Australians, colloquially known as Aussies,[29] are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia.

Australian law does not provide for a racial or ethnic component of nationality, instead relying on citizenship as a legal status, though the Constitutional framers considered the Commonwealth to be "a home for Australians and the British race alone",[31] as well as a "Christian Commonwealth".

[33][34] Between European colonisation in 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century.

[39][40] As the Asian Australian population continues to expand and flourish as a result of changes in the demographic makeup of immigrants and as there has been increased economic and cultural intercourse with Asian nations, Australia has observed the gradual emergence of a "Eurasian society" within its major urban hubs, blending both European and Asian material and popular culture within a distinctly Australian context.

[35] The predominance of the English language, the existence of a parliamentary system of government drawing upon the Westminster system, constitutional monarchy, American constitutionalist and federalist traditions, Christianity as the dominant religion, and the popularity of sports including cricket, rugby football and tennis are evidence of a significant Anglo-Celtic heritage derived from the descendants of early settlers who form an ancestral group known as Anglo-Celtic Australians.

As a result of many shared linguistic, historical, cultural and geographic characteristics, Australians have often identified closely with New Zealanders in particular.

[49] Since soon after the beginning of British settlement in 1788, people of European descent have formed the majority of the population in Australia.

Although some observers stress Australia's convict history, the vast majority of early settlers came of their own free will.

[53] Far more Australians are descended from assisted immigrants than from convicts, the majority of Colonial Era settlers being British and Irish.

The German community constitutes the second largest non-Anglo Celtic European ethnic group in Australia, amounting to 4% of respondents in the 2021 Census.

The very early history of Chinese Australians involved significant immigration from villages of the Pearl River Delta in Southern China.

Less well-known are the kinds of society Chinese Australians came from, the families they left behind and what their intentions were in migrating.

Indians are the youngest average age (34 years) and the fastest growing community both in terms of absolute numbers and percentages in Australia.

[75][76] The Torres Strait Islanders are a distinct people of Melanesian ancestry, indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands, which are at the northernmost tip of Queensland near Papua New Guinea, and some nearby settlements on the mainland.

The term "Aboriginal" is traditionally applied to only the indigenous inhabitants of mainland Australia and Tasmania, along with some of the adjacent islands.

Indigenous Australians is an inclusive term used when referring to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders (the "first peoples").

Dispersing across the Australian continent over time, the population expanded and differentiated into hundreds of distinct groups, each with its own language and culture.

[78] In 1770, fearing he had been pre-empted by the French, James Cook changed a hilltop signal-drill on Possession Island in Torres Strait, into a possession ceremony, fabricating Britain's claim of Australia's east coast.

[33] The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2021.

The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%).

[81] Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact,[89] of which fewer than twenty are still in daily use by all age groups.

Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%).

The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land.