3.3 Cultural Patterns

Religion: Australia is made up of a diverse group of religions. The majority of Australia's population practices Protestantism or Christianity. "The Cultural Atlas," states, "Nearly all of Australia’s Jewish community reside in Melbourne and Sydney (90%)...the first Muslims who settled in Australia in large numbers arrived in the 1860s as cameleers from South Asia...The majority of Australia’s Muslims are Sunni, followed by Shi’a...Hinduism was brought to Australia during the nineteenth century by small groups of Hindus who worked as farm hands, hawkers, and cameleers alongside Muslims and Sikhs...The Hindu community grew significantly during the 1970s...Today, Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia, up from 0.7% in 2006 to 1.9% in 2016. Much of this growth is attributed to migration, with over half (62.9%) of those who identify as Hindu being born in India...During the 1970s, a large wave of Buddhist migrants came in the 1970s from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia...Many of Australia’s Buddhists have heritage in Buddhist countries. For example, according to the 2016 census, 25.9% were born in Vietnam and 13.8% were born in China. However, there are also Anglo-Australian Buddhists as well as those who have migrated from other English-speaking Western countries" (Australian Culture).

Ethnicity: Australia consists of over 250 different ethnic groups. Brittanica states, "The ties to Britain and Ireland were scarcely affected by immigration from other sources until then... Although some nine-tenths of Australia’s population is of European ancestry, more than one-fifth is foreign-born, and there is a small but important (and growing) Aboriginal population" (People Of Australia). There are also many Asian immigrants in Australia. For example, there is a fairly large population of Chinese immigrants in Australia. Around the 1850s many Chinese people migrated to Australia in search of jobs. Italians also immigrate to Australia in pretty large numbers. Around the 1850s there was a huge number of Italian immigrants in Victoria due to the gold rush. Brittanica also states, "From the 1950s onward large numbers of Italians also migrated to northern Queensland where they were recruited to work on the sugar plantations" (People Of Australia).

The images to the right are examples of Chinese and Italian communities in Australia.

Centrifugal Forces: A centrifugal force is a force that that divides a country. A few examples of centrifugal forces in Australia are different religions, different cultures, different political opinions, and different ethnicities. Australia has a very diverse set of religions, ethnicities, and cultures, which causes a divide between people.