NEKOLIKO NAPOMENA O BROJU HRVATA, HRVATSKOM JEZIKU, ŠKOLAMA I HRVATSKIM MEDIJIMA U AUSTRALIJI
A FEW COMMENTS ON THE NUMBER OF CROATS, CROATIAN LANGUAGE, SCHOOLS AND CROATIAN MEDIA IN AUSTRALIA

Summary/Abstract: In various written sources the data on the number of Croats in Australia vary from 200,000 to 500,000. At the same time, the data obtained from the census that can be processed based on the comparison of the number of speakers of Croatian, religious affiliation of participants in the censuses and place of birth, give a considerably altered picture resulting in a much smaller official number of Australian Croats. This article, based on the last two censuses, as well as on the calculations of the percentage of second-generation members with regard to the first, has tried to reveal the smallest provable number of Australian Croats, i.e. Australians of Croatian descent, by drawing a line between the two given determinants of affiliation. Furthermore, since the issue of the number of Croats in Australia is connected with the issue of Croatian language, the article discusses the preservation of the latter in Australia, its official recognition, the Australian school system in Croatian, but also the disturbing fact that bilingualism in Australian-Croatian families is declining and that the number of children learning Croatian is continually falling. The third part of the article deals with the Croatian media in Australia, especially in NSW and Victoria.

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