What do people hoping to move to Australia' think of all the pro and anti-OZ arguments?

[grahamffc]

I agree with the above, I loved my life in the UK but thought I could better it even more especially as a lover of warm weather. It took a while to settle in, I met some great aussie and expat friends and enjoyed my time there but to be blunt life wasn't as good as the one I left, I went back after 18 months and fknt regret it. I do wonder if perhaps I had hated my job in England whether that would have made things much different. I'll never know for sure but I reckon it would as I was always benchmarking my australian job to it which made it seem inferior.

[MARYROSE02]

The kind of issues aren't isolated to Australia, and they aren't isolated to British expats, they are just expats in general. We have been habitual expats, and wherever you go you always see the same issue with people that can't or won't assimilate to the culture and compare everything to how it is 'back home' and then the people who get homesick and can't handle the difference in lifestyle or being away from family or struggling to make friends. These same issues manifest themselves in different ways, but ultimately they are much the same.

I think if you have an adventurous streak and an open mind, you will take the opinions from online forums and filter them effectively for what's useful and what isn't.

 

I suspect that even people who 'emigrate' to a different part of their own country, be it the UK or Australia, would suffer the same problems, especially if it is family and friends that they miss most. Going back to the UK to 'live' as opposed to a holiday, was just as hard as coming to Australia for me.

[MARYROSE02]

Yes in many cases. A bit like refugees. When nothing to go back to the person will more than likely attempt that much harder to make the new country work. It is more complicated than likely to fail, for someone with a good life in the place they originate. Starting off somewhere is hard work and if already successful why necessary change that?

 

What twenty something back packers have to do with it is usually they are free of responsibility, can more easier slip in and out of a decision to stay and are looking after at adventure. They can lie cheaply in mixed houses and work at whatever job they find. Nothing like the pressure of a couple or family.

 

I have not seen any figures on the particular pressures that different people migrating face, but I can't see why it is automatically 'easier' if you are young and single? I was in that category when I first came to Australia, and I was lonely, especially at weekends. Perhaps if I had had a wife and family to support me, I would have been happier.

 

And refugees go through the same problems as anybody else. They still get homesick. They still miss their families. The only difference is that they usually don't have the choice of going home.

 

If there are alternative reasons around health and a warmer climate or a family reunion then I can understand. There is a reason. But these days when life is so expensive, unless relatively young probably under thirty and really want a change of direction, I don't see for most people the point. Twenty, even fifteen years ago perhaps.

 

 

I have not seen any figures on the particular pressures that different people migrating face, but I can't see why it is automatically 'easier' if you are young and single? I was in that category when I first came to Australia, and I was lonely, especially at weekends. Perhaps if I had had a wife and family to support me, I would have been happier.

 

And refugees go through the same problems as anybody else. They still get homesick. They still miss their families. The only difference is that they usually don't have the choice of going home.

[flag of convenience]

I have not seen any figures on the particular pressures that different people migrating face, but I can't see why it is automatically 'easier' if you are young and single? I was in that category when I first came to Australia, and I was lonely, especially at weekends. Perhaps if I had had a wife and family to support me, I would have been happier.

 

And refugees go through the same problems as anybody else. They still get homesick. They still miss their families. The only difference is that they usually don't have the choice of going home.

 

That being my point. Not much possibility and/or little chance of future return. Hence greater effort required to establish and get on with it. Young and single are rather obvious in my eyes. You should remember the travel scene has entirely moved on from your 70's arrival. There is an entire back packing infrastructure available now and latterly thousands plus to meet up with. Far less excuse to be lonely these days due to such changes.

Others it may/will take time to establish. The cost is enormous, pressure to obtain an income rather quickly as to not totally erode savings and so on. Loneliness an issue for anybody of course. Which in itself may well be a deciding factor.

[MARYROSE02]

Hostels existed when I came here and I stayed in a few of them and I mixed with plenty of people just like me. Even with internet and Skype people still suffer the same from homesickness and loneliness and it does not matter how many people are around you.

