Anybody got any experience of the Ten Pound Pom scheme?

Redwurzel

Redwurzel

Well-known member
I am taking part in a discussion this week about the Ten Pound Pom scheme (assisted passage) that operated from 1945 to 1982 to encourage Brits to move to Australia.

I imagine quite a few people from Teesside went.

Has anyone any personal experiences of going or clase relatives etc that went - thyat they are willing to share?

I am currently working on a section called what the Ten pound Brits thought of Australia and what the Aussies thought of the Brits.

I know my parents got the forms in the 1960s, but my Dad didn't want to leave Teesside.
 
I think that particular offer ended some time ago!

My auntie and her husband took advantage of it back in the 60's. I think it was before I was born, 1965. They had a very hard time settling. Bare in mind, there would have been second generation convicts living their who probably didn;t think much of the british government. Thats 160 thousand people, then thee was the children they had, and their children.

Then of course there is the indiginous folks, who refer to Australia day as invasion day.
 
My grandparents were ten pound poms in 1962 and took my mam as a 1 year old baby.
Lived there for 5 years and returned to Teesside.

Didn't re-settle in Teesside and had a second crack at Oz. The second stint lasted slightly longer but again returned to Teesside where they have lived a happy life since 1975.
 
My wife's parents were ten pound poms, they went out in the mid 60s, she was born there.
They came back to visit her nana, who was ill and ended up staying.
 
Its actually happening again.
The Government of Western Australia - Perth have been advertising for experienced nurses and their families to emigrate for some time.
The resettlement package, salary and non-taxed benefits are very very attractive.
Every copy of Nursing Standard, Nursing Times and RCNi almost always carry the same official Government advert.

I remember the first time round in the 60`s when a family we knew, sold the business and moved to Aus.

My Uncle and his wife upped and went back in the 60`s - he was an experienced accountant and they paid for him to get there. Never came back.
 
I keep seeing adverts on Bein tv about a series called Ten Pound Pom's it's got Michelle Keegan in it, I didn't know what it was about till I read your post. Might have to watch it now.
 
I've got a few great aunts and uncles and/or families of them knocking about in NSW. Dont know a whole lot about their early experienced though.

More useful. I think I've got some photos knocking about of the massive plaque at Darling harbour where a lot of people landed. I'll try and find it and post it up.
 
BasraBoro said:
I keep seeing adverts on Bein tv about a series called Ten Pound Pom's it's got Michelle Keegan in it, I didn't know what it was about till I read your post. Might have to watch it now.
Click to expand...
Also starring an actress from Loftus called Faye Marsay. She's been in Game of Thrones and White Queen also as well as a few other things.
 
I genuinely only found out fairly recently from my brother that my parents were going to go in 1958 - my dad had a job offer for a sheep farm that some relation owned. I think my mam didn't want to go in the end. So I'd have either been a) Australian or b) never born.
 
Cheers for the replies - ideally I am looking for what people liked and did not like.

I would imagine been away from other relatives was difficult for some with no internet, no cheap phone calls, very expensive air flights.

On the BBC drama the living conditions (ex army huts) were OK for a short while but not say over 6 months, especially when all the promotional materials showed Aussies living in detached houses and bungalows. Housing was in short supply in Australia and thus expensive.
Another general complaint was that Brits were often given the worst jobs, because they were immigrants.
Another complaint was primitive old fashioned infrastructure - lots of houses with outside loos, un tarmaced roads, out of date fashions.
Extreme racism was another complaint - like Deep South of USA - up to 1979 non-white immigrants were effectively banned.
 
BasraBoro said:
I keep seeing adverts on Bein tv about a series called Ten Pound Pom's it's got Michelle Keegan in it, I didn't know what it was about till I read your post. Might have to watch it now.
Click to expand...
I didnt know lip filler and big brows were invented in 1960s Oz until i watched that
 
Also applied to NZ.

My auntie came over here on an assisted scene in around 1971, sailed over via the US.

Met my uncle on the boat over. The contract was for a year working for the NZ government. After the year she went back to the UK, couldn’t settle and came back married my uncle and stayed here.

