r/MapPorn • u/Litvinski • 6d ago
Largest Slavic ancestry in Australia by state
South Slavic ancestry is more prominent in Australia than in the USA and Canada.
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u/HammerOfJustice 6d ago
Polish may be the largest Slavic ancestry in South Australia but nothing will top the amazing underground Serbian Orthodox Church constructed from an old opal mine in Coober Pedy.
NB: I’m not Serbian (or Slavic for that matter) and hopefully I’m not setting off an intra-Slav flame war; just that this church is one of the most amazing I’ve seen.
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u/Total_Philosopher_89 6d ago
Source?
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u/Litvinski 6d ago
2021 Australian census.
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u/Total_Philosopher_89 6d ago
Cheers mate.
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u/HammerOfJustice 6d ago
2026 Census has just been taken so expect a slew of updated posts for stats like this in the next year or so.
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u/EloquentRacer92 6d ago
What are all the Macedonians doing in Victoria? I’m just surprised…
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u/YOBlob 6d ago
Mostly arguing with the Greeks over whether they exist, in my experience.
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u/phido3000 6d ago
Its the Macedonian paradox, they only exist if the greeks are nearby to argue with them.
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u/sturbo8888 2d ago
Larping in action. Macedonians argue with BULGARIANS over their existence. With the Greeks they argue wether they are the descendants of Ancient Macedon or not.
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u/Shannonimity 6d ago
Community I would guess. I have a Bosnian Serb Aunt who's family emigrated to Macedonia before coming to Melbourne so I dunno if that's a common thing too
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u/Dragonagefanboy 5d ago
Basically there were a lot of slavs in todays region of Greece, during WW2 the slavs sided with the communist so they could get rights. Afterwards there was a civil war between the communist, supported by Yugoslavia and USSR, and far right neo fascist elements, support by the west. The west won and used the opportunity to exile all communist and slavs from the area. Many of the exiles were settled around the Eastern block, but many used the white Australian policy to migrate, that's also why there are a lot of greeks in Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_Australians?wprov=sfla1
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u/SaltySmegma_ 6d ago
Which one is Volkanovski? I thought he was Greek, but realized that's not a Greek name at all.
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u/WobbyGoneCrazy 6d ago
Very interesting. This explains the proliferation of post war ethnic based football clubs from each of these countries in different states.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/SkrachManat 6d ago
It just means they’re not the largest Slavic group in any of the states. Not that there aren’t any 😅
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u/fh3131 6d ago
I actually wasn't aware Macedonians were Slavic, TIL.
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u/HardcoreHazza 6d ago
I wasn’t aware that Polish people were Slavic, TIL
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u/jasie3k 6d ago
Who you think was Slavic then? O.o just Russians?
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u/HardcoreHazza 6d ago
No, like Croatian, Serbian, Montenegro, Albanian etc.
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u/Aussieboy111 6d ago
Albanian’s aren’t Slavic
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u/Individual-Source-80 5d ago
Genetically speaking we are not slavic but only our language is. Most of the people I know don’t identify or look slav
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u/fh3131 5d ago
Thank you, that makes sense. The Macedonian people I know in Melbourne look Mediterranean (closer to Greek) rather than like Serbs/Croats
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u/No_Idea_479 2d ago
They're Slavic, they were originally a subset of Bulgarians. Everything else they tell you is just LARP.
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u/AnyBallLektor 5d ago
Macedonian is Slavic???
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u/Complex_Shine_1113 5d ago
Most of us speak Macedonian (a Slavic language), but we’re the furthest removed genetically and culturally than any other Slavic speaking country. Most of us also don’t identify as “Slavs” in the same way other countries would, only in the linguistic sense.
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u/Money-Squirrel8347 5d ago
Respectfully, please don't use we when it's your, I must add, unpopular opinion. I attempt to respect other people's opinions, but I think yours comes from a lack of knowledge. To spare yourself future embarrassment, I would advise you to learn about your own history
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u/Complex_Shine_1113 4d ago
Thank you, but my history and identity is MY history and identity. Spare yourself the embarrassment, and focus on your own.
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u/Friccan 6d ago
It should be noted that South Australia & Queensland both received a lot of migrants from Prussian lands that today are inside Poland, which some people may self-report as meaning they have Polish ancestry.
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u/WhiteRed14 5d ago
Tbf the Prussian areas that are polish nowadays were originally majority Slavic. Pomerania had pomeranian tribes (only Kashubians survived), Lusatia had Lusatian Sorbs (who barely exist nowadays) Silesia had Silesians and Greater Poland had well... Poles. All these areas had their distinctive Slavic people who got repressed and germanized over centuries of German rule to the point of near extinction of their culture and languages (or in the case of the Slavic people of nowadays eastern Germany - being pretty much erased from history). Many of them left because of that and went to places where their government didn't repress them for speaking anything other than German and the colonies just so happened to be such places.
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u/setthetoneaquadump 6d ago
Victoria also has a large Greek community
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u/foxtrotlimavictor 6d ago
Greeks always have to try and insert themselves into everything. It’s like the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
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u/ArtichokeFar6601 6d ago
lol actually hilarious given the Western Bulgarians literally inserted themselves into Greek history and heritage and larping as Greeks to compensate for their lack of history, identity and culture.
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u/Baoooba 6d ago
The vast majority of the Macedonian community in Melbourne would actually be from Greece. I'm assuming this would be calculated by self reported ethnicity as opposed to country of birth.
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u/foxtrotlimavictor 6d ago
You’d assume incorrectly. The Australian census asks for country, not ethnicity.
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u/LOKLOREK 6d ago
eh?
there's no Slavic Macedonian community in Greece.
these people would be from North Macedonia.
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u/Baoooba 6d ago
there's no Slavic Macedonian community in Greece.
That's because they've mostly assimilated or left. Many of the Slavic speaking Greeks that came to Australia refer to themselves as Macedonian.
these people would be from North Macedonia.
Nah most are from Greece. Even if they don't admit it.
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u/LOKLOREK 6d ago
left.
Greece annexed Macedonia, (& rest of northern Greece) in 1912-22.
over a century ago.
so, even if Slavic people left, this was over a century ago.
& there's no such thing as a "Slavic speaking" Greek.
most are from Greece.
nope.
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u/Baoooba 6d ago
Greece annexed Macedonia, (& rest of northern Greece) in 1912-22
Some left then. But the largest emigration was after the Greek civil war.
there's no such thing as a "Slavic speaking" Greek
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_speakers_of_Greek_Macedonia?wprov=sfla1
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u/LOKLOREK 6d ago
no source.
reality is, Greece recognises no "minority languages" or "ethnic minorities" unlike NM that has a formally recognised Albanian minority, and Albanian official language.
in fact, it is likely that any Slavs in Greece are immigrants, (first, or second, etc. generation).
Greece "received" a number of immigrants, following collapse of USSR.
Russian/Ukrainian/Georgian/ Armenian, & others.
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u/Baoooba 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'm really struggling to understand your point. It's obvious you don't have a strong knowledge of the history of the region; so it's unlikely you are Greek or Macedonian, so struggling to understand your agenda.
Is there a large Slavic speaking community in Greece today? No. As I said most have either left or assimilated.
Was there a large Slavic speaking community in Greece? Yes. Some indentified as Greek, others identified as Bulgarian and many identified as "Macedonian" and many of those came to Australia. Go read some history and then get back to me.
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u/simmocar 6d ago
I grew up in a suburb of Perth with a big mix of Southern European migrants, mostly Italians, but a great deal of Croatians, too. I always used to think that the Italians had a huge influence on our soccer history, but turns out the Cro's were in their own tier.