 

I also know that at least for men, they lead a healthier and happier life when they are married.

 

In any case, I still can't see why single people make happier migrants than couples and families.

[Marisawright]

The only part I disagree with is that last sentence! The 'Ten Pound Poms' numbered about a million, or more, and I imagine they came from all sectors of society. I must do some more research on the 'Ten Pound Poms' too. Last time I checked the figures for them, I'm sure I read that about a quarter of them returned to the UK as soon as their two years was up, but of that quarter, about half went back to Australia, and stayed.

 

Actually a million, if you look at the size of the UK, is not that many, and you're only imagining they came from all sectors - you don't know for sure. Neither do I for that matter, but I do know what my parents said (and I'm 60 and my parents had me in their forties, so it was their generation that the Ten Pound Poms came from). I'll be interested to know what your research tells you but knowing how conservative people were in my parents' day, I can't imagine anyone of their generation, with a family to support, throwing it in to emigrate.

[Marisawright]

I have not seen any figures on the particular pressures that different people migrating face, but I can't see why it is automatically 'easier' if you are young and single? I was in that category when I first came to Australia, and I was lonely, especially at weekends. Perhaps if I had had a wife and family to support me, I would have been happier.

 

Yes, but if you're young and single, you can just get on a plane and go home again. Whereas if you have invested all your savings to bring your wife and family to Australia and aren't happy, makign the move back may not even be an option.

[MARYROSE02]

Actually a million, if you look at the size of the UK, is not that many, and you're only imagining they came from all sectors - you don't know for sure. Neither do I for that matter, but I do know what my parents said (and I'm 60 and my parents had me in their forties, so it was their generation that the Ten Pound Poms came from). I'll be interested to know what your research tells you but knowing how conservative people were in my parents' day, I can't imagine anyone of their generation, with a family to support, throwing it in to emigrate.

 

Are you arguing that the bulk of migrants to Australia are young and single, as opposed to couples and families? Just looking at the sort of people who post on PIO, they seem to be a mix of singles and couples and families. In that piece about famous Ten Pound Poms, there seemed to be a mixture of families and singles, who all had their reasons for coming to OZ. Perhaps families emigrating to Australia would research the move much more thoroughly than singles, who might just treat it as a 'bit of a lark' and consequently come unprepared.

[MARYROSE02]

60,000 out of 190,000 but I don't know if the other 130,000 are all singles!?

 

[h=1]Fact sheet 29 - Overview of family stream migration[/h] Family stream migration is one of the main components of Australia's Migration Programme.

The family stream consisted of 60 885 visas in 2013-14. The 2013-14 family stream contained 47 525 partner visas, 3850 child visas, 8925 parent visas and 585 other family visas.

The planning levels for the family stream in 2014—15 is set at 60 885 visas. This represents 32 per cent of the total Migration Programme planning level for 2014—15, which has been set at 190 000 places.

[JockinTas]

All the ten pound Poms I spoke to came as a family and stayed. My closest friend came with her family in 1950. Stayed in a Nissan hut until they rented a house in Chatswood. Dad worked all over the place and Mum worked as a midwife.

[Zack]

Afraid I don't get that one little bit 'If you are happy in the Uk why on earth would you want to move.To the Unknown?.There's alot of Anti pom in Aussie, Some say they have never seen it.That doesn't mean it's not there.If it Bumps into you,you can get really upset and angry,.If your kids have a strong accent,they will definitely get it at school.We have been here 30 years but still don't believe, we belong here. We always call England Home.You can never compare here,if you do and even with a party of so called Aussie friends,you can bet one will say why don't you go back to pommy land then? We have just had a argument with a so called Aussie friend we have known for about 12 years.Being A veteran Myself I said to them both that I had never seen a country Glorify war as much as Australia does. She went off her nut called me all the Pommy Bastards under the sun .I stood there cob smacked.Told her in the end, to Go and never come Back to our house ever again.And She Shouts Back at me, that I ended Their Friendship.I Don't count her as a friend, never should have.Her Husband speaks to me,like G'day Zack, if I see him down the paper shop,I just nod.It's all over for me.Then she phones my wife up, to see if she should pick her up to go to work.I wouldn't trust a Aussie as far as I could throw one.

