The first Ceylon-born (now Sri Lankans) immigrants to Australia were recruited in the late 1800s to work on the cane plantations of northern Queensland. Immigration of Sri Lankan people to Australia was very limited until the countrys independence in 1948.

Why did Sri Lankans come to Australia?

The majority of Tamils born in Sri Lanka came to Australia after 1983 when Sri Lanka faced ethnic turmoil and unrest (Black July). The Western suburbs of Sydney and the South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne have a relatively high number of Tamil speaking people.

Why did Sri Lankans leave Sri Lanka?

The Sri Lankan people moved to foreign countries because of civil war, poverty, and unemployment. When they moved to foreign countries they learned different cultures, different languages, and they made their own new life styles for their future generations.

Who are the original Sri Lankans?

According to the Mahāvamsa, a Pāḷi chronicle written in the 5th century CE, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600 BCE and other signs of advanced civilisation have also been discovered in Sri Lanka.

How many Sri Lankan refugees in Australia?

An estimated one-third of all Sri Lankan Tamils now live outside of the island nation, with large diaspora communities in Canada, the UK, India and Australia. At the last census in 2016, there were at least 109,849 Sri Lankan-born people in Australia, around 25 per cent of whom said they spoke Tamil at home.

Where are Sri Lankans originally from?

According to the 5th-century epic poem Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from the Indo-Aryan settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura, in India, led by Prince Vijaya.