Community

Burmese Community in Australia

Population

In April 2006 Myanmar’s population was approximately 50 million with a growth rate
of 0.81 per cent. Life expectancy for the total population is 60.97 years (male: 58.07 years and female: 64.03 years). The infant mortality rate is 61.85 deaths
per 1000 live births (male: 72.68 deaths/1000 live births and female: 50.38 deaths/1000 live births).

Ethnicity

The Burmese population is ethnically complex and is composed of approximately 135 ethnic groups and sub-groups, each with its own dialect, beliefs and customs.

Language

The official language is Burmese and approximately 80 per cent of the population can speak Burmese. As noted above, the Burmese language encompasses a number of dialects. In addition, each of the 135 ethnic groups has their own language and dialect, and Burmese may be spoken as a second language. English instruction begins in primary school.
 
Gender

Traditionally, women have enjoyed a high social and economic status and have had similar rights to men. Women keep their names after marriage and usually manage the family finances. They work alongside men on family farms and in small businesses. However, there are few women in traditional male occupations and women are not permitted to practise some professions.

 
Religion

Buddhism (Theravada) is the main religion, practiced by 89 per cent of the population, and has a direct impact on all aspects of daily life including family. Christianity is practiced by four per cent of the people (Baptist three per cent, Roman Catholic one per cent), Islam by four per cent and the remaining three per cent practice Hinduism or animism. Buddhism emphasises compassion, equality and wisdom, and requires worship, meditation, charity, pilgrimages, sponsoring the building of a pagoda or becoming a monk. Most boys in Myanmar are expected to spend some time in a monastery during their youth.

Community in Australia

Arrival and Settlement

Burmese began coming to Australia from around 1947, just before Independence in 1948. Numbers increased in the 1960s, prompted in part by a military coup in 1962.

Most of the arrivals in Australia were Anglo-Burmese, the families of British colonial staff, who after Independence faced discrimination and difficulty finding employment under the military regime.

Between 1947 and 1959 it's estimated just over 3,000 Anglo-Burmese settled in Australia, with most moving to Perth. Emigration increased under the military regime between 1968 and 1974 and slowly more and more Burmese set up home in Australia's eastern states. living in Australia

Then, in 1988, political unrest erupted in Myanmar, leaving thousands dead and injured.

Australia set up special assistance migration programs. Under these programs, many places were reserved for Burmese who'd fled to the border regions of Thailand. Latest estimates put the Australian-Burmese population at around 10,000. Most of them are Therevada Buddhists

The Burmese language is made up of a distinctive alphabet which consists of circles or portions of circles used in various combinations. According to Katzner's Languages of the World, it evolved when writing was generally done on palm leaves with a stylus, making straight lines very difficult.

At the time of the 2001 Census, 11 070 Myanmar born people were living in Australia, an increase of nine per cent from the 1996 Census. According to the department’s Settlement Database (SDB), between the period of 2000-05 a further 1875 Burmese1 arrived in Australia.