Australian-Swiss relations

The Australian-Swiss relations developed as early as the 18th century at the time of the British Empire .

Diplomatic relations

The Switzerland opened a 1,855 Consulate in Sydney and in 1856 one in Melbourne . In Adelaide there was a consulate from 1879 to 1918, in Brisbane from 1889 to 1933. In 1961 the two countries established diplomatic relations and Switzerland set up an embassy in Canberra .

The Australian embassy in Berlin is also responsible for Switzerland. The Australian Consulate General is in Geneva ; In 2012 an honorary consulate opened in Zurich .

Economic relationships

Only a few years after the first settlement was founded in 1788, the first Swiss arrived in the Sydney region. The earliest significant emigration of Swiss people began with the appointment of Charles La Trobe in 1839 as Superintendent and later Governor of Victoria . His relationships led to the emigration of numerous winegrowers from the Neuchâtel region and the Bernese Seeland , who founded important wine-growing regions in Victoria . During the Australian gold rush in the middle of the 19th century, around 2000 Ticino gold diggers emigrated.

numbers

At the end of 2011, 23,378 Swiss nationals were living in Australia . Alongside the USA and Canada, Australia is the most important overseas community for the Swiss abroad .

literature

Susanne Wegmann: The fifth Switzerland on the fifth continent: The change in Swiss overseas migration since the early 19th century. Rüegger, Grüsch 1989, ISBN 3-7253-0354-1 (also dissertation from the University of Zurich from 1988 under the title: On the migration of the Swiss to Australia ).

Web links

Commons : Australian-Swiss relations - collection of images, videos and audio files

Susanne Wegmann: Australia. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Australia (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs)