| Group: | Mauritian Australians |
| Population: | 60,000 estimate as of 2017 (by birth and ancestry)[1] [2] |
| Popplace: | Mauritius-born/ ancestry people by state or territory |
| Region1: | Victoria |
| Pop1: | 32,000 |
| Region2: | New South Wales |
| Pop2: | 12,260 |
| Region3: | Western Australia |
| Pop3: | 11,200[3] |
| Region4: | Queensland |
| Pop4: | 3,678 |
| Languages: | EnglishMauritianFrench |
| Religions: | ChristianityHinduismIslamOther |
| Related: | African Australians |
Mauritian Australians are Australians of Mauritian descent, or who were born in Mauritius.
The Census in 2011 recorded 23 280 Mauritius-born people in Australia, an increase of 28.1 percent from the 2006 Census.
The 2011 distribution by state and territory showed Victoria had the largest number with 11 600 followed by New South Wales (5752), Western Australia (3932) and Queensland (1476).[4]
Mauritians are a rapidly growing migrant group having increased steadily over the past 30 years.
Based on the trading relationship between Mauritius and Australia which was established in 1803, the first Mauritian migrants arrived in Australia before the 1901 federation as convicts, fossickers during the gold rush, or sugar men who were skilled sugarcane workers who helped to develop Queensland's sugar industry.[5]
Right after World War II the migration of Mauritians to Australia resumed, but was restricted to the privileged minority of white Franco-Mauritians due to the White Australia policy which prevailed until 1973. Especially in the years leading to the 1968 Independence of Mauritius there was a significant increase in the number of Franco-Mauritians, Mulatto, and Mauritian Creoles who migrated permanently to Australia as a result of the anti-Hindu hegemony fear campaign which was financed by the white Franco-Mauritian owners of sugar estates and implemented by Gaetan Duval's Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate and the local press. Indeed a climate of fear and uncertainty resulted from the fear campaign which resulted in lynching, murders and racial riots which broke out in 1965, 1967, and 1968. [6] [7] [8]
As Mauritius is a country with a multicultural and multiethnic society, Mauritians have different and diverse ethnic backgrounds. However, in the 2011 Census most Mauritius-born people living in Australia reported being of Mauritian descent (13,651), followed by those of French (4,536) and Chinese descent (2,057).
Base on ethnic lines, Creole Mauritians (Black and mixed-race) represent 50% of the community in Australia, this group were largest numbers leaving Mauritius after independence from colonial rule (Britain, and previously, France) in 1968. Chinese-Mauritians make up 7%, arriving mostly during the 80s and 90s, those of Indian ancestry are 20-25% and Creoles of African ancestry 20-25%. Most of the Afro-Mauritians and Indians have arrived after the 2000s, and are the fastest growing part of the community.Mauritian-Australians have a growing presence in Australian popular culture, including in music, literature, and television.[9] Aisha in The Slap is a notable example, identified in the TV series adaptation as 'Mauritian-Australian'.[10] Havana Brown is a significant Australian musician of Mauritian background.
The main languages spoken by Mauritius-born people in Australia were French (12,545), English (5,665) and Mauritian (2,654).[2] Note that Australia has a large French-speaking Mauritian community in relation to percentage of the overall Mauritian community, they represent 1.4% of the Mauritian community, although numbers would be much higher, but most of the second generation speak English. The French speakers using the language as mother tongue represent the white Franco-Mauritians, Mulattos and gens de couleur (mixed-race Creoles) ethnic groups, making up at least 50% of the Mauritian community in Australia. In comparison, in Mauritius 4.1% of the population speaks French as a first language (mother tongue) with 68.6% using French as a second language making a total of 72.7%[11] French speakers.