[MARYROSE02]

Afraid I don't get that one little bit 'If you are happy in the Uk why on earth would you want to move.To the Unknown?.There's alot of Anti pom in Aussie, Some say they have never seen it.That doesn't mean it's not there.If it Bumps into you,you can get really upset and angry,.If your kids have a strong accent,they will definitely get it at school.We have been here 30 years but still don't believe, we belong here. We always call England Home.You can never compare here,if you do and even with a party of so called Aussie friends,you can bet one will say why don't you go back to pommy land then? We have just had a argument with a so called Aussie friend we have known for about 12 years.Being A veteran Myself I said to them both that I had never seen a country Glorify war as much as Australia does. She went off her nut called me all the Pommy Bastards under the sun .I stood there cob smacked.Told her in the end, to Go and never come Back to our house ever again.And She Shouts Back at me, that I ended Their Friendship.I Don't count her as a friend, never should have.Her Husband speaks to me,like G'day Zack, if I see him down the paper shop,I just nod.It's all over for me.Then she phones my wife up, to see if she should pick her up to go to work.I wouldn't trust a Aussie as far as I could throw one.

 

Well, that is a somewhat controversial statement! If ANZAC Day is about glorifying war, then what is Remembrance Sunday in the UK? And this is the 100th anniversary of Gallipolli this year, so it is of particular significance in Australia. It sounds also as if your Aussie friend regretted her words (Was she tipsy?) and tried to 'make up.' Haven't you ever said something in the heat of the moment which you regretted? I certainly have.

 

I've been here as long as you, and I've NEVER been called a Pommie Bastard, not even as a joke. There's always a bit of banter over the cricket of course, but never nasty, from either side.

[Skani]

People migrated because they had a hard life in the UK ..... Nobody with a secure job and a decent home would have even thought of going!

 

That's not correct at all, in my experience. I grew up in Australia in the '50s and '60s surrounded by UK migrants. They were nearly all professional people who had "decent" jobs and homes before migrating to Australia. My father was an electrical engineer with the Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania. It had its own permanent office in London for recruiting experienced professionals, as did many of the other major employers here. I estimate at least half of my teachers throughout my school years, most of my university lecturers, medical practitioners etc. were UK trained and employed before migrating here.

[paul1977]

E=MARYROSE02;1936732330]Well, that is a somewhat controversial statement! If ANZAC Day is about glorifying war, then what is Remembrance Sunday in the UK? And this is the 100th anniversary of Gallipolli this year, so it is of particular significance in Australia. It sounds also as if your Aussie friend regretted her words (Was she tipsy?) and tried to 'make up.' Haven't you ever said something in the heat of the moment which you regretted? I certainly have.

 

I've been here as long as you, and I've NEVER been called a Pommie Bastard, not even as a joke. There's always a bit of banter over the cricket of course, but never nasty, from either side.

 

 

Thats funny as you do nothing but refer to English people as Pommies on here day in day out

[Captain Roberto]

I've not had time to read through this post, as busy (and in work)

 

but generally speaking, and in reply to the OP - all the people who post all this 'pro' and 'anti' stuff, the ones who pounce on you whenever someone posts a question, and the ones who seem to point out everything that can wrong really put me off PIO. Over the last few weeks I have avoided the site, only popping on for specific things. It's a great site in many ways, but the ones who are on it all the time spoil it (IMHO). If I am honest it causes me stress that i just don't need in my life.

 

I am sure someone will be annoyed that I wrote this, but I am just being honest FWIW.

