.3 per cent were 65 and over.
Of the Malta-born in Australia, there were 22 400 males (51.3 per cent) and 21 310 females (48.7 per cent). The sex ratio was 105.1 males per 100 females. AgeMales121086420Per CentFemales024681012Per Cent85+80-8475-7970-7465-6960-6455-5950-5445-4940-4435-3930-3425-2920-2415-1910-145-90-4
Ancestry
In the 2006 Census, the top three ancestry responses* that Malta-born people reported were, Maltese (39 420), English (2910) and Not Stated (1980).
In the 2006 Census, Australians reported more than 250 different Ancestries. From the total ancestry responses*, 0.6 per cent responded as having a Maltese ancestry.
*At the 2006 Census up to two responses per person were allowed for the Ancestry question, therefore providing the total responses and not persons count. Ancestry ResponseEnglish6.2%Australian1.5%Not Stated4.2%Maltese84.5%Other3.5%
Language
The main languages spoken at home by Malta-born people in Australia were Maltese (57.7 per cent), English (39.9 per cent) and Italian (1.0 per cent).
Of the 26 120 Malta-born who spoke a language other than English at home, 87.9 per cent spoke English very well or well and 11.0 per cent spoke English not well or not at all. Language Spoken at HomeItalian1.0%Not Stated0.9%English39.9%Maltese57.7%Other0.5%
Citizenship
Religion
At the 2006 Census the major religious affiliations amongst Malta-born were Catholic (40 400 persons), Not Stated (910 persons) and No Religion (890 persons).
Of the Malta-born, 2.0 per cent stated 'No Religion', this was lower than that of the total Australian population (18.7 per cent). 2.1 per cent of the Malta-born did not state a religion. ReligionOther2.5%Catholic92.4%No Religion2.0%Anglican1.0%Not Stated2.1%
Arrival
Compared to 67.9 per cent of the total overseas-born population, 94.4 per cent of the Malta-born people in Australia arrived in Australia prior to 1996.
Among the total Malta-born in Australia at the 2006 Census, 0.6 per cent arrived between 1996 and 2000 and 0.8 per cent arrived during 2001 and 2006. 0.05.010.015.020.025.030.035.040.0Before1971 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-1995 1996-2000 2001-2006Malta-bornOverseas-bornYear of Arrivalper cent
At the 2006 Census, the estimated rate of Australian Citizenship for the Malta-born in Australia was 81.2 per cent. The estimated rate for all overseas-born was 75.6 per cent. This rate includes adjustments for people not meeting the residential requirement for citizenship, temporary entrants to Australia and underenumeration at the Census.
Median Income
At the time of the 2006 Census, the median individual weekly income for the Malta-born in Australia aged 15 years and over was $310, compared with $431 for all overseas-born and $488 for all Australia-born. The total Australian population had a median individual weekly income of $466.
Qualifications
At the 2006 Census, 31.6 per cent of the Malta-born aged 15 years and over had some form of higher non school qualifications compared to 52.5 per cent of the Australian population. Among the Malta-born, 6.2 per cent had Diploma level or higher* qualifications and 12.9 per cent had Certificate level qualifications. From the Malta-born, 28 920 had no higher non school qualification, of which 1.0 per cent were still attending an educational institution.
Employment
Among Malta-born people aged 15 years and over, the participation rate in the labour force was 41.2 per cent and the unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent. The corresponding rates in the total Australian population were 64.6 and 5.2 per cent respectively.
Of the 16 560 Malta-born who were employed, 18.0 per cent were employed in a Skill Level 1 occupation, 7.7 per cent in Skill Level 2 and 15.2 per cent in Skill Level 3. The corresponding rates in the total Australian population were 28.7, 10.7 and 15.1 per cent respectively.
0.02.04.06.08.010.012.014.016.018.020.0ManagersProf.Tech &TradesComm &Per WrksCler &Adm WrksSalesWrksMach Op & DrvsLabourersOccupationMalta-bornTotal Australian Populationper cent
Jointly produced by Multicultural Affairs Branch and the Programme Statistics and Monitoring Section of DIAC
All data used in this summary is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing.
Sources for the Historical Background available at http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/source.htm
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