The first Muslims to settle permanently in Australia were the cameleers, mainly from Afghanistan. Between the 1860s and 1920s, the Muslim camelmen worked the inland tracks and developed relationships with local Aboriginal people.
The next arrival of camel drivers was in 1866 when 31 men from Rajasthan and Baluchistan arrived in South Australia with camels for Thomas Elder. Although they came from several countries, they were usually known in Australia as 'Afghans' and they brought with them the first formal establishment of Islam in Australia.
Contact between Muslim Indonesian fishermen from Southern Sulawesi and Indigenous people in northern Australia from around the 1750s is the earliest evidence of a Muslim connection to Australia.
In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the pearl-shelling industry brought so-called "Malays" from south-east Asia to work as indentured labourers in Broome on the north-west coast of Australia.
Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas. Increasingly sophisticated dating methods are helping us gain a more accurate understanding of how people came to be in Australia.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
1 The first people to migrate to the Australian continent most likely came from regions in South-East Asia between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago.
You can find Aboriginal Muslims all over the country. Most live in urban areas and attend mosques alongside Muslims from other cultural backgrounds. Some of them are “cultural Muslims.” They identify with the cultural practices and some beliefs found in Islam, but they don't go to the mosque.
Permanent emigration of North Africans and Middle Easterns to Australia began in the 1940s onwards, possibly due to political turmoil in the MENA region that saw a wave of its international migrants. As of 2021, they number 800,000 persons with a nomination of their distinct ancestries.
reported that 1,140 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians identify as Muslim.
Muslims were some of the very first visitors to our shores and have helped to build our country into the prosperous and successful nation it is today. Many have chosen to live in Australia for the sake of their children, for education opportunities and for a better life.
Hindus by state or territory
Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religion in absolute numbers in every state and territory of Australia.
Anglican / Presbyterian - Anglicanism was also the faith followed by the majority of Australian colonists, convict and free settler, military and merchant class, throughout most of Australia's colonial history.
At the Battle of Tours near Poitiers, France, Frankish leader Charles Martel, a Christian, defeats a large army of Spanish Moors, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe.
Muhammad and his followers spread the teachings of Islam throughout the Arabian peninsula.
Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.
The Turkish represented the first 'Asian' migrants to settle in Australia on a large scale since 1901. They were also the first large Muslim population to settle in Australia.
162,283 Australian residents were born in one of the 22 Arab League nations, a proportion which represented 0.8% of Australia's population.
The first Lebanese migrant landed in Australia in 1876. At that time the area now known as Lebanon was a province of the Ottoman Empire. The Australian colonial governments of the time classified them as Turks. By 1947, the Lebanon-born and Syria-born populations in Australia numbered 1886.
So is Australia a Muslim-friendly country? Yes! In an age of increased scrutiny and mounting economic uncertainty, we should realize that the absolute majority of Australians do not have anything against Muslims and some sincerely want to learn more about Islam. And most importantly, always communicate.
Religion: The religion of the Aborigines is based on the stories of their origin, the so called dreamtime. The Expression “Dreamtime” is most often used to refer to the “time before time” or the “time of the creation of all things”.
Newer belief systems
The 1996 census reported that almost 72 percent of Aboriginal people practised some form of Christianity, and that 16 percent listed no religion.
Irish migrants accounted for one-quarter of Australia's overseas-born population in 1871. Irish migration was influenced by the politics of colonial immigration which tended to favour those born in England and Scotland. Fluctuations in the economies of Australia and of other prospective destinations also had an effect.
The first settlement, at Sydney, consisted of about 850 convicts and their Marine guards and officers, led by Governor Arthur Phillip. They arrived at Botany Bay in the "First Fleet" of 9 transport ships accompanied by 2 small warships, in January, 1788.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The original inhabitants, who have descendants to this day, are known as aborigines. In the eighteenth century, the aboriginal population was about 300,000.