European Australians, or Australians of European descent, (colloquially known as White Australians) are citizens or residents of Australia whose ancestry, or part of it, is traced back to the peoples of the area now described as Europe. They form the largest panethnic group in the country. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within European ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to more than 57.2% (46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European). It is impossible to properly quantify the precise proportion of the population with (some) European ancestry for both definitional, scientific and mathematical reasons. For instance, many census recipients nominated two European ancestries—as well they might, given the nature of ancestry—tending towards an overcount. (As well, respondents were limited to the nomination of a maximum of two ancestries on that question.) Conversely, 29.9% of census recipients nominated "Australian" ancestry (categorised within the Oceanian ancestry group, although most of them are likely to have had some Anglo-Celtic or European ancestors), tending towards an undercount.

Since the early 19th century, people of European descent have formed the majority of the population in Australia. European-originating ideas, values, systems of government and law, and immigrants, have been widely adopted and influential in Australian culture, government and society, leading to the assessment of Australia as a partly European-derived country.

The majority of European Australians are of British Isles – English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh – ancestral origin. While not an official ancestral classification, they are often referred to as Anglo-Celtic Australians. Other significant ancestries include Italian, German, Greek, Dutch, European New Zealanders, Polish, Maltese, and Scandinavian.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and its quinquennial Australian Census does not collect data based on race, at least not directly. Instead, it collects information on distinct ancestries, of which census respondents can select up to two (but no more than two). The notion of ancestry used by respondents to the census question—and taken up by this article—thus relies on individual self-identification of one's 'ancestry', adding further ambiguity to an already contested notion that perhaps sits closer to personal self-identification as part of a (historical) socio-cultural group than precise genetic derivation.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of aggregating data usefully, the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG) has grouped certain ancestries into certain categories, including the following two broad European groupings:

While officially part of the North-West European classification, Australians of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh or Cornish ancestral origins are often informally referred to as Anglo-Celtic Australians.^{[citation needed]}

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most people nominating "Australian" ancestry have at least partial Anglo-Celtic European ancestry, although they are officially categorised as part of the Oceanian group.

The first records of European mariners sailing into 'Australian' waters occurs around 1606, and includes their observations of the land known as Terra Australis Incognita (unknown southern land). The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutchman, Willem Janszoon.^{[citation needed]}