Birthplace origins of Australia’s immigrants BettsKatharine 2017 The birthplace origins of Australia’s migrants have changed; in the 1960s most came from Britain and Europe. In the late 1970s this pattern began to shift and countries in Asia and the Middle East started to become more important sources. In 2002 the proportion of net permanent and long-term migrants who had been born in Asia was just under 72 per cent, and the proportion from the Middle East and North Africa was just over seven per cent. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s