ROMANIAN COMMUNITY OF MELBOURNE

  • POPULATION:

According to ABS 1996 census data, there were 12,282 Romania-born persons in Australia, but 9,165 Romanian speakers, 3,951 of them in Victoria.
The largest number of Romania-born persons resided in Victoria (4,844), followed by NSW with 3,571 persons.
According to the same Census, the second generation of Romania-born numbered 6,181 people.
(Data kindly supplied by DIMIA as used in official Immigration Department proceedings - Aug 2000)

  • ORIGINS:


Australians of Romanian ethnic background migrated mainly from Romania, a country situated in Eastern Europe, which was in the direct Soviet sphere of influence ('behind the Iron Curtain') between 1947-1989. An undetermined number of ethnic Romanians came to Australia from countries bordering Romania: Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, or from Balkan countries: Macedonia, Albania, Greece.

  • SPOKEN LANGUAGE:

The common linguistic denominator is Romanian, a neo-Latin language of Dacian-Romance-Slavic origin. Romanians from the Balkans speak various dialects of Romanian. Some groups within the Romanian community communicate in Hungarian, Gypsy, Serbian, German and Greek, in accordance with their ethnic backgrounds.

  • RELIGION:

As in the home country, the majority of Romanian migrants are Christian Orthodox. However, in Melbourne, unlike in Romania, the Protestant denominations are larger, up to 40% according to unofficial estimates. Their congregations are mainly Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist. In addition to Christian denominations, a number of Romanian Jews practice their faith in Australia.

  • CULTURE:

The culture of the Australian Romanian community echoes strongly that of the home country, which is a transition between Eastern and Western European traditions. There are many active Romanian cultural manifestations in various areas, such as: literature, theatre, fine arts, journalism, music, acting, radio.

  • MASS MEDIA:

Two radio stations broadcast in Romanian:

3ZZZ: on 92.3 FM one hour per week (Saturday between 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.)

SBS (3EA): on 93.1 FM two hours per week (timetable see Green Guide)

You may hyperjump to a list of Melbourne community and religious associations . There will be links to individual pages, if these organisations make their information or WWW pages available.

Page maintained by: ROMANIAN CULTURAL CLUB OF MELBOURNE.

Any contributions, corrections and additions are welcome. We cannot guarrantee their publication or availability, but will do the utmost to improve the quality and completeness of this page, to make it reflect the dynamics of the Romanian community of Melbourne. Last content update: 28.10.2000