in English for Australians born in Macedonia was self-described by census respondents as very well by 33%, well by 33%, 26% not well (8% didn't state or said not applicable). The most significant populations of Macedonian speakers as of 2001 were Melbourne - 30,083, Sydney - 19,980, Wollongong - 7,420, Perth - 5,772, Newcastle - 1,993, Geelong - 1,300, Queanbeyan - 1,105. Many suburbs have large Macedonian speaking communities, the most largest are; Port Kembla (20.9%), Thomastown (16.7%), Banksia (16.1%), Coniston (15.9%) and Lalor (14.8%). In 2001, Cringila was titled the "most Macedonian" suburb in all of Australia with 32.8% of its population speaking Macedonian at home. History of Macedonians in Australia Macedonians have been arriving in Australia since the late 1880s as Pečalba. These Pečalbari (the man in the family) would go and work overseas to earn money then return home with the spoils. This restricted major settlement. The two major waves of early Macedonian immigration, according to Peter Hill, were when in 1924 America implemented tougher immigration policies and in 1936 when the Ioannis Metaxas regime came into power. By 1921 there were 50 Macedonians in Australia, by 1940 this number had reached over 6,000., the majority of whom were from Florina, Kastoria and Bitola. However, before the Second World War, when the Macedonian identity gained a popularity, many Macedonians did not have a strong sense of national identity, but of regional one. The general population pre-WWII commonly considered themselves ethnically as Macedonian Bulgarians or simply as Bulgarians. Until then the number of Macedonian immigrants in Australia was negligible. After World War II and the Greek Civil War many Macedonians from Greece came to Australia, these people are known as Aegean Macedonians, they settled in areas including Richmond and Footscray. When the Yugoslav policies that encouraged its citizens to work overseas were introduced many Ethnic Macedonians within Yugoslavia left for Australia. The peak of this emigration was in the early 1970s. They settled in mainly industrial districts, particularly in Wollongong and Newcastle, in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown and the Sydney suburb of Rockdale. Many Macedonians from Yugoslavia would also settle in isolated parts of Australia such as Port Hedland. Most of these immigrants were from an agricultural background. Macedonian migration had slowed by the 1980s only to restart in the early 1990s after the breakup of Yugoslavia. As at the 2006 census 64% of Australian residents born