[Captain Roberto]

but the site is great in other ways. When i need to find out about something I know where to look.

[MARYROSE02]

E=MARYROSE02;1936732330]Well, that is a somewhat controversial statement! If ANZAC Day is about glorifying war, then what is Remembrance Sunday in the UK? And this is the 100th anniversary of Gallipolli this year, so it is of particular significance in Australia. It sounds also as if your Aussie friend regretted her words (Was she tipsy?) and tried to 'make up.' Haven't you ever said something in the heat of the moment which you regretted? I certainly have.

 

I've been here as long as you, and I've NEVER been called a Pommie Bastard, not even as a joke. There's always a bit of banter over the cricket of course, but never nasty, from either side.

 

 

Thats funny as you do nothing but refer to English people as Pommies on here day in day out

But not "Bastards" even though it is not always a term of abuse, and I am proud to be called a "Pommie" and to call fellow "New Chums" "Pommies."

 

But perhaps I should consider that some English people think of it as equivalent to the "N" word.

[MARYROSE02]

I've not had time to read through this post, as busy (and in work)

 

but generally speaking, and in reply to the OP - all the people who post all this 'pro' and 'anti' stuff, the ones who pounce on you whenever someone posts a question, and the ones who seem to point out everything that can wrong really put me off PIO. Over the last few weeks I have avoided the site, only popping on for specific things. It's a great site in many ways, but the ones who are on it all the time spoil it (IMHO). If I am honest it causes me stress that i just don't need in my life.

 

I am sure someone will be annoyed that I wrote this, but I am just being honest FWIW.

I'm not annoyed though I do spend a lot of my time, perhaps too much, on here. Mea Culpa! Come to think of it even more time than on "Oz Spurs" or The Daily Mail!

[Monkey2645]

Actually a million, if you look at the size of the UK, is not that many, and you're only imagining they came from all sectors - you don't know for sure. Neither do I for that matter, but I do know what my parents said (and I'm 60 and my parents had me in their forties, so it was their generation that the Ten Pound Poms came from). I'll be interested to know what your research tells you but knowing how conservative people were in my parents' day, I can't imagine anyone of their generation, with a family to support, throwing it in to emigrate.

 

 

My mum and dad were £10 poms in the late 60s. Went, with an 18 mo and another on the way, out on a boat. Had a good life in the UK just fancied a change. Returned to the UK later but then fancied going again in the early 80s with two tweenies and a toddler, no job to go to - it was Nissan huts for us. We had such a good time over the years can't wait to go back next year, maybe for good, with my own young children. I just wish it still cost only £10 ;-)

 

ftr I've never considered Pom an offensive term - just similar to Aussie. As with many such terms it's context, and modifiers, that might change this.

[Bobj]

I see what you're getting at: if a person has a glass-half-full attitude, then they're likely to be fairly happy no matter where they go or what they do. BUT it's not logical to say they will be equally happy, because happiness is about external factors as well as internal.

 

To take it to extremes, I could send a glass-half-full person to Syria and they'd still make the best of things but I doubt very much they'd be happy.

 

So if that person moves to Australia and it suits their preferences and lifestyle, they may be happier than they were in the UK - but if they move to Australia and it doesn't suit them, they will be less happy than they were in the UK. Sure, if they're a positive person they'll be able to grit their teeth and make the best of it, but surely you'd have to be mad to move halfway round the world just to "make do"?

 

I really can't see the point of moving to Australia unless

 

(a) you want (and can afford) an adventure or

(b) you are unhappy with life in the UK (for external reasons) and feel that Australia offers what your life in the UK lacks

 

Years ago, no one had to debate the pros and cons of migration. People migrated because they had a hard life in the UK and it was worth taking a risk to improve their lot. Or singletons and young couples like you and me came for the adventure. Nobody with a secure job and a decent home would have even thought of going!

 

An absolute load of tripe!! Are you implying my family didn't have a decent home??? I do think that an apology from you would be the decent thing.

