Australian Jewry is one of the few diaspora communities that is growing in size – growth entirely due to immigration rather than to natural increase. Three main groups have been emigrating to Australia since the 1960s: South Africans, Russians and Israelis. In 2004, a survey was carried out for the Jewish Agency of these three groups, based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 Census, a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews.

From South Africa

The group from South Africa has had the most significant impact on Australian Jewry. According to the 2001 Census, 10 473 Jews had been born in South Africa but, allowing for under-counting of 20 per cent, the number is likely to be closer to 14 000–15 000. The first immigrants, 13 families, arrived in 1948, having determined that life under the antisemitic Prime Minister Dr Daniel Malan would be untenable. The second wave, some 47 families, came in the early 1960s after the Sharpeville massacre. A third, more substantial wave occurred after 1975, following the Soweto riots. In the last five years of apartheid, to 1990, emigration again increased, and was maintained until 1995. South African immigration has decreased slightly since then, but many are still coming, largely because of the high level of crime and a sense of insecurity.