Immigrating to Sydney: South Africans in Sydney

Hi everyone,

as I am a South African who has moved to Sydney(and has a blog about living in Sydney), I thought I would try and do some research on South Africans in Sydney as of right now, end 2014.

I am personally an English speaking South African(my Afrikaans is not too bad - depending on who you ask!). I was born and bred in Hillbrow, Johannesburg and believe it or not, I can remember green parks and waterslides and swimming pools in that area... Not so much the same now unless things have changed radically since I left.

I am well qualified in talking about Sydney as I have migrated there TWICE now and its been an up and down roller coaster ride with highs and some very dark lows. (very effing lonely and very effing expensive living there.. did I mention how expensive Sydney is...?)

Personally I think almost all white South Africans in Sydney, especially the adults will have left South Africa due to social ills and fear. -Fear about South Africa's future, fear about infrastructure and I guess fears about crimes and job availability. (in a nutshell (lets call it as it is)).

Please note - no blame here. Apartheid in South Africa over the last 80 years has basically ruined the country. (some people wont like that..anyway that's my opinion, no use blaming the current government without blaming the existing government) Just imagine what could have happened if the old gov. had skilled up the whole population and not just 10% of the population. Very very very short sighted.

OK so on to South Africans in Sydney

So, how do I categorize it. There are a RICH bunch of South Africans that moved to Sydney, and there are the working class that moved, and then there are the rest, who are either youngsters with enough points to get a visa or Kids of South African immigrants.

These are further divided into English speaking and Afrikaans speaking South Africans.

There is a very large and seemingly very affluent South African Jewish Community in St Ives and the surrounding areas. They have a Jewish school and synagogue there. I know because I drive past it often and there are security guards.

There are some very active online forums - SA Australia being one. I am trying to start a forum, but its very difficult as the big boy forums are already out there. And its getting spammed a lot. (Please join up and help me get it running!!)

When I lived in St Ives - about 20 minutes by train north of Sydney (very upper class) I bumped into South African mothers all the time as kids came to visit our kids etc. I must admit, they were very friendly on the whole.

The pool guy in St Ives was also a very old fashioned, old afrikaaner(about 60) who cleaned our pool once a week. I think he had problems being a "laborer" his attitude was very bad and in the end we swopped him out for another service. You have to be a south African to understand this. Most White South Africans do not do "manual labor", they get people to do it for them. I know this is a generalization, but in the past this was how it was, it may have changed a bit. No maids in Sydney ne people! minimum wage is AUD $16 per hour, not so affordable to have a house keeper..

Where do South Africans live in Sydney?

Firstly, there are about 50000 South Africans living in Sydney which is only about half a percent of the Australian population. (Actually that's quite big)

Of course South Africans don't move to Sydney to be with other South Africans but if you are interested here are some breakdowns.

Here is a breakdown within Sydney.
Eastern suburbs - 6398 (2.6%)
North Sydney - 7728 (2.1%)
Baulkham Hills - 3168 (1.5%)
North Beach - 3017 (1.3%)
Central Coast - 1369 (0.4%)

Lets focus on Eastern Sydney
Dover Heights - 555 (14.1%) --- So many, and such a high percentage?
Rose Bay - 868 (9.2%)
Vaucluse - 563 (4.7%)

A few of the prominent Suburbs in North Sydney with South Africans
St Ives - 1742 (11.2%)
Cherry brook - 565 (3%)

Latest statistics put South Africans as new comers to Australia with an average stay of 10 years so far compared to others who have averages of 40 to 50 years.
South Africans are only 8th on the list of migrants coming to Australia though.

Dover heights is very expensive, you would need a couple million to buy up there. So not for the average Sydney migrator?

The density of migrants within Sydney suburbs by percentage (not just south Africans though)