Northern Ireland

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Irish Gaelic

Immigration History from Northern Ireland to Victoria

Victorians born in Northern Ireland have only been identified separately in censuses since 1971.

Immigrants from the whole of Ireland were the second largest community in Victoria after the English from 1854 until World War I. By 1871, when the community numbered 100,468, more than one in four Victorians was Ireland-born.

The Irish famine of the 1840s caused large numbers of impoverished people to migrate. They worked in Victoria as whalers, fishermen and farm hands. In townships they were labourers and factory workers. A few became property owners and professionals.

Between 1850 and 1890 most Irish came to Victoria as assisted immigrants, many escaping cultural repression in Ireland. In contrast to many other groups, they came in equal numbers of men and women. Many sought their fortunes on the goldfields.

The growth of the Catholic Church in Victoria was strongly supported by the Irish community. Many nuns and priests came here in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to develop Catholic churches, orphanages and schools such as St Peter and Paul's School, South Melbourne, established in 1854.

By the early twentieth century, mass immigration from Ireland had ended. The community decline continued after Northern Ireland became a separate political entity in 1921 following the Anglo-Irish war of independence.

The arrival of migrants from Northern Ireland peaked in Victoria between 1960 and 1967, with a 20% increase in the population. This coincided with an escalating rate of violence in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics and a consequent downturn in the economy.

In 2016, 5,745 Victorians were born in Northern Ireland. Today the community spreads from Berwick to the Mornington Peninsula. 50% work in professional and managerial roles; 31% work in clerical, sales and service roles. The church plays a significant role within this community, with over half of its members Protestant and one in five Catholic.

Immigration History from Northern Ireland (Irish Gaelic) to Victoria

Níor tugadh aitheantas ar leith do phobal Victoria a rugadh i dTuaisceart Éireann go dtí daonáireamh 1971.

Bhí inimircigh as Éirinn ar fad, ar an slua ba mhó i ndiaidh na Sasanaigh, a bhí ina gcónaí i Victoria ó 1854 go dti an chéad cogadh domhanda. Thart ar 1871, nuair a bhí an líon phobail 100,468, bhí níos mó ná gach ceathrú duine saoluithe in Éirinn.

Chuir gorta mór na h-Éireann sna 1840 sluaite móra ar imirce de bharr an bhochtaineacht agus anró an droch-shaoil. D’oibríodar i Victoria mar sealgairí míola móra, iascairí, buachaillí feirme, agus ins na bailecheantair mar shaotharaí agus oibrí monarchan. D’éirigh le cuid acu mar úinéirí maoine, agus daoine gairmiúla.

Ins na blianta idir 1850 agus 1890 bhí cabhair nó cuidiú ag formhór na n-inimircigh as Éirinn chuig Victoria, a lán acu ag éalú ó ghéar-smacht cultúrtha ag baile. I gcomparáid le grúpaí as tíortha eile, bhí fir agus mná ar an gcomhaireamh céanna. Chuaigh cuid mhaith acu ag lorg a saibhris ar na ceanntracha óir.

Tá fás agus forbairt na h-Eaglaise Caitliceach i Victoria faoi chomaoin an phobal Éireannach. Tháinig mná-rialta agus sagairt anseo sa naoú aois déag agus go luath sa fichiú aois chun séipéil, scoileanna agus dílleachtlann a bhunadh, ar nós Eaglais Naomh Peadar is Pól i South Melbourne, a cuireadh ar bun sa bhliain 1854.

Ag tús an fichiú aois bhí deireadh leis an oll imirce as Éirinn. Chuaigh an imirce in éag nuair a scaradh Tuaisceart Éireann mar ionad polaitiúil ann féin sa bhliain 1921 tar éis Cogadh na Saoirse.

Tharla uasphointe na himirce ó Thuaisceart Éireann go Victoria idir na blianta 1960 agus 1967 nuair a tháinig méadú 20% ar an daonra. Lean sé seo lámh ar lámh le méadú an fhoréigin idir Caitlicigh agus Protastúnaigh i dTuaisceart Éireann agus de bharr sin ísliú san eacnamaíocht.

Thaispeáin daonáireamh na bliana 2011 go raibh cónaí i Victoria ar 5,858 duine, a rugadh i dTuaisceart Éireann. Sa lá atá inniu ann tá an pobal scaipthe ó Berwick go dtí leathinis Mornington. Tá 50% ag saothrú a mbeatha mar ghairmithe agus mar bhainisteoirí, 31% in obair cléireachais, córas seirbhísí agus tráchtála.

Tá páirt thabhachtach á líonadh ag an Eaglais sa líon phobail seo – le leath na ndaoine ag leanúint an chreidimh Protastúnaigh agus duine as gach cúigear mar Chaitliceach.

Notes

• The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 created the Irish Free State. Comprising 26 counties, it became an independent country within the British Empire. The six counties within Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom.

• The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland in 1948.

• People from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were recorded together in Australian censuses until 1954.