Bosnian Australians

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Bosnian Australians
Bosanski Australijanci
Total population
39,440 (Bosnian-born in 2011)
23,630 (Bosnian ancestry in 2016)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Geelong
Languages
Australian English · Bosnian
Religion
Sunni Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism
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Bosnian Australians are Australian citizens of Bosnian ancestry or Bosnia and Herzegovina-born people who reside in Australia. According to the 2011 Australian census 39,440 Australians were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2] Over the past decade, an estimated 6,000 settled in Perth, Western Australia, and between 12,000 and 14,000 in Sydney and surrounding areas of New South Wales.

History[]

There have been three major influxes of Bosnians to Australia. The first period occurred in the aftermath of World War II, and the second occurred in the late 1960s/early 1970s following an economic depression and open border policy in the former Yugoslavia. The most recent wave of migration was during the 1990s when many Bosnians sought refuge from the Bosnian War. This migration was assisted under the refugee scheme of the Australian Red Cross.

Bosnian immigrants who arrived in Australia in the 1960s made important contributions to modern-day Australia through their role in the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme in New South Wales.

Bosnian Australians are active in the nation's cultural and political scenes.

The distribution of Bosnian immigrants in Sydney as a percentage of the population

Religion[]

Bosnian Muslims have predominantly arrived in Australia after 1992, with most of the community living in the south-east of Melbourne and in the south-west of Sydney. There are Bosnian run mosques in Deer Park, Noble Park, Penshurst and Smithfield.[3] According to the 2016 Australian census, 23.2% of the Bosnian-born population in Australia was Muslim by faith.[4]

Communities[]

Bosnian Australians mainly live in New South Wales and Victoria, especially in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney.

In Melbourne the majority of Bosnians live in the LGAs of Dandenong and Brimbank. A small number of Bosnian Muslims emigrated in the 1960s, settling in Melbourne where they established a multi-ethnic Muslim community in Carlton and Footscray. Since then, the Bosnian community in Melbourne has flourished in many aspects of Australian life.

The first significant wave of Bosnians started arriving in Sydney in the late 1960s. A vibrant and tight-knit community, mostly living in Greater Western Sydney in the LGAs of Liverpool, Fairfield and Campbelltown, with smaller numbers in Inner West Sydney and the St George Area. The Australian Islamic Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in Penshurst, where Bosnian immigrants settled and established the Penshurst Mosque with the other mosque being located in Smithfield, New South Wales. Additionally, the Australian Bosnian-Herzegovinian Cultural Centre is located in Leppington, New South Wales.

The Bosnian community in Brisbane is primarily in Logan City and Brisbane. A thriving community, the first wave of Bosnians arrived in Queensland in the 1950s and 1960s where they gathered and estsblished the Bosniak Islamic Society. Ishak Imamović who arrived in 1949 together with Šefko Bureković was one of the pioneers and early contributors to the foundation of the Bosnian community in Queensland.

The Bosnian community in Perth are mainly in the Swan and Stirling LGA, numbering at around 6,000. Various cultural and religious organisations have since been established, such as the Bosnian Cultural and Recreational Centre in Bennett Springs and the first purpose-built Bosnian mosque (known as Swan Valley Mosque) in Western Australia, in Caversham.

Adelaide has a small but substantial and well-organised Bosnian community, mainly living in the Western Suburbs with Hendon having 2.3% Bosnian-born residents. Sarajevo-born Ahmed Skaka arrived in 1950 and was one of the first Bosnian Muslims who arrived in Australia. Skaka was the first qualified religious leader (Imam) in the Bosnian Muslim community in Australia and the first within the multi-ethnic Muslim communities in Australia. He was imam at the Central Adelaide Mosque.

Media[]

Radio[]

Currently SBS Radio broadcasts in the Bosnian language for an hour every Sunday from 3pm. Other community stations such as 3ZZZ (Melbourne), 4EB (Brisbane), 6EBA-FM (Perth), 2000FM (Sydney), VOX FM (Wollongong), 1CMS (Canberra), 5EBI (Adelaide) also broadcast in Bosnian.

Language[]

In Sydney there are 5 Saturday schools for Bosnian Australian youths.[5]

  • Bosnian Ethnic School Inc located at Australian Bosnian & Herzegovinian Cultural Association – Leppington
  • Bosnian Ethnic School Inc located at Liverpool Public School – Liverpool
  • Bosnian Ethnic School Inc located at Australian Bosnian Islamic Society Gazi Husrev-beg – Penshurst
  • Bosnian Ethnic School Inc located at Australian Bosnian Islamic Society Gazi Husrev-beg – Smithfield

Sport clubs[]

Notable people[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ "The People of Australia – Statistics from the 2011 Census" (PDF). Australian Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  2. ^ "Migration, Australia, 2011–12 and 2012–13" (XLS). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013. (table 9.1 of downloadable XL file: "Estimated resident population, Country of birth, State/territory, Age and sex – 30 June 2011")
  3. ^ Haveric, David (February 2009). "History of the Bosnian Muslim Community in Australia: Settlement Experience in Victoria" (PDF). Institute for Community, Ethnicity and Policy Alternatives, Victoria University. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Bosnian-born: Community Information Summary" (PDF). Department of Home Affairs.
  5. ^ "Bosnian language schools".

External links[]


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