The first Finn to visit Australia was naturalist and draughtsman Herman Dietrich Spöring, who arrived in 1770 with James Cook’s first voyage on the HMS Endeavour.
The first group of Finnish immigrants in Australia came to work in the gold mines of Victoria in the 1850s. The 1920s and 1950s saw the main migration waves from Finland to Australia. In the 2016 census, 24,145 people in Australia claimed Finnish ancestry.
Notable Australians with Finnish ancestry include Greg Norman (Finnish grandfather) and Shane Jacobson (Finnish great-grandfather).
TEAM FINLAND
Have you ever wanted to pull on your national jumper and represent your country?
Playing Footy 9s gives you an opportunity to do just that! It’s a fun and exciting new sport, with both full contact (tackling) and non-contact (no tackling) options to choose from.
If you are of Finnish descent and keen to represent Finland, please join the Team Finland Facebook group.
