Scandinavian immigration and settlement in Australia before World War II

Abstract

This dissertation outlines the course of Scandinavian immigration and settlement in Australia from the earliest days of European penetration to World War II; and analyses the demographic profile, and surveys certain aspects of the integration of the Scandinavian immigrants themselves» It utilizes Australian census, migration, marriage and other statistics, colonial and Commonwealth naturalization records, documents and newspapers, interviews with settlers and their descendants; it also uses certain Scandinavian and other sources» In handling these materials a combined demographic and historical approach was used: after official statistics and archival data revealed the patterns of immigration and settlement, materials from other sources were used to enlarge and illustrate the story» Though using some demographic methods this work is basically a contribution of a social historian to the field of human migration.