Our History

The Macedonian Community of Adelaide & SA Inc. was established in 1947, & incorporated in 1958, & in the year 2017 celebrated its 70th anniversary with a well-attended function at Findon, where its own premises are found, at 146-148 Crittenden Road. These premises, established in 1967, comprise of the Macedonian Community Hall, & on an adjacent allotment, the Macedonian Orthodox Church “St Naum of Ohrid” (established in 1969, with the present structure having been built & consecrated on 29 April 1984 by Bishop Timotej, Metropolitan of the Australian Diocese of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, with its seat in the Republic of Macedonia), & the Macedonian Cultural Centre, established in 1988. The Cultural Centre houses an office, radio studio, library, & meeting rooms. The net asset worth of the entire property is approx. $2M.

Australian-Macedonians comprise one of the largest European-language settler groups, numbering over 200,000, with the biggest concentrations in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Newcastle, & Illawarra (Wollongong & Pt. Kembla), & smaller numbers in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Canberra, Queanbeyan, Geelong, Shepparton, Hobart, & Manjimup. Numbers in SA are very modest, however, & other than a few families in Port Lincoln & the SA Riverland, are found almost exclusively in Adelaide. As the oldest & largest Macedonian organization in this state, the Community services a Macedonian-origin population in Adelaide & South Australia of approx. 1800-2000 persons, with a financial membership generally varying between 130-180 persons annually. Over half of this population are post WWII migrants which arrived essentially from the late 1940s to late '60s, from the Aegean region of Macedonia (within the political borders of modern Greece), while the remainder have origins from the contiguous, independent Republic of Macedonia, (North Macedonia since 2019) which prior to declaring sovereignty as an independent nation in 1991, was formerly (since 1944) an autonomous republic within the multi-ethnic federation previously known as Yugoslavia; only a few are pre-war migrants. The numbers of settlers from the Pirin region of Macedonia, i.e., within the political borders of modern Bulgaria, & from the Mala Prespa & Golo Brdo regions of Macedonia (within the political borders of modern Albania), remain very small. The partition of this territory, retained singularly as an administrative unit under the Ottoman Turkish Empire from the late 1300s to 1912, occurred as a result of the two Balkan Wars (1912-13), which saw the Balkan League states of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, & Montenegro, under Great European Power patronage, militarily defeat Turkey, & effect the partition of Macedonian territory by way of the Treaty of Bucharest (10 August 1913), & which was affirmed at the official ending of WWI, by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. 

Regardless of geographical origin however, Macedonians in SA identify strongly & uniformly with the ethno-specific Macedonian national entity, speak the Macedonian language, and practise the Macedonian culture and religion (Eastern Orthodox). The population here, in terms of its major demographic aspect, is ageing, & this has strongly influenced the number of persons participating in activities, & the types of structures & services offered, in a manner not unlike many of the other early post-war European settler groups.