In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether sole or partial).

[1] People of ethnic English origin have been the largest group to migrate to Australia since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.

There is a tendency to refer to these ancestries collectively due to their long history in Australia and the high degree of intermixture which has occurred over centuries.

After the Second World War, even as immigration from other countries expanded dramatically, English citizens had almost unrestricted entry into Australia.

[4] In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (whether wholly or partial).

[29] People of English descent were by far the single most influential ethnic group in colonial Australia.

[citation needed] In Sydney, at least 50 suburban names are derived directly from 20 English counties, of which the largest numbers are from Kent, Surrey and London.

Among the best known are Surry Hills, Croydon, Hornsby, Epping, Chipping Norton, Brighton-le-Sands, Bexley, Canterbury, Ryde, Kensington, Lewisham and Penshurst.