History of Australian Immigration

Immigration to the Australian continent is predictable to have started around 50,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent of Australia by means of the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea.

Europeans first landed at Australian Continent in the 1600s and 1700s, but colonization started in 1788.

The general level of Australian immigration has grown significantly during the last decade and a half. Net overseas migration rose from 30042 in 1992-93 to 177600 in 2006-07. This is the uppermost level of immigration on record. The major components of immigration to Australia are the skilled migration and family meeting programs. In current years the compulsory detention of unauthorized arrivals by boat has generated great levels of debate.

During 2004-05, 123424 citizens immigrated to Australia. Of them, 17736 were from Africa, 54804 from Asia, 21131 from Oceania, 18220 from the United Kingdom, 1506 from South America, and 2369 from Eastern Europe.

Around 131,000 people migrated to Australia in 2005-06 and migration target for 2006-07 was 143,000. The planning level for the 2007–08 Migration Program has been set in the series of 142,800 to 152,800 places, plus 13,000 in the Humanitarian Program. In the year 2008-09 about 300,000 new migrants were predictable to arrive in Australia, the utmost number since World War II.

Though, in March 2009, the Australian Government announced a 14 per cent decrease in the 2008-09 permanent skilled migration program intakes from 133,500 to 115,000 in reaction to worsening economic conditions.