AUSTRALIA has long had its share of pro-white groups.

But experts say those operating here now are cashing in on recent anti-Islamic sentiment, with more activity on their forums and stronger recruiting efforts.

Here’s a look at what’s behind some of Australia’s white nationalist organisations:

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE LEAGUE

media_camera The Facebook page of the Australian Defence League.

Location: Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland

Status: Active

Beliefs: Anti-Muslim

Details: The militant group is one of Australia’s biggest opponents to Australian Muslims with members known to stalk people from the Islamic community and post their photos online accompanied by abuse.

Last week it was revealed a Sydney mosque received a letter signed by the ADL threatening a bomb attack.

Established in 2009 the ADL is an offshoot of the UK’s most violent anti-Muslim group the English Defence League.

The group has more than 1000 likes on its Facebook page and is rumoured to have former members of the Australian Navy among its ranks. Videos posted online by the group have disturbed the Muslim community and caused alarm among the police counterterrorism squad and ASIO.

SOUTHERN CROSS HAMMERSKINS

media_camera The Southern Cross Hammerskins are actively recruiting young Aussie men.

Location: Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Adelaide.

Status: Active

Beliefs: Anti-Asian, Islamophobic extremists

Details: One of the biggest skinhead groups in Australia is known to be actively recruiting young Aussie men.

Hardcore members are required to be drug-free and get tattoos pledging their allegiance to the “brotherhood”.

The group has grown during the past decade by targeting men as young at 16 through heavy-metal music festivals and gigs including an event in Melbourne last month.

Internally they operate similar to bikie groups but promote Islamophobic and anti-sematic values.

Chapters exist across Australia and use a sophisticated private online forum to communicate between interstate networks.

An SC Hammerskins support group called Crew 38 was setup six years ago for time-poor Australians who could not fully commit to the skinhead lifestyle.

BLOOD AND HONOUR AUSTRALIA

media_camera Blood and Honour Australia is said to be highly active.

Location: Victoria, NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

Status: Active

Beliefs: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.’’

Details: Considered to be one of the most active groups, Blood and Honour is highly secretive and recruits throughout Australia.

Spawned from chapters in the US and England the group has hundreds of followers in Australia.

Several members of the militant group have been linked to death threats against immigration supporters and members of the Australian public.

The militant group uses gigs to recruit young vulnerable men and has been linked with the SC Hammerskins.

CRAZY WHITEBOYS

media_camera Crazy Whiteboys gang members Shannon Hudson and Wayne O’Brien were jailed for a racist attack in 2010.

Location: Melbourne

Status: Unknown

Beliefs: Anti-Jewish, anti-Asian and opposed to people of African descent.

Details: The neo-nazi school gang formed in 2009 and is among the most violent in Australia’s history.

The close-nit group perpetrated brutal and unprovoked attacks in Melbourne and openly showed hatred toward people of Asian and African descent.

In 2010 gang members Shannon Hudson and Wayne O’Brien launched an attack on a Vietnamese international student with a brick in Moonee Ponds.

They kicked the victim up to 70 times in a 10-minute frenzy and “wielded a brick like a sledgehammer” over the student’s face causing lifelong injuries.

Both men received jail sentences.

COMBAT 18

media_camera Combat 18 members perform a Nazi salute while posing with guns.

Location: Western Australia

Status: Inactive

Beliefs: Anti-Islamic

This Neo-Nazi terror machine was operating in Perth until police arrested three members for shooting at a mosque with a rifle in 2010.

The fiercely anti-Muslim group had links to the UK branch of Blood & Honour.

During its peak in the ‘90s scores of Australians were linked to the movement known for it’s unique leaderless organisation.

The name of the group is reportedly a code for Adolf Hitler’s initials.

Overseas the group has been linked to the murder of former members who publicly spoke out and has also been linked to football hooliganism.

PATRIOTIC YOUTH LEAGUE — AKA EUREKA YOUTH LEAGUE

media_camera A woman holds a pamphlet which helped inflame tensions before the Cronulla riots.

Location: Sydney and Melbourne’s northern suburbs

Status: Active

Beliefs: Radical nationalists

Members of this group must play sport and be anti-immigration to join.

The group is mainly based in Sydney but has supporters in Melbourne from suburbs including Heidelberg, Preston, Reservoir and Springvale.

Members played a key role in the Cronulla riots inflaming racial hatred by handing out white power pamphlets in the days leading up to chaos on Sydney’s beaches.

Infighting among members led to the disbanding of the group in 2006 but it re-emerged under the banner Eureka Youth League in 2010.

CREATIVITY MOVEMENT

media_camera Creativity Movement symbol.

Location: Melbourne and The Surf Coast

Status: Unknown

Beliefs: Committed to the white races survival and expansion through nonviolence.

Based in Melbourne and the Surf Coast this group promotes hatred under the guise of religion and believe in the survival and expansion of the white race.

The group were investigated in 2011 by the Victoria’s Multicultural Affairs Minister after stickers appeared in Torquay promoting “White Power”.