Do you consider yourself Australian?

[Marisawright]

7 minutes ago, HappyHeart said:

I think there are more complex factors at play as to whether one settles and feels ‘at home’. Hand on heart I feel fully settled and also connected to Australia. There’s a sense of this is a country built on immigration, some have just been here a bit longer. We’re no different to them. The true blue folks. We’ve all come here and contributed to the ongoing prosperity, growth and development of the country. The real Australians (if we want to use that terminology) are  still marginalised  in this new immigrant led version of Australia.

I really like the lyrics of that song, I am, you are, we are Australian. Corny as it is. I feel as at home here as I did in the UK. 
Does that make me an oddity?! Happy to wear the cap if it fits! 

Yes, it does make you an oddity, and so am I.  So is Ramot, I think, and many others on these forums.  That's the point I'm making.  We're the kind of people who can move to a new country and feel as though we really belong (while still acknowledging where we came from).    I used to think anyone could do that, but the more I see people suffering homesickness and feeling adrift, the more I think we are in the minority.  We just don't see it, because the kind of people who are strongly attached to their homeland, don't usually migrate.  It's only when someone gets dragged out to Australia by their partner or family that we see it.

Personally, I feel lucky to be in that minority.  But I've had people say I'm unlucky because I'm missing out on that deep sense of attachment to my homeland. 

I am Australian brings a tear to my eye. I don't care if it's corny

[jonathancowen]

19 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, it does make you an oddity, and so am I.  So is Ramot, I think, and many others on these forums.  That's the point I'm making.  We're the kind of people who can move to a new country and feel as though we really belong (while still acknowledging where we came from).    I used to think anyone could do that, but the more I see people suffering homesickness and feeling adrift, the more I think we are in the minority.  We just don't see it, because the kind of people who are strongly attached to their homeland, don't usually migrate.  It's only when someone gets dragged out to Australia by their partner or family that we see it.

Personally, I feel lucky to be in that minority.  But I've had people say I'm unlucky because I'm missing out on that deep sense of attachment to my homeland. 

I am Australian brings a tear to my eye. I don't care if it's corny

Hi, this is the weird thing, I was never, and am still not, that attached to the UK. But I just can't seem to think of Australia as home. I have been living in Tasmania for 6 years now and it's been so much easier than when we lived on the Sunshine coast, Qld, but it's still not home. For me it is because it is so much alike UK that it is harder to fit in. When I've been in countries where the culture was vastly different from UK, it was easy. But here it's the similarities that make it hard. It's like looking at copies of things you know well and seeing the subtle differences all the time. 

I'm probably rambling now, so I'll stop.

Cheers, J

[ramot]

34 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, it does make you an oddity, and so am I.  So is Ramot, I think, and many others on these forums.  That's the point I'm making.  We're the kind of people who can move to a new country and feel as though we really belong (while still acknowledging where we came from).    I used to think anyone could do that, but the more I see people suffering homesickness and feeling adrift, the more I think we are in the minority.  We just don't see it, because the kind of people who are strongly attached to their homeland, don't usually migrate.  It's only when someone gets dragged out to Australia by their partner or family that we see it.

Personally, I feel lucky to be in that minority.  But I've had people say I'm unlucky because I'm missing out on that deep sense of attachment to my homeland. 

I am Australian brings a tear to my eye. I don't care if it's corny

When I think about it, many of our friends have lived in more than one country before moving here, and have mostly made the decision to live here, because they want to live here. Some have come as a family eg from Africa, because they didn’t  see a future there, so had the ‘we will make it work’ attitude and embraced their new life here, and now have several of generations here. I have 16 immediate family here, and before my uncle and aunt died, 4 generations, but only my son and 2 grandchildren in England.

When I was finally eligible to become an Australian citizen last November, i didn’t hesitate as Australia was now my home.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, ramot said:

When I think about it, many of our friends have lived in more than one country before moving here, and have mostly made the decision to live here, because they want to live here. Some have come as a family eg from Africa, because they didn’t  see a future there, so had the ‘we will make it work’ attitude and embraced their new life here, and now have several of generations here. I have 16 immediate family here, and before my uncle and aunt died, 4 generations, but only my son and 2 grandchildren in England.

When I was finally eligible to become an Australian citizen last November, i didn’t hesitate as Australia was now my home.

That kind of reinforces my point.  The people who find it easiest to settle here are nomadic types, or used to being nomadic.

[Bulya]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I did the same.  I have never understood people who say, "Oh, I could never get Australian citizenship, I'd be betraying my British origins".  All you're doing is agreeing to do the right thing by the country where you've made your home.  Millions of people have dual citizenship.

Having said that, when I migrated, you could get citizenship after only 2 years.  I didn't feel Aussie at the time, but I did like living in Australia and it didn't take me long, once I'd moved to Sydney, to start feeling like an Aussie. 

I do think I"m in the minority, though. I firmly believe that it's normal for people to have a deep attachment to their homeland, and to feel strangely disconnected and adrift when they try to live permanently in another country.   After all, the majority of the world's population never even consider moving to another country!  So I think those of us who can genuinely move countries without a backward glance are the oddities.

