did you ever have the chance of being a ten pound pom?

I was a ten pound Pom in the forties. We settled for a while in NSW where my aunt who had married an Australian lived. I don’t remember much about it as I was only 3 years old. My mother had saved enough money for the return journey if things didn’t work out and I should think was was a substantial amount. I am not sure why we returned except that things did not live up to expectations and I was not particularly well and snakes and possums played a part too! Other families were quite envious of us returning and so I guess there was quite a lot of unhappiness. I often wonder where I would be had we stayed.

My husband’s parents should have gone, had tickets, everything sorted and at last minute his Mum refused to go. His Dad regretted it for the rest of his life. They were to go with his best friend, wife and family who did go and kept in touch and made a good life for themselves.

We went out to NZ from London when I was a baby in 1950. Not sure if my parents considered themselves to be £10 POHMs
DF was a university lecturer and a native Kiwi. He was killed in an airplane accident in 1954. We stayed there for a few more years but then DM brought us to England. That trip by ship was amazing.
Now one of my DS has emigrated "home" and is very happy there. No long boat trips anymore though - too expensive.

My cousin did, she has had a miserable life in Oz until recently, there are just as many bad boys down under as here. Her third marriage is much better and they won £1/2 million in the state lottery, so happy now.

My parents almost took up the offer in the mid-50's when I was about 8 years old. Then my Grandmother was taken ill, and it all went onto the back burner. By the time she'd recovered, Dad had a new job, so it never happened. Sometimes wonder how it all could have turned out differently.

My sister and her family were £10 poms. They stayed in Australia for 7 years and had their fourth child there. They loved the outdoor life there and found it hard to settle back in UK and went off on another adventure before eventually settling down back in the UK.

We were £80 poms. It had gone up by the time we came and we flew out, didn’t come on a ship. We were more or less the last subsidised people, I think it all stopped by the mid 1970s. We were lucky because my husband already had a lecturing job. Have to say the journey out was a total nightmare with 2 little babies , one of whom vomited the whole way. It took over 30 hours including a delay in Bahrain at their non air conditioned airport.

We were going to go when I was about three and I can’t remember the reason we didn’t but a cousin of mine and her family went in the 70s and were back within six months they couldn’t stand it..(have to say I am very glad we didn’t go. I can’t stand the heat and too many spiders and snakes for me.!!)

Long after the £10 pom opportunity. Ex and I got resident's visas , this was late '70s. After a gruelling interview at Australia House where the interviewers wanted to know chapter and verse how much money we were bringing, prospective employment, sponsors, no state benefits for I think something like 7 years, and on and on, I was told by one terse interviewer "he'll be alright, he's already uprooted himself once" husband was from overseas, "but you could be a problem" I think it was their way of spelling out that a lot of those who seek to emigrate come back. I also remember we had to have our photos taken and there was a notice "please remove chains (jewellery) some bright spark had written on the wall "Those going to Botany Bay please note" which was the only part of the day that lifted my mood. Upshot was we went, tried it out and decided it wasn't for us. Apart from family, I would miss the sense of history we have living in the old world, and I think we both thought we would miss the seasons. I actually found endless heat and blue skies is something I appreciate in moderation, although I wouldn't mind some right now!

My husband's parents did. They met and married in Australia and he was born there.

They returned to visit family in the UK in the 60s and didn't have the money to go back.

In 1978, Dh and I also got resident's visas and had our flights paid. He was a dentist and was in great demand to replace the Aussies who were in the UK 'bashing the Nash' (NHS) - they returned home before they paid any tax.

We were offered a rent free house for a period while we decided where we would like to live.

The UK government of the day had started to renege on the Review Body pay recommendations.

In the event, we were placed in a hostel with no help at all. We bought a house, DH got a job and the children started school.

Then, DH's mother became ill, Christmas Day was hot (!!!!) and, as Terribull says, we missed the history and the 'proper' seasons.

