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The city of Melbourne, Victoria is the second-largest urban area of Australia behind Sydney. It is the capital city of the state of Victoria as well as the largest city in the state. Also, Melbourne is one of the most diverse cities in Australia and in the world.
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Greeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia. On the other hand, Melbourne is home to one of the largest Greek diaspora communities in the world as well as being the city with the largest Greek-speaking population outside Greece.
According to the 2001 Australian census, Melbourne has the largest Greek Australian population in Australia (151,785 or around 47%), and the largest Greek population of any city in the World - outside of Greece. Economic bilateral relations between Australia and Greece are worth over A$140 million.
Melbourne is also a sister city to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city.
History
Greek immigration to the state of Victoria began in the 1850s with the gold rush.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, about 49,991 Greeks were born in Victoria, with the vast majority of them living in Melbourne.
Greek Cypriots
The 2011 census recorded 8,178 Cyprus-born people in Victoria, the majority of them being Greek Cypriots.