Afro Australians Of African Descent: Wikis

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Afro Australians are designations used for people of African descent who reside in Australia. The term is used by and of Australian citizens who trace their ancestry back to people who were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority have relatively recent origins in Africa, while some trace their lineage to the first slaves brought by British and French colonists to the mainland of North America.

History

Immigration from Africa to Australia is only a recent phenomenon, with Europe and Asia traditionally being the largest sources of migration to Australia. In 2005-06 permanent settler arrivals to Australia included 4,000 South Africans and 3,800 Sudanese, constituting the sixth and seventh largest sources of migrants respectively.<ref> Australian Year Book 2008</ref>

Historical archives suggest that convicts transported to Australia included Afro-Caribbeans.<ref>http://www.api-network.com/cgi-bin/ach/ach.cgi?issue=21 To The Islands: Australian and the Caribbean Russell McDougall (ed.)]</ref> African Americans were stationed in Australia as US soldiers and sailors during the Second World War and Vietnam War, allowing opportunties for then predominantly white Australia to come in contact with a new and different ethnic group<ref> Jim Crow Downunder? African American Encounters with White Australia, Sean Brawley and Chris Dixon</ref> However immigration from Africa to Australia remained limited until the 1990s.

Most Black Africans in Australia come from South Africa, often coming over through the skilled migration program. Opportunities in Australia, as well as push factors such as rising crime, unemployment and complications arising from the Black Economic Empowerment policies in their home country, have prompted many South Africans to migrate. Earlier Australia had taken in Zimbabwe migrants who left under following the end of white minority rule.

Recent conflicts in various parts of Africa, particularly around the Horn of Africa, have prompted Africans to migrate through humanitarian programs. Australia has also taken in refugees who left due to conflicts that emerged in the 1990s, such as in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, the Congo and Rwanda.

African-American soldiers in Australia

It was World War II's onslaught that brought the integration of African-American soldiers to its full fruition in the Army. The Selective Service Act was passed Sept. 3, 1940, forbidding "discrimination of any person (in the armed forces) on account of race or color."

Even though the Selective Service Act paved the way for a broader definition of what a signal soldier was, African-American soldiers have played a vital link in its definition since the first black man became a Signal Corps member in 1884.Hallett Greene attempted to enlist in the Signal Corps, although Army mandates at the time limited African-American soldiers to the infantry and cavalry. Greene received a negative response initially, but after persistent correspondence with Secretary of War Robert Lincoln (son of President Abraham Lincoln), he was allowed to enlist in the Signal Corps and paved the way for many others.

During World War I, only two African-American divisions went overseas to Europe. At the war's onset the Army had fielded its first black signal unit, consisting of high school and college graduates trained on advanced radio equipment.

Prejudices were still abundant in the civilian population, notably in the Camp Crowder, Mo., area, where the African-American construction units trained. Many Americans expressed doubts about a black signal unit. Some states still practiced segregation.

The Army's first African-American signal battalion, the 325th, served with distinction in France. The 325th strung miles of telephone and telegraph lines, often times during heavy incoming fire, dispelling many prejudices held against black soldiers with their relentless dedication to duty.

When World War I ended, the Great Depression contributed to the Army's downsizing. The 325th became a part of history, setting the example for the African-American units of World War II to follow.The 275th was officially activated in May 1941 and arrived in the Canal Zone's hot jungles Dec. 8, 1941. Although performing admirably, the 275th was redeployed to the United States upon completing its mission after being declared unwelcome by the Panamanian government.

Not only in Panama but in other overseas areas did African-American soldiers find themselves unwelcome. "Negroes in foreign theaters posed problems," noted the writers of The Signal Corps: The Test. "Australia wanted none of them. They were not acceptable in China. In Africa itself the economic status of the United States Negro bred discontent among the native blacks."

There were some bright spots, too. At Fort Monmouth, N.J., the few African-American officer candidates lived and studied with white trainees at the Signal Corps school there without racial-prejudice problems.During World War II the Army Air Forces support services — still part of the Signal Corps — had tough initial screening criteria, but they had enough volunteers who met the standard to create an African-American Signal Corps unit. Out of these rigid requirements, 689th Signal Reporting Company, Aircraft Warning, Frontier) was born.

The 689th was forced to wait out summer 1943 at Tuskegee, Ala., growing stagnant and restless like many other African-American units that were trained and ready.

Use Of Terms

There is no clear definition of what constitutes being an "African Australian" (or "Afro-Australian"). Along with indigenous Africans who were born in Africa, the term could encompass people as disparate as Caribbean British, African Americans or Cape Malays who with an African upbringing or family background have chosen Australia as their new home. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records people according to their birthplace and their self-described ancestry, although aggregated data for Africa is split between "Sub-Saharan" and "North Africa and the Middle East".

Demographics

{|class="wikitable"
| Major countries by birth of African and Caribbean Descent (2006 Census)
|-bgcolor="#EFEFEF"
!Country||Population
|-
|South Africa
|104,128
|-
|Egypt
|33,497
|-
|Zimbabwe
|20,157
|-
|Sudan
|19,049
|-
|Mauritius
|18,175
|-
|Kenya
|9,940
|-
|Ethiopia
|5,633
|-
|Somalia
|4,316
|-
|Zambia
|4,082
|-
|Ghana
|2,771
|-
|Jamaica
|809
|-
|Trinidad and Tobago
|589
|-
|Barbados
|380
|-

|}

{|class="wikitable"
| Metropolitan Areas with High Proportion of Australians of African ancestry (2006 Census)
|-bgcolor="#EFEFEF"
!Metropolitan Area||Black population(Est)||% of Black People(Est)
|-
|Melbourne, VIC
|51,637
|1.49%
|-
|Sydney, NSW
|50,024
|1.28%
|-
|Perth, WA
|42,967
|2.94%
|-
||Brisbane, QLD
|11,354
|0.71%
|-
||Adelaide, SA
|6,770
|0.75%
|-
||Canberra, ACT
|1,685
|0.66%
|}