| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Dictionary of Sydney |
| Place of Publication | Sydney |
| Publisher | Dictionary of Sydney |
| Pages | 4pp |
| Volume | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Abstract
Cambodians began coming to Australian in the mid to late 1970s, predominantly after the fall of their country's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime to invading Vietnamese forces in 1978. The majority fled to Thailand, either overland or by sea, where they waited in refugee camps for resettlement. A large part of the existing community arrived in the 1980s, either as refugees or as family reunion migrants. Today in Sydney there are 8,900 people of Khmer ancestry, and 4,507 of Chinese Cambodian ancestry (out of a national population of 25,553 of Khmer ancestry and 9,667 of Chinese Cambodian background). Over 60 per cent of those of Cambodian ancestry who live in Sydney reside in the Fairfield local government area. Community life centres on the Khmer temples of Fairfield and Liverpool and the commercial and cultural centre of Cabramatta.