DH was horrified at the reality of working with absolutely no NHS.

So we came home!

We did have the opportunity and my parents considered it but declined. Our neighbours over the road went this was in the 1960s.

I know two families who went. Both came back

My best school friend and her family went in the mid 60s. We corresponded for many years. I was gutted when they went.

I remember when I was a teenager that my DB and SisIL wanted to go and seeing the brochures of the wonderful life and beautiful houses they would be able to buy.

They didn't go in the end and I think the reality was somewhat different for many who did.
Many members of both our families have gone to Australia and New Zealand, over many years from the 1900s onwards but none went as £10 POMS that I know of.

Thousands went out from Eastern Europe and Italy, too, from the 1930s through to the 1960s and 1970s.

I'm looking forward to the new series.

My mum and dad were thinking about it, I was 15 and they asked me for my opinion. I said not as we were all doing well at school. Later in life 2 siblings moved to australia and there is always that deep yearning in them to return to the green green grass and history of the uk but they cannot now, they have children and grandchildren born in australia.

We got as far as Australia House but mums were unhappy so didnt go. Often wonder how it might have turned out.

My parents were all set to go to New Zealand under the £10 scheme in 1955. I was five and they had carefully primed me so I was looking forward to a great adventure.

Then my mother got pregnant, completely unexpectedly. As she'd previously had two miscarriages, she decided she didn't want to leave her mother and her doctor until after the birth and so the plan was shelved.

It never got revived and, as a child, I secretly blamed my baby sister for depriving me of a great adventure!
Would my life have been better if I'd been raised as a Kiwi? I've no way of knowing - but I have no complaints about the way it's turned out here in England.

My father and his friend wanted to go as did many of our neighbours. My mum wouldn't leave her family and neither would dad's friend's wife.
My cousin and her husband and children did I have photos of them on the ship going through the Suez Canal. They loved it moved around quite a bit and settled in N.S.W.
Another relation went to Queensland came back to England on holiday without his wife and never went back.
Which gave my mum ammunition for saying I told you so.

I remember a boy at my primary school in Wellington who had a British accent. He was called Alastair.
He was horribly teased. Poor lad. I hope he settled down ok.
When I arrived in London in 1958 I was teased bullied? about my accent .
The kids followed me home from school.
"Say something for us" . I hated it and was determined to lose my NZ accent.

I’ve loved reading the above stories. My parents emigrated to NZ in ‘58. My brother had his 1st birthday on the boat coming out, I was 5. My father was a teacher recruited by the NZ Govt to ease shortages. I never heard the expression 10 pound poms used in our situation, but I’m sure our passages were assisted. We came out via Panama and the Panama Canal, I remember a stop over there (the only one) clearly. Unfortunately my father didn’t settle here although my Mum did, he said he always felt different, I daresay his accent didn’t help. He had a lifelong sadness at leaving England, we felt his homesickness vividly. I feel a certain guilt that on the back of his unhappiness my Mum, brother and I have loved and are so grateful to have had the opportunity of living here. Having nothing to compare it to obviously makes it easier!
Having grandchildren of our own now, I can only but imagine of the heartache that such emigrations caused families left in the UK as young parents like mine left, and for so many never to return. Those blue aerograms being a substitute most treasured link to family back home. An awful lot was surrendered in search of a hoped for ‘better life’.

My father-in-law emigrated to Australia from London when he was ten. He too was bullied about his English accent, so lost it pretty quickly! Certainly when I knew him he sounded Australian.

I think it was £25 when I went in the late 60s. I stayed 7 years then came back for a trip and met my husband and stayed here. I did love my time in Australia though as a single girl.

My aunt and uncle went in 1951, settled in Brisbane and opened a shop.She came back in 1956 when he died, but hated it here and soon went back, and stayed. We were all set to go in 1972, filled in all the forms, but my in laws carried on about never seeing us again, so in the end we didn`t go.