Much of the migration of Palestinians to Australia has occurred after major conflicts that displaced Palestinian people from their homes.
Hassam Bushara was among the earliest known Palestinian immigrants to South Australia. He arrived in Port Adelaide as a young man in 1908. For several years he believed he was in America. Unscrupulous shipping agents often exploited naive immigrants by charging them for a passage to the most expensive destination.
The 1947 census recorded that there were 108 Palestinian-born South Australians.
A number of Palestinians came to South Australia after the creation of Israel in 1948. They were among 700,000 Palestinians who fled the region at that time.
A group of Palestinians immigrated to South Australia following the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan. About a million Palestinians were displaced by the subsequent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Recent Palestinian immigrants have come to South Australia to improve employment opportunities and their quality of life.
Palestinian South Australians have settled throughout metropolitan Adelaide. They are employed in a range of occupations.
