ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history and structure of the Greek community in Australia. Greeks are one of the largest non-British populations in this country. They exhibit many characteristics typical of other migrant groups, in terms of class, occupational and ‘ethnic’ location in Australian society. An understanding of the class dynamics of the Greek community can, therefore, provide crucial insights into the internal class history and processes of other migrant communities. The class structure of migrant communities has an important bearing on questions regarding the state ideology of multiculturalism, on the one hand, and the ethnic fragmentation of the working class, on the other. Ethnic categories divorced from broader class considerations are, at best, surface accounts of social reality under capitalism. The settlement of the first Greek pioneers in Australia exhibits certain characteristics which merit attention. They were not attracted to agricultural employment, and settled mainly in Sydney and Melbourne.
