Fiji-born people have been settling in Victoria since the 19th
century. During the 1870s, while the population of Victoria
declined, the Fiji-born population of Victoria increased five-
fold, with 95 community members by 1881. Most were of European
descent, and the increase may have been related to the
annexation of Fiji by Great Britain in 1874. The Fiji-born
population of Victoria increased slowly during the first decades
of the 20th century, with the White Australia Policy preventing
non-European Fijians from immigrating. Those who did arrive were
the families of Christian missionaries who originally came from
Australia or Europe. By 1933, 214 Fiji-born people lived in
Victoria. Immigration from Fiji to Australia began to increase
after Fiji became independent from Great Britain in 1970.
Attracted by Australia’s employment and economic opportunities,
the Fiji-born population in Victoria quadrupled to 2,271 in the
fifteen years prior to 1986. Two military coups in Fiji in 1987,
aimed at securing indigenous F