English Australians
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians,[3] are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether sole or partial).[1] It is the largest self-identified ancestry in Australia.[1] People of ethnic English origin have been the largest group to migrate to Australia since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.[4]
This article is about Australians of English descent. For English people of Australian descent, see Australians in the United Kingdom.English Australians are a subset of Anglo-Celtic Australians, who are themselves a subset of European Australians. Other subsets of Anglo-Celtic Australians (that is, Australians with ancestry originating in the British Isles) include Irish Australians, Scottish Australians and Welsh Australians. There is a tendency to refer to these ancestries collectively due to their long history in Australia and the high degree of intermixture which has occurred over centuries. In light of this history, there is a tendency for Australians with English or other Anglo-Celtic ancestries to simply identify their ancestry as 'Australian'.[5]
Cultural influence[edit]
People of English descent were by far the single most influential ethnic group in colonial Australia.[34] The founding of Australia by English people is still evident in place names, Australia's common law legal system, popular dishes such as fish and chips and Sunday Roast and English as Australia's national language.
In Sydney, at least 50 suburban names are derived directly from 20 English counties, of which the largest numbers are from Kent, Surrey and London. Among the best known are Surry Hills, Croydon, Hornsby, Epping, Chipping Norton, Brighton-le-Sands, Bexley, Canterbury, Ryde, Kensington, Lewisham and Penshurst.[3]