Ethnic Identity of the First Postwar Generation of Australian Slovenes

Abstract

The history of Australia is doubtlessly connected with the rapid population growth of the continent which is the result of the continuing immigration from 1788, that is the onset of the British colonization, onward. The colonization by the British caused two demographic processes: at first a rapid decrease of the Aboriginal population, which started to climb gradually 2 only after 1945, and constant immigration of the English, Scots, and the Irish; from the beginning of the 19th century onward these were followed by other ethnic groups. Since this ongoing immigration to Australia has always determined the destiny of the country and its population, immigration to the fifth continent plays a primary role in Australian history, politics, economy, culture and, last but not least, in daily lives of those who consider themselves Australians (Anglo-Saxon whites, born in Australia), as well as those who had immigrated there (the so-called »new Australians«).