Over the years many ethnic minorities, including Jews, Italians, and Chinese, have immigrated to Australia. Some of your ancestors may come from these ethnicities. To learn about the ethnic, racial, and religious groups of your ancestors, you might study a history of Jews in Australia, Italians in New South Wales, or Chinese in the gold fields of Victoria. This historical background can help you identify where your ancestors lived and when they lived there, where they migrated, and the types of records they might be listed in.

The Family History Library collects records of these minority groups, especially in published histories. A good example of one of these histories is the Australian Ethnic Heritage Series, which includes histories on the Afghans, Americans, Baltics, Cornish, Czechs, Dutch, Germans, Hungarians, Irish, Italians, Jews, Lebanese, Maltese, Poles, Scandinavians, Scottish, and Spanish in Australia. This source, and other similar sources on minorities, are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

AUSTRALIA- MINORITIESAUSTRALIA, [STATE]- MINORITIES

JEWS - AUSTRALIA

O’Brien, John, and Pauric Travers, eds. The Irish emigrant experience in Australia. Dublin: Poolbeg Press Ltd., 1991. (FHL book British 994 F2ic; computer number 700881.)

Payton, Philip J. The Cornish miner in Australia. Kenrow, Cornwall, England: Dyllansow Truran, 1984. (FHL book British 994 F2pj; computer number 365777.)

Randazzo, Nino, and Michael Cigler. The Italians in Australia. Melbourne: AE Press, 1987. (FHL book British 994 F2rn; computer numbers 439341.)

Rubinstein, W.D., ed. The Jews in the Sixth Continent. Sydney: Allen & Unwin Australia Pty. Ltd., 1987. (FHL book British 994 F2rw; computer number 493893.)

For additional information, see the “Native Races” section in this outline.

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NATIVE RACES