In a moment I’m going to show you a series of maps of Australia’s state capital cities. I’m sure they will instantly remind you of the kind of maps that are thrust before us as the election results come through on election night.
Don’t worry, it’s not that, there’s no need to hightail it out of here. This post isn’t about politics at all.
These maps actually reveal the top three birthplaces for immigrants in suburbs in our major cities across Australia.
Sounded interesting to me, so I Googled “SBS page Where Immigrants Where Born” and found it immediately. And yes, it was interesting.
SBS have gathered information based on the 2011 census here in Australia and made it into several colourful interactive maps. To get the full benefit of all the information they have to offer, you really need to visit the website to enjoy that full interactivity.
To make that easy for you, I have images of each of the cities that are non-interactive, but all you need to do is click on any of these city images to be taken directly to the SBS page with the full information.
On this website though, for those who don’t really need the full interactive experience, you can still get some very useful information about the demographics of each of our cities at a glance.
Of course there are light blues, light greens and even pastel greens and these are Greece, Lebanon and Iraq whilst yellow is Fiji. Like I say though, just click on the maps for more information.
So, let’s look at some maps.
Clearly immigrants from England and New Zealand are dominant in many areas, but if you visit the website over at SBS you will get a second series of maps. These maps exclude England and New Zealand which allows countries like Canada, United States, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa and more to come to the fore.
So if you’re about to move to Australia and you want to settle in a town or suburb where some of your neighbours will have come here from the same country as you, you really do want to check out these maps.
It gets even better, all of Australia is covered, not just the state capital cities. So no matter where you fancy moving to in Australia, you can find out the migrant demographic by birth place before you get here.
My son is already a registered nurse in our country but after her studies, he is preparing his documents to be registered nurse in Australia. Can you please help him where is the best place to settle where there are a lot of jobs for healthcare professionals and eventually start a family. The weather should be not so hot and not so cold.
Your inputs will be well appreciated.
Well, Australia doesn’t really do “not so hot and not so cold” very well. Most people will say that Brisbane and Darwin are too hot, and all of our other major cities can certainly be way too hot in the summer and too cold for most in the winter.
In order to help, you probably need to clarify what you mean by hot and cold, as in putting temperatures on it.
Other than that, may I suggest your son has a look at my page A Quick Guide to Choosing a City in Australia to at least see if he can begin to hone in on the kind of place he would like to live.
Hello, will be moving to Australia soon and thinking of where to settle. The weather is a major item to consider; My husband and kids prefer somewhere cold while I want somewhere warm. Can you please recommend areas that have both seasons? Or is just generally cooler. Thanks alot!
If you want a major city, then Melbourne would be a consideration, they certainly have the four seasons there, sometimes in one day. That said, they can have extremely hot summers days, I’m talking 40°C +, and generally speaking winters are not as harsh as they are in the UK, for example, but you will need to wear a coat quite often.
Tasmania would be another option, and if you’re not interested in a major city, there would be many options inland in, mainly in New South Wales and Victoria.
Have a look at my page A Quick Guide to Choosing a City in Australia, that might help you decide which city might be best for you.
Then you need to find out whether you would be likely to find work in that city, my page Getting a Job or a Sponsorship will help with that.
Then this page will help you find where all the Indian people living nearby are in whichever city you decide upon.
I hope you can assist. We are going to Australia on a 489 visa which means we have to live in a regional area of a state for 2 years before we can apply for permanent residency. Do you have an idea of which would be better please? My husband is a welder by trade and we have the choice of Queensland and New south wales?
You should go where the work is, the place that has the most job opportunities for your husband. Check out my page Getting a Job or a Sponsorship, there are some links to help you research that.
Very interesting, as usual, thx bob.
Considering I’d like to move to Australia, this post is of assistance as soon as I decide in which city I want to settle. But I haven’t decided yet. So I must say I’m one step prior to use this (very well made) tool.
Hi Ronny, thanks, glad you like it.
But I wouldn’t take that top 11 list too seriously, I think you’ll find that most Australians probably do quite passionately love the cities they come from, I’d say each and every one of our major cities are extremely livable. At the end of the day, it’s all down to personal preferences.
Affordable usually means fewer job opportunities, all of our cities are safe and weather is a subjective viewpoint; do you want hot, humid, four seasons or a cooler climate? Rhetorical questions, of course, but these are choices you need to make and then select a city accordingly.
I chose Brisbane based on my preferences, I’ve now been to all the major cities apart from Canberra to have a look around and I still wouldn’t swap Brisbane for any of them. But then that’s just me.
My brother in law is thinking to move to Australia. I found this article while I was looking for some info for him. Thanks you so much for sharing such an amazing info.
This is deeply fascinating, Bob. Thanks for putting this post together! 😉 I notice if you click on any of the maps it takes you to the SBS website and there you can zoom out on the map and move about Australia, so I was able to see my area of the South Coast in NSW.
I’ll be linking to this post on my weekly wrap up on Sunday.
Yes, it is fascinating stuff isn’t it? Without doubt, well worth clicking through on those maps as you’ll get much more information. I could have embedded the interactive maps here, but they look much better on their website, their pages are wider.
And yes, thanks, please do spread the word on your site, I think this is interesting information for many people moving to Australia.
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