An Australian diaspora?

Abstract

Although Australia is best known as a country of immigration, around 1 million Australians currently live outside of their homeland on a permanent or long-term basis. The present paper uses a number of quantitative and qualitative data sources to assess the extent to which Australia's expatriate community fulfils the four defining criteria of contemporary diasporas advanced by Butler (2001). These criteria include involving a scattering of two or more destinations, a relationship with an actual or imagined homeland, common group identity shared among diaspora communities, and existence over at least two generations. It finds that the Australian expatriate community qualifies on the basis of at least three of those criteria. The article then examines some dimensions of the relationship between the Australian diaspora with their homeland. It is argued that Australia's diaspora constitutes a meaningful and distinctive group and represents an important subject of serious study. Indeed, it is a significant but neglected part of Australia's demography and population geographies. This was reflected in the Australian Senate setting up an Inquiry into the Australian expatriate community in 2003