The Asianisation of Australia: volume 2, part 1, section 4
Cyprus
Geographically, Cyprus is considered to be a part of West Asia (this Mediterranean island is much closer to the mainland of Asia than to that of Europe). However, due to cultural, demographic, and historical reasons, it is often considered as a part of Europe.
Cyprus was listed as part of Asia for many years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Immigration, but in recent years it has been listed by both bodies as part of Southern Europe(16*).
Charles Price has included Cyprus within Southern Europe as an ongoing practice with his work on Australian immigration and demography; especially relevant with the estimation, regarding Cypriot immigration to Australia, that "some 75 per cent... are of Greek origin".
In recognition of these factors, and in order to enable direct comparison with contemporary statistics, Cyprus has been treated as part of Southern Europe within this document in all statistical tables relating to births, deaths, and immigration.
Charles Price has stated:
"Australian-census language and religious statistics suggest that, of the 26 000 or so Cypriot-born persons in Australia in 1987, some 75 per cent (nearly 20 000) are of Greek origin; 15 per cent (about 4000) are Turkish; and the remainder is a mixture, some being children born to British and Australian servicemen posted temporarily on the island. But the Greek-Cypriot settlement in Australia is older than the Turkish-Cypriot; indeed, Turkish Cypriots migrated relatively rarely until after independence, there being only 350 or so in Australia in 1954. Early Greek-Cypriot migration, however, was not particularly large before the Second World War: the censuses record fewer than 10 Cypriots in 1881, about 30 in 1911, 500 in 1933 and 700 in 1947. Then they began to increase quite rapidly: 5800 in 1954, 10 700 in 1966, 22 000 in 1976, 24 000 in 1986 and about 26 000 in 1987. Large-scale Cypriot migration to Australia, in short, is mainly a post-war event, closely linked to civil tension and disturbances in Cyprus itself."(17)
The Asianisation of Australia:
Statistics (Immigration, Ethnicity, and Trade) (Volume 2)
Australian Nationalism Information Database - www.ausnatinfo.angelfire.com
