How waves of immigration shaped city’s suburbs

Sydney is often framed by its regions – the northern beaches, the western suburbs and the shire, to name a few. But the city’s rich migrant geography gets less attention.

Waves of immigration have made Sydney one of the world’s most multicultural cities: more than four in 10 of its residents were born overseas.

Analysis of census data by this masthead reveals distinctive patterns of settlement according to country of birth. Much as a tree’s growth rings reveal its age and health, these patterns of migrant settlement help tell the city’s story.

Nearly 5 per cent of Sydneysiders were born in China. It was the most common overseas country of birth in a swath of suburbs that fan out around Ryde and Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north. Many Chinese-born residents also live near the Georges River in the city’s south – in Hurstville, more than 30 per cent of the population was born in mainland China.

Almost 4 per cent of Sydney’s population was born in India. It was the most common overseas country of birth in a wide corridor of suburbs stretching north-west from Parramatta to Box Hill and Marsden Park. In the Parramatta-North area, 38 per cent of the population was Indian-born, the highest percentage from a single overseas country anywhere in the city.

In a clump of south-west Sydney suburbs, Vietnam was the most common overseas country of birth. The highest share was in Cabramatta-Lansvale, where 36.1 per cent were born in Vietnam. A little further south-west, around Liverpool, there’s a band of suburbs where Iraq was most common.

The Philippines was the most prevalent overseas country of birth in a group of neighbourhoods in the Mount Druitt area.

Despite these settlement patterns, Nick Parr, honorary professor of demography at Macquarie University, points out that most suburban populations have a blend of migrant backgrounds and birth countries.

“The overall pattern is one of a mixture of country of birth groups,” he says. “We do not have ethnic ghettos in Sydney.”

Migrants born in Britain, especially England, have shaped Sydney’s population for more than 200 years.

KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley says that in the 1970s and ’80s, England would have been the most common overseas country of birth across much of Sydney, but migration settlement patterns have since shifted.

“Over the past 30 years, we’ve had more migration to the city from India and China, so England has been displaced as the No. 1 overseas country of birth in some major regions of Sydney,” Rawnsley says.

The last census showed that England was the fourth most common country of birth in Sydney (behind Australia, China and India). But it is still the most common overseas country of birth in a broad ring of neighbourhoods running from the city’s far south, through the outer west and north-west, then all the way down to the north shore, northern beaches and eastern suburbs.

That huge suburban arc takes in the Sutherland Shire, Narellan in the south-west, Penrith and Springwood in the far west, Richmond and Dural in the outer north-west and then Sydney’s east coast, including Frenchs Forest, Manly, Mosman, Bondi and Maroubra.

Parr says the high share of England-born residents in coastal neighbourhoods to the north and south of Sydney Harbour reflects the high skill and income levels common in that migrant community as well as the “attraction of beachside living”.

In the Manly-Fairlight area, 11.6 per cent of the population was born in England, the highest share of any neighbourhood.

Italian-born and Greek-born residents, many of whom arrived in the 1950s and ’60s, are prevalent in several inner western and south-western suburbs, where housing was relatively affordable at that time.

Scattered across Sydney are smaller suburban clusters where Bangladesh, Nepal, New Zealand and South Africa were the most common overseas countries of birth.

The inner-city area of Sydney South-Haymarket has the highest percentage of its population born overseas, at 84.1 per cent.

Analysis of Bureau of Statistics figures by Rawnsley shows the most common country of birth for new arrivals in NSW last financial year was India (15,610), followed by China (15,080) and Nepal (8077), with Britain fourth (7660 – there was no separate data for England).

Sydney’s country of birth geography shows where different generations of migrants set up shop, where they built their cultural and economic networks, and how they’ve related to each other.

Every time Professor Kevin Dunn, deputy vice chancellor at Western Sydney Uni and an expert in human geography and urban studies, has visitors from overseas, he takes them to these migrant hotspots, starting in the inner city and working his way west.

“I always take my colleagues on a tour of cultural Sydney; it’s an amazing geography we have,” he says. “It’s the people that mark place and generate that amazing geography.”

Dunn says that part of the reason the clusters formed was “chain migration”, where an initial flow of migrants to an area creates a domino effect.

“Migrants are not received by government, per se, they are received by family and friends. And the geography of migrants is fairly narrow when they first arrive in a country – they are heavily reliant on chains that bind them to friends and relatives from where they came from.

“And they then create great cultural infrastructure, like places of worship, cultural centres, as well as in commerce via small businesses.”

Parr says the affordability and availability of housing were a major influence on where migrants locate.

Settlement patterns of Indian-born Sydney residents illustrate this; the vast majority of that group arrived during the past two decades, many locating in recently developed residential areas in Sydney’s north-west.

“For that community, there has been a coincidence of time of arrival in Australia and the development of housing around that time,” Parr says.

Employment and income also influence migrant settlement patterns. Most recent arrivals are now skilled migrants, often with professional jobs. This group can often afford to live in more affluent suburbs, while earlier migrants with lower skill levels tended to settle in Sydney’s outer west and south-west, where housing is cheaper.

Once a significant number of people from one migrant community have located in an area, others from that community are attracted by shops, restaurants, places of worship, cultural celebrations and other personal connections.

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