Buzzy--Bee

Anyone planning to emigrate - please read this article in today's "Age" - it admirably states what is really important for a successful emigration and what can cause emigration failure. It also seems to be taken from research from British Expats own Moving back to the UK section

A SIGNIFICANT proportion of British migrants to Australia go back to Britain to live, new research shows, but not all can be described as whingeing Poms.

While some do fit the stereotype - full of complaints about the heat and the insects - it is a deeper need for family and home that propels many back.

They come in search of a better life, say researchers Mary Holmes and Roger Burrows, and discover a better life is not about good jobs, sunshine or bigger houses. ''What is most important is feeling close to family and feeling 'at home','' they say.

Their study of what they call ''ping-pong Poms'' reveals almost 107,000 new settlers arrived from Britain between 2005 and 2010, and over the same period more than 30,000 British-born permanent settlers decided to permanently leave. Almost 60 per cent of them went home.

Dr Holmes, a senior lecturer in sociology at Flinders University, and Professor Burrows, of York University in Britain, say 86,300 people in 2009-10 indicated they were leaving Australia permanently - the highest level of emigration so far recorded.

''It seems vital to know why people return,'' said Dr Holmes, who presented the findings at a forum last week at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW.

The research was based on monitoring a popular internet-based discussion forum aimed at the British community in Australia. Debate on a sub-forum titled '''Moving Back to the UK'' was followed over six months and analysed for consistent themes.

A common desire was that children born in Australia should get to know grandparents and extended family even if it meant sacrificing a better quality of life. A failure to ''feel at home'' was also crucial to some.

''Seeing the North Sea … finally being able to prove to my sceptical children that blue is not the only colour a sea can be, was magical. A silver sea, just like I remembered it. It's great to be back,'' wrote one returnee. ''Coming back has been a bit like slipping into an old pair of shoes …''

Another wrote that since returning, she had ''come alive again'' despite having a smaller house, smaller car and less money. ''I love walking everywhere, wrapping up warm, politeness, greenery, quality TV … being part of Europe …'' she said.

She did not miss the ''heat'' and ''macho culture'', comparing ''how big your block is'' and the boredom.

Several returnees mentioned ''boredom'' in Australia, having come to the realisation that life was not as depicted in Neighbours and Home and Away. Commuting three hours a day on a hot, crowded train to a suburb far from the ocean did not accord with the dream of a better life that had inspired them to leave Britain.

''Pursuing this dream life can result in disappointment,'' the researchers say. Dr Holmes said migrants who stayed may not be ''living the dream'' but may have found a sense of belonging - or advantages to not belonging, and in distance from family.

Some returnees had kept their options open by taking out Australian citizenship before departure. ''That way, when your duty to your children and grandparents is finally done … you are free to go back to your original plan and make your home in Australia,'' one said.



http://www.theage.com.au/national/ho...031-1ms93.html

BB

ozzieeagle

A thought just hit me then... Something I've not seen said on here before. I've been on these boards a fair amount of time now and seen a lot of the reasons about why people leave and ping pong etc.

I wonder how many previously successful UK migrants go back because they feel like they have lost their status or position in society ? I get the feeling with the UK being so class conscious even today, that this could actually be a significant factor.

JAT

Glad you found that article BB... because it's another one of those things that Aussies generally dont believe... that around 30pct of UK migrants actually go back. I've not found one Aussie that believes me when I tell them this. After all they are all convinced and probably with plenty of good reasons, that this is the best place to live in the World. So how could people leave ? I'll enjoy showing that article to the non believer's.

Buzzy--Bee

This, I think, is the most important line in the article -

"a better life is not about good jobs, sunshine or bigger houses. ''What is most important is feeling close to family and feeling 'at home',''

BB

Grayling

It is no different here

chris955

I'm not sure I really agree with this whole class thing, I don't see much of it where I used to live, perhaps more so in London ? People also say there isn't a class system here which I think is rubbish, it's a different class system but still very obvious. I just don't think it is a big thing in either country.
I do agree with your last point, many Aussies would really struggle believing that anyone would choose to leave paradise but truth be known a large number of people do leave for all sorts of reasons.

BadgeIsBack

The article is right when it says that it's mostly the working classes and the middle classes that migrate.

I don't think that migrants lose their position: most feel aggrieved about their lack of position to start with: the lottery that life dealt them.

Comments on the article talk about the Ramsey street effect and suggests a lot of people don't find this.

Of course there is a class system in Australia: blue collar, white collar - but I think attitudes are more egalitarian. For example, AFL can bind alot of people: in London, soccer can be seen as very working class; there is a lot more mixing here. I know Aussies who are posh but they gloss over it in certain situations - whereas in London it was a lot more 'ok yah'..he he. Personally, I can mix with all sorts.

Chris you're right that the UK is less class-conscious ; you only have to look at 1970s tv : and people's speech is changing: in some quarters it's almost fashionable to be a bit blue-collar now.
I couldn't believe how mockney-cockney people were in industry years ago.

Turban Explorer

As Brits have we been conditioned to aspire to raise our 'class' and that's why it can seem peculiar?

chris955

I've never really encountered that, do you mean to 'better oneself' ? Many (most) people want to improve their lives whether it be a bigger house, better car, better job etc but I'm not sure class comes into that. The odd thing is that the 'iconic' song 'Working Class Man' is in fact Australian.

Amazulu

I see that MBTTUK (aka whinging pom central) gets a mention.

You're famous, haters!

chris955

Yes I think if people are talking about the UK in the 60's and 70's then I would say that the country was indeed class conscious but nowadays that attitude is rare.

DeadVim

Somebody had to read MBTTUK for SIX months?

I hope they were Al-Qaeda 'cos that makes waterboarding look like a beauty treatment.

Amazulu

Amazulu

'Class' is something that you poms are obsessed about

Grayling

...and something that south africans will never have

chris955

I have a feeling they were referring to PIO not this forum.