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Migration History

The first recorded Spaniard to live permanently in Australia was a male who arrived in 1821 and settled in New South Wales. A few more Spanish settlers arrived in search of fortune during the gold rush of the 1850s. However, their total numbers were very small throughout the 1800s (peaking at around 500 people).¹

Spanish migration remained limited over the next century. Some early settlers were offered assisted passage to Australia as rural workers in Queensland’s cane-cutting industry, or working as tomato growers in Victoria. A small number of Spaniards migrated as refugees following the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). However, Australia’s Immigration Acts restricted the entry of Spaniards and other Southern Europeans.² As a result, the Spain-born population was slow to grow, numbering less than 1,000 people in 1947.¹ Most of these people were adult men (roughly 80%), as women and children often did not have the same opportunity to qualify for skilled positions under Australia’s migration policy.²

The most significant wave of migration occurred following the Spanish-Australian Migration Agreement (1958), which facilitated the movement of Spanish workers to Australia. Roughly 6,400 children and adults migrated under this government-to-government assisted passage program between 1961 and 1963.¹ While migration programs were reduced to a limited scale shortly thereafter, the influx of arrivals rapidly grew the diaspora and consolidated the Spain-born population as an enduring migrant community in Australia.

The migration of younger Spaniards continued on a smaller, regulated scale over recent decades. The Census showed only 10.8% of the Spain-born population (1,883 people) arrived between 1991 and 2011.³ The flexibility afforded to European Union visa holders typically leads Spaniards to emigrate to other countries within Europe closer to their home country and families. Nonetheless, many people facing high youth and regional unemployment have looked towards Australia to escape the nation's economic crisis (see Instability and Change in Core Concepts). There has been a recent and significant increase in migration, with roughly 6,273 Spaniards arriving in Australia between 2011 and 2021.³

The majority of recent arrivals migrate on skilled workers’ visas in industries where there are skills shortages in Australia.⁴ Others may enrol in a course at a university and apply for a student visa, which lets them work 20 hours per week. Over the 2021-22 financial year, Australia received 3,631 Spanish visitors from Spain, 1,027 students and 268 working holidaymakers from Spain.⁵

Community Demographics

Much of the contemporary Spanish-Australian population consists of those who migrated in the 1960s and their families (first and second-generation migrants). Indeed, data from the 2021 Australian Census showed roughly half (50.1%) of the Spain-born population in Australia arrived prior to 1991.³ Due to this, the median age for people born in Spain is 51 years, compared with 44 years for all overseas-born and 38 years for the total Australian population.³

Many people migrate to Australia with their spouses, and the majority (63.8%) continue to speak Spanish at home. In the 2021 Census, 50.9% of the Spain-born population in Australia identified as Catholic, while 38.7% did not identify with a religion.³ A further 6.6% identified with another variation of a Christian denomination or another religion.³

The Spanish community in Australia is generally quite dispersed. While people may gravitate towards other Spanish speakers, the Spanish diaspora has not formed very closely-knit community groups (as is common among many other migrant groups). Spaniards living in Australia may miss the social aspect of their culture (see Socialising and Public Spaces in Core Concepts). Many Australian towns and cities require car travel to meet friends, unlike Spain where bars and restaurants are often within walking distance. Furthermore, most shops and utilities close earlier than those in Australia. Therefore, people have to adjust to a different lifestyle. Some Spaniards have also reported feeling slightly isolated from their local community as Australians tend to socialise privately at one another’s homes more than people do in Spain.