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At the time of European settlement in 1788, the Aboriginal inhabitants followed their own religions involving beliefs in spirits behind the forces of nature, and the influence of ancestral spirit beings.

During the 1800s European settlers brought their traditional churches to Australia. These included the Church of England (now the Anglican Church), and the Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Lutheran and Baptist churches.

With the exception of a small but significant Lutheran population of Germanic descent, Australian society in 1901 was predominantly Anglo-Celtic, with 40% of the population being Anglican, 23% Catholic, 34% other Christian and about 1% professing non-Christian religions.

Further waves of migration helped to reshape the profile of Australia's religious affiliations over subsequent decades. The impact of migration from Europe in the aftermath of World War II led to increases in affiliates of the Orthodox Churches, the establishment of Reformed bodies, growth in the number of Catholics (largely from Italian migration), and the creation of ethnic parishes among many other denominations. More recently, immigration from South-East Asia and the Middle East has expanded Buddhist and Muslim numbers considerably, and increased the ethnic diversity of existing Christian denominations. There are also many people who identify themselves as 'New Age.'

Now the statistics show that 27% are Roman Catholic, 21% Anglican, 5% are followers of non-Christian religions, and 26% are non-religious. Only about 7.5% of the population attend weekly church services. Many local Australian communities now organise multifaith and interfaith activities.

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Information courtesy of Sue Ellson, Founder of Newcomers Network and Dina Zavrski-Makaric, Sydney Representative of Newcomers Network and Personal Coach and Counsellor of Challenging Directions.

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