how much of the population in australia did irish descendants make up until 1914
Irish Australians Irish Australians (Irish: Gael-AstrÃ¡laigh) are an ethnic group of Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the island of Ireland. Irish Australians have played a considerable part in the history of Australia. They came to Australia from the late eighteenth century on as convicts or settlers, and contributed largely to Australia's development in many different areas. From the late 19th century to the present about a third of the population in Australia is Irish.[4]
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Unlike Southern Ireland, which would become the Irish Free State in 1922, the majority of Northern Ireland's population were unionists, who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom.[15] Most of these were the Protestant descendants of colonists from Great Britain. However, a significant minority, mostly Catholics, were nationalists who wanted a united Ireland independent of British rule.[16][17][18][19] Today, the former generally see themselves as British and the latter generally see themselves as Irish, while a distinct Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed both by a large minority of Catholics and Protestants and by many of those who are non-aligned.[20]