Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Croatian community in Australia in the early 21ST century: a demographic and socio-cultural transition
Val Colic-Peisker
; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Sažetak
This article explores the processes of socio-cultural and demographic change and transition
taking place in the Croatian community in Australia in the early 21st century. The ‘Croatian
community’ is defined as all Croatian-born people in Australia and their offspring, as well as any
other persons who speak Croatian or identify as Croatian in any other way. Three socio-cultural and
demographic processes are identified: ageing of the community, return migration and the transfer
of community activism from the first to subsequent migrant generations. All three processes are
connected with a significant drop in the number of Croatian arrivals in Australia over the past
several decades and the fact that the most numerous cohort of Croatian arrivals in the late 1960s
is now reaching retirement age or even approaching life expectancy. Significantly, in the financial
year 2003-04 the number of permanent departures exceeded the number of permanent arrivals.
Return migration is analysed as mainly triggered by the retirement of the cohort that has always
maintained a strong emotional connection with the homeland, but also with other processes
involving younger people from the second and further generations considering longer stays in
Croatia for business or educational purposes, as Croatia becomes increasingly attractive as an
impeding member of the EU. The article uses the Census and immigration data as a basis for the
analysis.
Ključne riječi
Croatians; Australia; community ageing; return migration; community activism; public representation
Hrčak ID:
86328
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2010.
Posjeta: 2.336 *