Greek Civil War a large influx of Aegean Macedonians came to the Weribee area. They would form the backbone of the Macedonian community in Werribee. In the 1960s many Macedonians from Yugoslavia also came to Australia. By the 1970s a Macedonian hall had been set up and two more KUD's had been founded in the area. The Macedonians are well established in the Weribee area and have made a lasting contribution to the region. By 1991 there were 565 Macedonians speakers in Weribee, this rose to 964 in 2006. The number of people claiming Macedonian ancestry are 1,154. Macedonians in New South Wales Many of the first Macedonians came to New South Wales. During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s many Aegean Macedonians settled in Crabbes Creek, Queanbeyan, Newcastle and Richmond. By the time of the Macedonian-Australian People's League Macedonians could be found all over the state. Branches were opened in Sydney (Vesela Makedonija), Queanbeyan (Alexander the Great), Richmond (Kotori), Crabbes Creek (Sloboda), Katoomba, Port Kembla, Forbes, Braidwood, Beechwood (Wauchope), Lithgow, Captains Flat, Newcastle, Bonnyrigg and Griffith. The first Macedonian hall built in Australia was the Macedonian Cultural Hall in Crabbes Creek. From the 1960s thousands of Macedonians from the Bitola, Prespa, Struga and Ohrid regions of Macedonia would come to New South Wales. Many of these immigrants settled in Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle. Today the Macedonian Community in New South Wales is the second largest in Australia. By 2001, 30,658 people were speaking Macedonian at home with 19,057 of these born in the North Macedonia. In 2006, 34,316 people claimed Macedonian ancestry but community spokesperson claim that in New South Wales there are over 70,000 Macedonians. Sydney Sydney is home to one of the largest concentrations of Macedonians in Australia and in the diaspora. The first Macedonians came to Sydney in the early 1920s before making their way to the coal fields of the Illawarra or Hunter Valley, the heavy industrial centers of Port Kembla and Newcastle, or heading inland to places like Broken Hill and Richmond. The first Macedonian to settle in Rockdale was Risto Belcheff from the village Capari in 1945. By 1946 a branch of the Macedonian-Australian People's League was opened in Sydney, it was known as Vesela Makedonija. The Vesela Makedonija branch founded the Ilinden Soccer Club in the same year. In 1948 the group established a KUD also known as "Vesela Makedonija". From 1948 -