The largest flow occurred when refugees left El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s. The first wave were former political prisoners whose immigration was facilitated by the Special Humanitarian Program in 1983. After this first group, which consisted of 75 people, another 10,000 Salvadorans arrived in Australia by 1986. Subsequent groups came—not directly from El Salvador—but from lesser-developed countries like Mexico and Costa Rica that housed Salvadoran refugees. Most Salvadoran-born Australians came prior to 2001; little followed after the civil war. The majority of Salvadorians that live in Australia are of white and mestizo ancestry. The majority of Salvadorans in Australia reside in Melbourne,(32%), followed by Brisbane, (21%), and Sydney, (18%).