# American Australians

American Australians are Australian citizens who are of American descent, including immigrants and residents who are descended from migrants from the United States of America and its territories. This includes people of European, African American, American Indian, Hispanic or Latin American, Asian, and Pacific Islander backgrounds.

## Demography

At the 2006 Australian Census, 71,718 Australian residents declared that they were American-born. Concentrations of American-born residents were in Sydney (16,339), Melbourne (11,130), Brisbane (6,057), Perth (5,558), Adelaide (2,862), and Canberra (1,970). At that census, residents could declare up to two ancestries: of the 56,283 respondents declaring American ancestry, 3,901 also declared Hispanic ancestry; 1,798, African American; 3,936, North American Indian; and 224, Puerto Rican.

## Community history

The first North Americans to land in Australia were British crewmen from the Endeavour under Captain Cook, who sojourned at Botany Bay in 1770. Once a permanent colony was established in New South Wales, "trade links were developed almost exclusively with North America."
The North American colonies, including what are now Canada and the United States, had been used by Britain for penal transportation. With the recognition of the independence of the United States in the 1780s, the British Government sought new lands to exile convicts, and Australia became the pre-eminent prison colony of the British Empire.
From the 1770s to the 1840s, North Americans settled in Australia primarily as demobilised British soldiers and sailors; as convicts (some United States citizens were arrested at sea for maritime offences, tried, convicted, and transported); and as whalers, sealers, or itinerants. Many of these settlers moved on to New Zealand for a time, and often returned to New South Wales. African Americans had a noted presence in the earliest British outposts in Australia, usually after a period of service in the British Navy.
In the 1850s, large numbers of United States citizens arrived, most often after spending time in California during its gold rush. These migrants settled predominantly in rural Victoria, where the discovery of gold had encouraged a large colony of prospectors and speculators. Some born in the United States played eminent roles in the Eureka Stockade, particularly in the miners' paramilitary self-defence groups. The colonial authorities suspected the American-born and others, such as the Irish, of promoting republicanism.
At the time of Federation, in 1901, there were 7,448 United States-born persons in Australia. About this time, many of these American-Australians worked in the labour movement, including the formation of trade unions and the Australian Labor Party (hence the spelling of Labor in the American way instead of the more common Labour; both spellings were acceptable in Australian English at the time). Despite North American socio-cultural influences, Australian public opinion was wary of the United States: the visit of the "Great White Fleet" of the United States Navy to Sydney and Melbourne in 1908 was greeted with fanfare, but provoked immediate comment that the (British) Royal Navy should make an even greater show of force to restate in the strongest military terms Australia's position as the south-eastern guarantor of the British Empire.
During the Second World War, more than a million United States soldiers were stationed, not all simultaneously, in Australia at the request of the Australian Government after the surrender of the British garrison in Singapore to the Japanese in 1941. When the war ended, 12,000 Australian women migrated to the United States as war brides, and 10,000 United States citizens settled in Australia—including ex-servicemen as war husbands.
The ANZUS Treaty, binding the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, was signed in 1951, locking the three countries into a mutual defence pact. This increased social and political ties between Australia and the United States and led Australia and New Zealand to commit soldiers to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. These connections, along with increased worldwide travel, prompted more Americans to migrate permanently; in 1971 there were 39,035 United States–born residents in Australia.

## Education

The American International School of Sydney is defunct.

## Notable people

| Name | Born – died | Notable for | Connection with Australia | Connection with United States |
| Janet Andrewartha | 1952–2024 | actress | works in Australia | born in Camarillo, California |
| Aaron Baddeley | 1981– | golf player | moved to Australia when 2 years old; raised in Australia | born in Lebanon, New Hampshire |
| Carsten Ball | 1987– | tennis player | raised in Australia | born in Newport Beach, California |
| Duncan Ball | 1941– | author | moved to Australia in 1974; naturalised Australian in 1980 | born in Boston, Massachusetts |
| Cate Blanchett | 1969– | actress | born and raised in Australia | father Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr was an American from Texas |
| Betty Bobbitt | 1939–2020 | actress and author | moved to Australia in 1962 | born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Jonah Bolden | 1996– | basketball player | born and raised in Australia | father Bruce Bolden is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia |
| Chelsea Brown | 1946–2017 | comedian and actress | moved to Australia in 1977; married to actor Vic Rooney until his death in 2002 | born in Chicago, Illinois |
| Cal Bruton | 1954– | basketball player and coach | moved to Australia in 1979; naturalised 1983; played for the men's national team and named to the NBL 25th Anniversary Team in 2003. | born in New York City, New York; played college basketball at Wichita State University |
| C. J. Bruton | 1975– | basketball player | moved to Australia with his father Cal in 1979; naturalised along with his father; played for the men's national team | son of Cal Bruton; born in Wichita, Kansas while his father was playing at Wichita State |
| John Butler | 1975– | musician, founder John Butler Trio | Australian father; moved to Australia in 1986 | born in Torrance, California |
| Arthur Calwell | 1896-1973 | Australian politician | born in Australia | parental grandfather is American |
| Kate Ceberano | 1966– | actress and singer | born and raised in Australia | her father Tino Ceberano is American of Filipino Hawaiian descent |
| Didier Cohen | 1985– | artists and repertoire (a&r), media personality, actor, and model | raised in Australia | born in Los Angeles |
| Toni Collette | 1972– | actress, producer, and singer | born and raised in Australia | her biological paternal grandfather was American |
| Mason Cox | 1991- | Football Player (AFL) | Moved to Australia to play AFL for Collingwood | Born and raised in Texas |
| Bruce Djite | 1987– | football (soccer) player | moved to Australia when 3 years old; raised in Australia | born in Arlington County, Virginia |
| Aisha Dee | 1993– | actress, and singer | born in Australia; Australian mother | father is African American |
| Joe Dolce | 1947– | singer/songwriter, poet, and essayist | relocated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1978 | born in Painesville, Ohio, to Italian-American parents |
| Dante Exum | 1995– | basketball player | born and raised in Australia | father Cecil Exum is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia |
| Mel Gibson | 1956– | actor and director | moved to Australia when 12 years old; paternal grandmother was Australian; honorary Officer of the Order of Australia | born Peekskill, New York and holds dual US and Irish citizenships |
| Virginia Giuffre | 1983- | advocate and campaigner for survivors of sex trafficking | moved to Australia at the age of 19 in 2002 with her Australian husband; became a naturalised Australian citizen at an unspecified date | born in Sacramento, California, United States to American parents |
| Ricky Grace | 1966– | basketball player | moved to Australia in 1990; naturalised c. 1996; played for the men's national team and named to the NBL 25th Anniversary Team. | born in Dallas, Texas; played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma |
| Bill Hayden | 1933–2024 | Australian politician, former Governor-General | born in Australia | father is American |
| Colleen Hewett | 1950– | singer and actress | born and raised in Australia | her family on her maternal side are of African American descent; great-great-grandfather is a native of Guayana |
| Marcia Hines | 1953– | singer and actress | moved to Australia in 1969; member of the Order of Australia (naturalised 1994) | born in Boston, Massachusetts |
| Deni Hines | 1970– | singer and actress | born in Australia | Daughter of Marcia Hines; Father is of Somalian/Ethiopian descent |
| Kyrie Irving | 1992– | basketball player | born in Australia; family returned to the U.S. when 2 years old | parents are American |
| Terri Irwin | 1964– | Zoologist, naturalist, author and television presenter | wife of Steve Irwin. Moved to Australia in 1992; naturalised in 2009 three years after her husband's death | born in Eugene, Oregon |
| Bindi Irwin | 1998– | Singer, actress, conservationist and television personality | born in Australia | daughter of Terri and Steve Irwin |
| Robert Irwin | 2003– | Conservationist and television personality | born in Australia | son of Terri and Steve Irwin |
