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History of immigration
The history of Italian emigration to Australia began with the discovery of this new continent by James Cook in 1770. On board the English ship there were two sailors of Italian origin and an Italian prisoner who then settled in Sydney.

The first Italian community in Australia was formed only at the end of the nineteenth century in Queensland, where labor was required for the processing of sugar cane. Migration increased considerably when the gold rush broke out in Western Australia. In that time the Italian community began to exceed the thousand of units thanks also to a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom and Italy that gave Italians freedom of travel, residence and business.

In the early 1900s, over 20,000 Italians (mostly composed by men from the southern or north-eastern regions of the country, fleeing from a precarious condition and economic difficulties) left for Australia in search of fortune.

With the end of the Second World War, the real boom of Italian emigrants to Australia materialized. The dramatic economic situation in Italy at the end of the war pushed over 200,000 Italians to move to Australia between 1949 and 1959. After a lockout period during the conflict, Australia again opened its doors to the Italians, thanks also to good diplomatic relations with Italy.

The great need of manpower and the abundance of opportunities attracted many italian people in search of a better life and until the 1970s immigration traveled at a very rapid pace.

To encourage meeting and the maintenance of Italian identity, the Italians organized themselves into Clubs and Associations that helped to maintain ties between them and to preserve traditions (the study of the Italian language is still promoted in Australian schools).

After a decline in the migratory flow, today history seems to repeat itself and the number of Italians seeking fortune in Australia is once again on the rise. In the 2012-2013 period, Italy was the sixth country in the world for the number of work visas issued by Australian immigration, with more than 60% increase over the previous two years. According to the AIRE census in 2019 there were just under 150 thousand Italians residing in Australia (in particular, the largest communities Italian in Australia are those of the big cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth).