The first recorded Cambodia-born migrants to arrive in Australia were a family of nine who arrived in the late 1940s. Following Cambodia's independence from French rule in 1953, Cambodian students began coming to Australia in small numbers. During the 1960s and 1970s, larger groups of students came to Australia under the Colombo Plan, many of whom settled in Australia.
Following the takeover of Cambodia by the Communist Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot in 1975, small numbers of Cambodian asylum-seekers came to Australia
and, by June 1976, the Cambodia-born population in Australia increased to 500 people. Between April 1975 and June 1986, 12 813 Cambodians came to Australia under the Refugee and Special Humanitarian Programme.
Between 1989 and April 1991, some 315 asylum-seekers from Cambodia arrived by boat. The Australian Government subsequently introduced the Special Assistance Category programme to encourage boat arrivals to return to Cambodia and apply for sponsorship to Australia under normal migration procedures. Family stream migration increased the number of the Cambodia-born in Australia.
The Cambodians have successfully established communities in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
There were 23 000 Cambodia-born people in Australia at the 2001 Census, making up 0.6 per cent of the overseas-born population.
Today
Geographic Distribution
The latest Census in 2006 recorded 24 530 Cambodia-born people in Australia, an increase of 6.7 per cent from the 2001 Census. The 2006 distribution by state and territory showed New South Wales had the largest number with 9970 followed by Victoria (9790), South Australia (2440) and Queensland (1210).
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