Of course, Australia is full of happily settled oddities, so when someone arrives who can't shake the pull of home, they are made to feel they're the strange ones .  Whereas I do think they're probably the normal ones.

So I’m an ‘oddity’?

[Bulya]

I believe so many pick the wrong state/territory to move to and then don’t move.  Something I’ve never understood 

[Dusty Plains]

4 hours ago, Marisawright said:

That kind of reinforces my point.  The people who find it easiest to settle here are nomadic types, or used to being nomadic.

Nomadic types?. People coming to Australia are not necessarily "nomadic types" en masse.  They are simply brave and even entrepreneurial.

A fair assumption to the contrary is that life here is far better than most options on offer to the the British immigrant, as Ramot has highlighted.  If we were to rely only on the circumstances of posters on PIO only, there might be a fair argument. Yet Its also only a supposition that the vast and historical British immigration coming into Australia have never heard of PIO, and have never had grounds for complaint. There have been "nomadic types" but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

They have lived here and they have contributed, and they have died here.

I had quite a number of mates in high school and beyond, whose parents brought them out to Australia. When the circle of mates would go round to the other mates house, whose parents were British immigrants we were always fed to the eyebrows by their parents. I mean that we were welcomed into the house on a regular basis and Mother P (my second mother then) was always filling us with food and good cheer.

I did not know it then but now realise that those parents were attempting to establish a good crowd for their sons. I remember Mrs P and Mr P treated us like their own. They were from Hounslow (?) and they never returned. 

Now that that I reflect on those days,  the "P's were focussed on the new world. We rarely heard them speak of the old country,  but always holding  the belief that Australia was going to present greater opportunities for their children. And it is still the land of opportunity and the Brits are welcome of course.

I think of them from time-to-time even though they are long gone. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Dusty Plains

[Ken]

2 hours ago, Bulya said:

So I’m an ‘oddity’?

We've all been thinking it Bulya, but we didn't like to say. 

[HappyHeart]

5 hours ago, Marisawright said:

That kind of reinforces my point.  The people who find it easiest to settle here are nomadic types, or used to being nomadic.

We'd never lived far from home and we hadn't travelled beyond Europe before emigrating. 

[ramot]

7 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, it does make you an oddity, and so am I.  So is Ramot, I think, and many others on these forums.  That's the point I'm making.  We're the kind of people who can move to a new country and feel as though we really belong (while still acknowledging where we came from).    I used to think anyone could do that, but the more I see people suffering homesickness and feeling adrift, the more I think we are in the minority.  We just don't see it, because the kind of people who are strongly attached to their homeland, don't usually migrate.  It's only when someone gets dragged out to Australia by their partner or family that we see it.

Personally, I feel lucky to be in that minority.  But I've had people say I'm unlucky because I'm missing out on that deep sense of attachment to my homeland. 

I am Australian brings a tear to my eye. I don't care if it's corny

I don’t actually think I am an oddity!! I hardly know anyone who isn’t happily settled here. I’m certainly in the majority not the minority. Trying to think of anyone, oh yes there is one Canadian who has never really settled when I rack my brain about it. 

[Dusty Plains]

3 hours ago, Bulya said:

I believe so many pick the wrong state/territory to move to and then don’t move.  Something I’ve never understood 

Agreed. The Brits ( God bless them) just do not understand states and territories. They seem to not understand that they are coming to a country that has more climatic zones that Europe. You can take your pick. Live in the arid desert regions, the tropics, alpine areas ( more skiable than Europe) Mediterranean,  (also larger than the Mediterranean) Temperate, Sub Tropical  etc. 

If you can move to Australia, then surely you can move  to the next state or climate zone. 

  

Edited June 10, 2021 by Dusty Plains

[ramot]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

That kind of reinforces my point.  The people who find it easiest to settle here are nomadic types, or used to being nomadic.

Yes they settle, but so do lots of others. Both of  My two children who came after us, have happily settled here and had moved around, but their friends who are equally settled certainly weren’t nomads.

so immigrants with all different backgrounds either settle or don’t for all sorts of reasons.

[ali]

On 05/06/2021 at 08:00, Marisawright said:

Me too.  I know I have a good ear for accents because I'm very good at foreign accents - to the point that I've often been mistaken by French people as being French.  Of course that's always on the basis of a few words of greeting or a question, and then my terrible grammar and limited vocabulary give me away!    I think that "ear" is why I'm inclined to pick up on the accents around me and I adjust without realising it.  

At parents evening for my daughter  her French teacher was from Yorkshire and it was the first time we'd met, she picked up on my accent and asked how long we'd been here (which was about 3 years at that time), she was really surprised as she'd said that she thought from her accent that my daughter had been born here).  I've had older (UK born) people here  say to me that they can't decide if my accent is Lancashire or yorkshire (it's Lancs)

[CaptainR]

15 hours ago, ali said:

At parents evening for my daughter  her French teacher was from Yorkshire and it was the first time we'd met, she picked up on my accent and asked how long we'd been here (which was about 3 years at that time), she was really surprised as she'd said that she thought from her accent that my daughter had been born here).  I've had older (UK born) people here  say to me that they can't decide if my accent is Lancashire or yorkshire (it's Lancs)

As a Yorkshireman I’d be quite distraught if someone suggested I came from Lancashire! Well maybe not . 
 