| Nia Jax | 1984– | Professional wrestler | born in Australia | raised in Hawaii |
| Aku Kadogo | | choreographer, director, actress, and educator | educated and performed in Australia | born, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. |
| Kristina Keneally | 1968– | Premier of New South Wales 2009–2011, Senator 2018—2022 | moved to Australia in 1994; naturalised Australian in 2000 | born Kristina Marie Kerscher in Las Vegas, Nevada to American father and Australian mother |
| Nicole Kidman | 1967– | actress | dual citizen by descent (Australian parents) | dual citizen by birth (born in Honolulu, Hawaii) |
| Don Lane | 1933–2009 | TV presenter, cabaret performer | moved to Australia 1965 | born Morton Donald Isaacson in New York City, New York |
| Cheltzie Lee | 1993– | figure skater | born in Australia | mother is American |
| Leroy Loggins | 1957– | basketball player | as an Australian citizen competed in the 1992 Olympic Games | born New Brunswick, New Jersey |
| Bob Meyer | 1932–2009 | logician | moved to Australia 1974 | born in US |
| King O'Malley | 1858–1953 | Australian politician | lived in Australia from 1888 | claimed to have been born in Canada, more likely that he was born in US |
| Mike Nahan | 1950– | Australian politician | moved to Australia in 1978; naturalised Australian in 1988 | born in Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Caleb Patterson-Sewell | 1987– | football (soccer) player | moved to Australia when 2 years old; raised in Australia | born in Hendersonville, Tennessee to American father and Australian mother |
| Don Pyke | 1968– | Australian rules footballer | father is Australian | born in Bloomington, Illinois |
| James Mahmud Rice | 1972- | sociologist | raised in Australia | born in Honolulu, Hawaii to American father and Indonesian mother |
| Peter Ruehl | 1947–2011 | journalist and television news personality | moved to Australia in 1987 | born in New York City, New York |
| Penny Sackett | 1956– | astronomer | moved to Australia in 2002; naturalised Australian in 2008 | born Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Brian Schmidt | 1967– | astrophysicist | moved to Australia 1994, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 | born Missoula, Montana |
| Jon Hunter Spence | 1945–2011 | Jane Austen scholar | became an Australian citizen in 2011 | born Camilla, Georgia |
| Ben Simmons | 1996– | basketball player | born and raised in Australia | his father Dave Simmons is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia |
| Archie Smith | 1995– | football player (AFL) | born and raised in Australia | his father is Andre Moore is an African American who played in the NBL and still lives in Australia |
| Irwin Thomas | 1971– | singer-songwriter and guitarist | mother was an Australian-born folk singer and dancer; she returned to Australia in 1980, with her son. | born in 1971 in Manhattan, New York City. |
| Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman | 1981– | Noted political activist | born in Australia | dual citizen |
| Sanford Wheeler | 1970–2020 | Australian rules footballer | migrated to Australia in 1975 | born in US to Australian father and American mother |
| Lydia Williams | 1988– | football (soccer) player | born in Australia | mother is American |
| Makenzie Vega | 1994– | actress | moved to Australia in 2016 married to model Blair norfolk | born in Los Angeles, California, sister of Alexa Vega |
| Leila George | 1992– | actress | born in Sydney; mother is Australian Greta Scacchi | father is American Vincent D'Onofrio; dual U.S. and Australian citizen |
| Bert McCracken | 1982– | musician | moved to Australia in 2004 married to Alison Schneider | born in Provo, Utah, |
| Logan Huffman | 1989– | actor | move in Australia dual U.S. citizen married to the veronicas Lisa Origliasso | born in Noblesville, Indiana, |
| Mark Webber | 1980– | actor director | move in Australia dual U.S.citizen married to actress Teresa Palmer | born in Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Brent DeBoer | 1967– | musician | move in Australia dual U.S.citizen | born in Portland, Oregon |
| Brooke Harman | 1985– | actress | Mother is Australian | born in Orange County, California |
| Kenneth Moraleda | 1973– | actor | educated and performed in Australia | born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Filipino American parents |
| Orlando Jordan | 1974– | actor, stuntman, and semi-retired American professional wrestler | move in Australia dual U.S. citizen | born in Salem, New Jersey |
| Diesel | 1966– | singer-songwriter and musician | emigrated to Australia with his family, in November 1971 | born in Fall River, Massachusetts |
| Nicholas Hammond | 1950- | actor and writer | moved to Australia in the mid-1980s | born in Washington, D.C. |
| Kate Walsh | 1967- | actress and businesswoman | moved to Australia in 2020 | born in San Jose, California |
| Jim Knobeloch | 1950- | actor | moved to Australia in 2001 | born in Belleville, Illinois |
| Jane Badler | 1953- | Actress and singer | moved to Australia in the mid 80s or 90s | born in Brooklyn, New York City |