Latvian Australians
Latvian folk dance group 'Senatne', Queensland, 1951 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Latvian 3,758 (by birth, 2016 census) 20,509 (by ancestry, 2016 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sydney and Melbourne | |
| Languages | |
| Australian English, Latvian | |
| Religion | |
| Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Estonian Australians · Lithuanian Australians · Latgalians · Kursenieki · Livonians · Latvians · Latvian Canadians · Latvian Americans |
Latvian Australians are Australian citizens of Latvian descent, or persons born in Latvia who reside in Australia. At the 2016 Census, 20,509 residents in Australia reported to have Latvian ancestry.
Few Latvians arrived in Australia before 1947.
Between 1947 and 1952, 19,700 Latvian refugees arrived in Australia as displaced persons under the supervision of the International Refugee Organization. The first voyage under Arthur Calwell's Displaced Persons immigration program, that of the General Stuart Heintzelman in 1947, was specially chosen to be all from Baltic nations, all single, many blond and blue-eyed, in order to appeal to the Australian public. Of the 843 immigrants on the Heintzelman, 264 were Latvian.