[Bulya]

On 10/06/2021 at 21:21, Dusty Plains said:

Agreed. The Brits ( God bless them) just do not understand states and territories. They seem to not understand that they are coming to a country that has more climatic zones that Europe. You can take your pick. Live in the arid desert regions, the tropics, alpine areas ( more skiable than Europe) Mediterranean,  (also larger than the Mediterranean) Temperate, Sub Tropical  etc. 

If you can move to Australia, then surely you can move  to the next state or climate zone. 

  

As somebody told me many, many years ago, Australia is a franchise, not a country.  They were right of course… 

[ali]

9 hours ago, CaptainR said:

As a Yorkshireman I’d be quite distraught if someone suggested I came from Lancashire! Well maybe not . 
 

I know what you mean lol.  Historically, parts of Oldham where I was originally from before moving to Preston were part of West Yorkshire and the villages around Saddleworth would still rather be Yorkshire than Lancashire.

[Marisawright]

On 10/06/2021 at 21:09, ramot said:

I don’t actually think I am an oddity!! I hardly know anyone who isn’t happily settled here. I’m certainly in the majority not the minority. Trying to think of anyone, oh yes there is one Canadian who has never really settled when I rack my brain about it. 

I think everyone is completely missing my point.  Of course we don't feel like oddities in Australia, because all happily settled migrants are oddities.  The vast majority of the world, i.e. the "normal" people, never even think of leaving their homeland - or if they do, they soon realise their mistake and go home.   If you don't like the word odd, then you can use unusual or even special.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with us, in fact I think it's a great thing to be.

I was just trying to make the point that sometimes, when someone posts here to say they're terribly homesick or feel this mysterious deep connection to home, they're made to feel that they're a bit odd.  Whereas I have a feeling that there are far more people like that in the world than people who can change countries without a flicker.  It's just that most of those people wouldn't think to move overseas in the first place.

[Toots]

17 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I think everyone is completely missing my point.  Of course we don't feel like oddities in Australia, because all happily settled migrants are oddities.  The vast majority of the world, i.e. the "normal" people, never even think of leaving their homeland - or if they do, they soon realise their mistake and go home.   If you don't like the word odd, then you can use unusual or even special.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with us, in fact I think it's a great thing to be.

I was just trying to make the point that sometimes, when someone posts here to say they're terribly homesick or feel this mysterious deep connection to home, they're made to feel that they're a bit odd.  Whereas I have a feeling that there are far more people like that in the world than people who can change countries without a flicker.  It's just that most of those people wouldn't think to move overseas in the first place.

Yes I know what you mean @Marisawright.  I also think that if people are hugely connected to their family e.g. parents, siblings, cousins etc and they have that deep connection to home, they should not migrate.  Homesickness and misery are waiting for them in their new country.

[BeachBabe2022]

On 01/05/2021 at 19:33, Red Rose said:

To those Brits with Australian citizenship, do you consider yourself: Australian; British / Australian; or British (with an Australian passport)?

 

Depends whose asking and in what context.

If I am being ribbed for England losing the rugby or cricket, I say I could NOT care less, as I am an Australian now.

However, I still consider myself British, despite the fact that been away for nearly 30 years, have no desire to ever go back, and have no interest in having anything that ties me there.

My husband considers me to be an Australian, since I took citizenship, have been here ages, and have fully embraced the attitudes, lingo and lifestyle. 

So maybe I should be known as a BritOz (or Brozz). 

 

[ali]

48 minutes ago, BeachBabe2022 said:

 

So maybe I should be known as a BritOz (or Brozz). 

 

My daughter describes herself as a British born Australian 

[HappyHeart]

3 hours ago, ali said:

My daughter describes herself as a British born Australian 

My son and daughter also consider themselves that. Daughter 11 when we arrived and son 2. Now 24 and 15
 

[ali]

On 22/01/2022 at 12:32, HappyHeart said:

My son and daughter also consider themselves that. Daughter 11 when we arrived and son 2. Now 24 and 15
 

The children were 11 and 7 now 27 next month (gulp) and 22.  My son did say that he at this point in time, he couldn't see himself living in the UK (it was great for his football trip when he turned 18)

 

[Amber Snowball]

2 minutes ago, ali said:

The children were 11 and 7 now 27 next month (gulp) and 22.  My son did say that he at this point in time, he couldn't see himself living in the UK (it was great for his football trip when he turned 18)

 

It’s strange really. Our children get older but we barely age a day!

[ali]

On 24/01/2022 at 20:55, Amber Snowball said:

It’s strange really. Our children get older but we barely age a day!

Until we find old photo's and think "god we looked young then"

[Paul1Perth]

On 22/01/2022 at 09:13, ali said:

My daughter describes herself as a British born Australian 

My youngest with autism quite often nips out to the shops with no shoes on. We often say put your shoes on, he replies Australian Paul.