Think NZ then, like now, is very similar to the UK and easier to settle in.
 
My Mum went out in 1958 to try to persuade her sister to return! She always wanted to come home (her sister didn't) but it took 8 years as she married an Aussie (my Dad) and brought him back! She said the boat over was rough as guts and that Sydney was not exactly like the ads at the time. You can see these short films and ads on youtube which I think were played in cinemas etc showing a perfect life, sunshine beaches etc. She said Sydney at that time was a different place to the international city it became later. Basically a rough port in the middle of nowhere. Letters took ages, phone calls cost a fortune, no news or papers from home, a bit behind. Affordable outer suburbs in the 50's where most migrants settled were a long way out, a long way from any beaches, mostly 'fibro' cottages with semi dirt roads and outside dunnies with spiders. No air conditioning in homes, buses, trains, offices, shops, etc. Circular Quay and Darling Harbour were still industrial, miles of wharves, coal loaders for the power stations on the harbour, dirty and so not the shining place you see today, no gleaming office towers or Opera House back then.
Naturally with any big intake of migrants locals could be a bit off: They're swamping us, they're taking our jobs, they're cheap with cash, they don't shower, silly accents and expect to live like they did in their own country, whinging that it's not as good as Britain, they crap on about their English pubs and football, who do you think you are, go home if you don't like it, etc etc (ring any bells?)...
My parents have obviously been back many times since and love Sydney saying it is transformed now and not the place they knew and of course the world is now super connected and the journey is 24 hrs and a credit card, not a year of saving and 5 weeks on a boat.
I guess everyone's experience will be different. I think this will be the biggest reason for staying / returning. Your feelings will be shaped by how good your job was, where you lived, who you met for friends, if your neighbours or workmates were good, how adventurous or open to change you were, if you missed people at home etc. Any massive life change is shaped by these day to day things and your expectations v reality just like today.
Even now for people making the change (which I did 30 years ago) it's good to understand that it's not Britain in the sun as advertised. It is a different culture, people might look the same but they think differently. Sport still rules over inside pursuits like books, music, art. It's very multicultural in the cities which are huge & much more American that the UK and the standard for everyone is to leave your old crap behind, get on board & live optimistically for the future no matter who you are. Migrating to a new country & settling wasn't an easy ride then and still isn't unless you're ready for some years of adjustment & 'starting again'. I've know people in my time that have flip flopped between Aus and England. Both places are great but ultimately you have to choose one or the other!
 
Just as a second note, on my Dad's side (the Australian's) his grandfather and 2 brothers, who were all coal miners from near Blyth, migrated to Sydney in 1913 as they'd heard about the mining boom in NSW especially around Newcastle NSW which is still the biggest coal export port in the world. They split on arrival each going a different direction so they could find the best place to live. One settled in Wollongong, one in Lithgow and one in the Hunter Valley all to continue as coal miners. Funnily enough they all loved where they were and never reunited to the same place! From what I can understand they had hard lives in England and dreamt of owning their own houses, gardens and better wages. They all did just like thousands of miners who went there from all over Britain. They never looked back.
I think these are more typical of the Australian British heritage. People talk about convicts all the time but there were only 160,000 transported over 80 years compared to far bigger numbers of free settlers over 200 years who went for a better life and the dream of their own land.
 
Boro

Excellent - thats the sort of feedback that is useful.

Once saw a Aussie film called Red Dog - about iron ore miners in Western Australia, and a special dog (Queensland Cattle Dog). The miners lived in shipping containers - all men - from all over the World. Reminded me of living on an oil rig - seemed to 4 hours drive from anywhere, except for a small bleak shopping mall. I guess people do it for 10 years build up their savings and then do what they want for a few years. Looked very depressing to me.
 
NZB1
Redwurzel said:
Any ideas on why she could not settle?
Click to expand...
Not really sure sorry. Part of it I guess was that my uncle was over here and she really missed him. The family themselves are close and it would have been a tough decision to come back to NZ.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top