The largest French Australian community is in the state of New South Wales, where they number 8,936 people, many of whom reside in Sydney.

[5] Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, Lapérouse, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Jules Dumont d'Urville, Nicolas Baudin, François Péron and Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne were some of the early European explorers to reach the continent.

Some of the earliest Huguenots to arrive in Australia held prominent positions in English society, notably Jane Franklin and Charles La Trobe.

They migrated to Australia from England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to escape the poverty in the East End of London, notably in the Huguenot enclaves of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green.

The prominent school St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill was founded by the French Marist Brother Emilian Pontet in 1881.

[8] The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, based in Kensington, New South Wales, ran missions in remote Australia and New Guinea.

[14] French cuisine has influenced the nation with French-inspired cafes, restaurants and boulangeries to be found in most major cities.