 

I was earning double the average wage in 1962, as an apprentice woolsorter. My family was very happy as D.O.D bought his lolly shop, a very far cry from being a pow in japan.

 

D.O.D used to tell me tales of the 'diggers' and their ''couldn't give a rat's R send'' attitude. It was those stories that determined my future in this wonderful land.

 

The people at my table on the galley were from various walks of life, Mr & Mrs A (2 kids), were heading to Adelaide to the Holden factory. They returned to the UK and within a year of that return, realised that the UK was not for them and returned to Adelaide. Mr & Mrs B went to Sydney, he was a newspaper printer and it was his wife's dream to live in Australia. He willingly gave up his job on the Daily Wail to see this 'new land'. Mr & Mrs C were heading to Smellbum, leaving their jobs as architects. I believe he started his own company a couple of years later. 2 single blokes were leaving well paid jobs because they both thought Australia offered more...

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Johndoe]

Afraid I don't get that one little bit 'If you are happy in the Uk why on earth would you want to move.To the Unknown?.There's alot of Anti pom in Aussie, Some say they have never seen it.That doesn't mean it's not there.If it Bumps into you,you can get really upset and angry,.If your kids have a strong accent,they will definitely get it at school.We have been here 30 years but still don't believe, we belong here. We always call England Home.You can never compare here,if you do and even with a party of so called Aussie friends,you can bet one will say why don't you go back to pommy land then? We have just had a argument with a so called Aussie friend we have known for about 12 years.Being A veteran Myself I said to them both that I had never seen a country Glorify war as much as Australia does. She went off her nut called me all the Pommy Bastards under the sun .I stood there cob smacked.Told her in the end, to Go and never come Back to our house ever again.And She Shouts Back at me, that I ended Their Friendship.I Don't count her as a friend, never should have.Her Husband speaks to me,like G'day Zack, if I see him down the paper shop,I just nod.It's all over for me.Then she phones my wife up, to see if she should pick her up to go to work.I wouldn't trust a Aussie as far as I could throw one.

 

And I old fruit, wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you. Some may have short memories but I indeed can remember your rants from a while ago. First you slather Oz and Aussies and return to the UK. Twelve months later you start slathering the UK, again, and return to Oz, and now you're back to whining and bleating about Oz yet again. I'm sure your neighbours in both countries love you to death. For what it's worth, if you'd have referred to Rememberance Day or Anzac day as a glorification of war within my ear shot, you'd have got more than a mouthful. It's your type that's lets the UK down in the eyes of non-Brits so I guess you'll never be satisfied wherever you go and IMHO that would be your just desert

[FTA]

Afraid I don't get that one little bit 'If you are happy in the Uk why on earth would you want to move.To the Unknown?.There's alot of Anti pom in Aussie, Some say they have never seen it.That doesn't mean it's not there.If it Bumps into you,you can get really upset and angry,.If your kids have a strong accent,they will definitely get it at school.We have been here 30 years but still don't believe, we belong here.

There was definately some anti-pommie sentiment during the post "10 pound pom" years but I don't think it exists anymore, maybe because there have been so many other waves of nationalities since then that the poms don't seem that so bad after all, and are actually bloody good value.

[Guest ggarcka]

Hi All. Thank you so much for all the banter. I hope to give Perth a try as a 50ish mother. I have moved house a lot in England and Ireland and believe me it is people who matter only. As long as you can live free of debt your family and love are the only important things. Everywhere has its plus and minus. Australia is not just fair but beautiful!Enjoy!

[JockinTas]

There was definately some anti-pommie sentiment during the post "10 pound pom" years but I don't think it exists anymore, maybe because there have been so many other waves of nationalities since then that the poms don't seem that so bad after all, and are actually bloody good value.

 

Yes, I totally agree with you :smile:

[FTA]

Yes, I totally agree with you :smile:

 

The question is what will the next wave have to be like to make the current one look good!