Ten Pound Poms - England to Australia

pinkace · 01-04-2008, 13:16

I watched a programe on a mass export of britons to Australia in the 50s last night and it cost them ten pounds for a new life, if that was on offer now would you go, think i would.

stimpy · 01-04-2008, 15:56

I'm going no matter how much it costs at the mo!

My parents were £10 pommies.... they were out there 20 odd years, then came back to this god awful place....

cosywolf · 01-04-2008, 17:57

My mother was one. She and her friend went out as soon as they were legally old enough and had grand adventures for the 2 years (was it 2 years?) they had to agree to stay.
They had a wild time. It's always annoying when your parents outdo you that way...

pattricia · 01-04-2008, 17:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkace

I watched a programe on a mass export of britons to Australia in the 50s last night and it cost them ten pounds for a new life, if that was on offer now would you go, think i would.

Yes, I saw the programme. I believe if that were on offer now,they would be queueing round the block to get out of here.!

Don_Kiddick · 01-04-2008, 18:35

My Unc went in the '60s & built up a very successful buisiness.

He's dead now but I have umpteen cousins over there that we've lost contact with.

Quite sad really.

astronaut77 · 01-04-2008, 18:35

I watched it too, I found it fascinating how some of them came back to England then missed Oz so much that they moved back out there. I also thought the scene at the end was so lovely with the elderly couple on the speedboat who ended it with "thankyou Australia for having us".

I agree, I think if they did the same offer now there'd be a stampede!

Quagmire · 01-04-2008, 20:00

Hopefully I'll be off in the next couple of years, joining the exodus

Wish it only cost a tenner though!

RedRocker · 02-04-2008, 10:31

The people who lived next door to us when we were kids were £10 pommies!!! My grandma used to take them food round!!! Nothing like fresh legs of lamb!!! I have seen the film before. It was really good. Not brill if you wanted to live in Melbourne and they go and stick you in wollaroo!!! LOL ahh you cant beat the outback!!!

Agent Orange · 02-04-2008, 10:39

Some of my rellies emigrated over there under the 10 quid scheme. They loved it.... relaxing on the beach after a days grafting. That's what I call a life although saying that, Australia back then differed greatly to what it is today.

callippo · 02-04-2008, 10:48

10 quid for two years? What a rip off!

once upon a time, all you had to do to get there was steal a loaf of bread, and you got to stay for 14 years or more rather than just two.

fyy123 · 02-04-2008, 11:48

Hell yes I'd go! I love it out there. Spent 4 months touring it and wish I was still there, it's the only place (apart from America) that I didn't want to come back home from. My sister in law emigrated out there in the 70's they were wanting nurses and she went by boat which took ages. My Mother and Father in law emigrated there when they retired in the 90's said it's the best thing they have ever done.

Berberis · 02-04-2008, 11:54

Faster than you can say 'Australia is 13 places ahead of the UK in quality of life surveys'.

Australia also has almost the same GDP as the UK with a population at almost 1/4 in size.

callippo · 02-04-2008, 19:25

I think you'll find that with GDP per capita purchasing power parity, the usual way of comparing countries, the UK is slightly ahead of Australia, but not by much.

having said that all the UK expats I met in Australia said that while their salaries were lower than what they got in London or elsewhere in the UK, expenses were lower and they tended to have more left over at the end of the month.

but money isn't everything in any case. It's probably a better place to live than the UK for all sorts of reasons, for most people at any rate. Australia has its downsides like anywhere else but the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses.

it's particularly good for children. It's definitely a better climate, there's a good outdoorsy culture and an emphasis on physical activity that is sadly lacking here.

baz52 · 02-04-2008, 20:43

I went to Sydney and Newcastle NSW in 1953 on the RMS Himalaya. I didn't go as a £10 Pom though but I remember the fare was £119 and the trip took 31 days. I didn't want to come back but I was on a contract so I had to. It was a great country in those days but they have the same problems as we do now. I'd say if you've got the chance to go grab it but remember you can get just as fed up with sunshine every day as with rain!

callippo · 02-04-2008, 20:56

actually the weather in Australia is a bit overrated, though it definitely is better than here. Adelaide can be downright freezing as there's nothing between you and the Antarctic, it can get windy, and guess where the wind comes from. Melbourne can **** down with rain quite a lot as well and can also get chilly. Sydney has undeniably good weather pretty consistently, but especially Northern Queensland is bloody awful. It rains a lot, often massive downpours that last for hours, it's sticky and humid, and it's far too hot a lot of the time, late 30s for a lot of days.

it would be great if you could still go by ship, but you can't anymore. I met one lucky lady once who arrived in Sydney first time in Australia on a yacht from San Francisco - now THAT'S the way to do it.

buck · 03-04-2008, 13:30

I applied for a job in Western Australia in 1967 at a space station in Caernarvon. At Australia House in Manchester I had it pretty well in the bag. Then my wife asked a question and everything fell apart. She said that I was a naval reservist and the Royal Australiian Navy had a cross arrangement with the RN to use it's reservists in time of war. Australia was at that time active in Vietnam. What she got back was an earful about Australia helping out the US because the US navy was its sole support. Anyway we never went.
Later I came home from a contract in Skopje, Yugoslavia, and was told by my wife that there was a job going in Montreal. I told her I didn't want to go where its cold. Anyway went to Canada House in London, got the job, they gave me $2000.00 and a free apartment for six months as long as I signed a contract for 2 years. I'm still around after 40 years about 300 miles south of Montreal.

callippo · 03-04-2008, 18:28

Australians can be very patriotic, and not just to the country as a whole, but to their state. At one time I used to work with a guy from Western Australia who said that if his state was an independent country, it would be in the top 10 countries in the world in area (Australia is #6 in the world, a bit less than the area of the continental United States minus Hawaii and Alaska).

I found this difficult to believe. This was pre-internet - at least for me - so it wasn't so easy then, but I managed to find using my atlas that it would in fact be number 17, between Iran and Mongolia.

but when I mentioned it to him he refused to believe it and claimed I was a 'typical Pom' for 'running down Australia'. Bizarre.

Joe90 · 03-04-2008, 22:05

Australia would be alright if it wasn't full of Australians - bunch of Chazwozzer's the lot of 'em.

stimpy · 03-04-2008, 22:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe90

Australia would be alright if it wasn't full of Australians - bunch of Chazwozzer's the lot of 'em.

theres always one.

I for one cant wait to get back to the country I have always called home..... despite being here 20 odd years!

callippo · 03-04-2008, 22:18

I say re-deport them to Tasmania and claim Australia back - the Kiwis won't want them.