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

I remember going to a film promoting emigration to Australia as a child with my parents. I think my dad was looking for a better occupation/way of life. He later also considered becoming a scuba diver on the oil rigs. The problem of trying to advance yourself in life with no education / trade.

Nothing ever came of it though. And he never managed to advance himself.

I remember it as whinging poms not that I ever was one because after seriously considering emigration decided against,

Grammaretto

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 was lucky with my accent, Grammaretto.

We left Liverpool, UK in 1965 age 10, and we settled in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Beatles mania was a big thing and when I started school my teacher often asked me to stand up and read to the class just to hear my accent! Some of the kids snickered but once she explained the Beatles connection I became a bit of a hit!
I lost my accent by the time I started high school although it came automatically once I got home, my poor dad got teased by my friends because they couldn't understand him. I remember him saying "but I speak the Queens English", well I couldn't help but laugh and reminded him that the Scouse accent was NOT the Queens English.
My dad never really settled, he missed his family and mates a lot. My mum initiated the move because she had things in her past which she wanted to get away from.
I returned for the first time in 2019, and felt very much at home. In Liverpool most of the taxi drivers spoke about the snakes and spiders in Australia. I explained that Sydney had a population of 5million people and bites were rare, Liverpool had a population of 500,00 people and I'd encountered a few scary dogs on my walks lol!
I love Cornwall and the south east, and want to return next year.

They seem to have thrown everything at the first episode tonight!

We were called Bloody Poms in the late 70s. We were tempted ti say that at least we went voluntarily!

There was quite an anti Pom attitude during our time there.

You are right nanna. It was certainly rife in the early 50’s soon after the scheme began. It will be interesting to see if it features in the drama on the subject beginning tonight.

nanna8

I have to say in 50 years I have never been called a pom, never mind a bloody one. I referred to myself as one to some friends to explain why we were watching the coronation . They thought I was Aussie born because I have lost my accent. I think it is one of those terms that have disappeared, at least where we live. Probably more something of a throw back to the 1950s and early 60s.

I think it is area dependent nanna8, not many are of British background around there. She was ok, she can handle it!

I have to say in 50 years I have never been called a pom, never mind a bloody one. I referred to myself as one to some friends to explain why we were watching the coronation . They thought I was Aussie born because I have lost my accent. I think it is one of those terms that have disappeared, at least where we live. Probably more something of a throw back to the 1950s and early 60s.

25Avalon

A girl I met at college had been to Australia and back twice with several years in between. Her parents couldn’t make up their minds and we’re going back for a third time. She felt torn wanting to be in England when there and in Australia when here. The one thing she didn’t like was animosity from some Australians and being called “a bloody Pom”.

Still happens as as my DD was asked that not long ago. She's only been there 25 years 😁 and knows how to deal with remarks like that.
"You got a problem with that?"

Interesting Avalon as my mother complained about the animosity of some of the Australian men especially her own brother in law in the 50’s. I have few memories of Australia but I do remember snippets of the homeward journey by sea: sleeping on deck and the intense heat sailing through the Red Sea,the crockery all slipping off the table passing through turbulent waters and most vivid of all the ceremony of crossing the line when Neptune chased everyone around as we crossed the Equator. A counsellor friend of mine puts my fear of the sea down to these experiences. Although I have relatives in Australia I have never felt the desire to return.

A girl I met at college had been to Australia and back twice with several years in between. Her parents couldn’t make up their minds and we’re going back for a third time. She felt torn wanting to be in England when there and in Australia when here. The one thing she didn’t like was animosity from some Australians and being called “a bloody Pom”.

My great-grandparents emigrated to America in the 1850s but returned within two years. Presumably they didn't like it or were homesick.
A lot of DH's family emigrated to Canada as well as New Zealand, mine to New Zealand and Australia but all before the £10 POM scheme.

When we came we knew that we would not be able to afford to return anyway. Nothing like that as a motivation to make a big effort to settle and fit in ! It was strange at first, of course and it required grit and determination . It was worth it, a hundred times over, as far as my family’s concerned - we have been truly blessed and have had a good life including a few ups and downs, of course.

Many of my Irish relatives emigrated over the years but not to Australia. The USA (Philadelphia was a favourite destination) and Canada mainly. Those who emigrated many years ago mainly stayed out there and made good lives for themselves. But in more recent years they have only stayed a few years and then returned “home”.

This is an interesting thread. It's enlightening to hear of the people that regretted immigrating, and those that regretted not going!

My parents immigrated not to Australia, but to Canada in the 50's, although I think Australia was on their research list.
I've never really thought about how they would miss home, although I know my Mum dearly missed her sister back in Jersey.

My parents had assisted passage (£10.00) to NZ where I was born. They came back to the UK in the late 50s. I think life was a huge struggle on their return and that they had some regrets about leaving NZ. I have some lovely black and white photos of the return boat trip but sadly no memories.

The problem is if you go and then have children and they grow up there much as you long to come back to the UK it would mean leaving your family behind . We have family in that position . I remember a friend in the 60s who was going to emigrate saying she was all right until her grandfather told her he would never see her again . At that time it was true .

I have two sets of aunts and uncles, my mum's two younger brothers and their wives, who went to Australia as £10 Poms in the 1960's.
One couple live in Victoria and went on to adopt two Australian boys. One cousin still lives there the other has moved to live in the UK.
The other couple split up but both still live in Australia with their new partners.

It's so interesting thinking about those sliding door moments in our family
history. My ancestors all made the decision to migrate to Oz from various parts of the UK in the mid 19th century. They made the months long journey in sailing ships via South Africa, several burying children at sea along the way. They were all working class folk and I do wonder about and admire their bravery and belief in a better life for their families. Most but not all have thrived and I still cherish my UK ancestry and history.

Delving into my family history I have found some ancestors from the Isle of Harris who were “assisted by the Highland and Island Emigration Society and embarked on board the ship Royal Albert which sailed from Liverpool to Adelaide on 15 August 1855 and arrived 2 December 1855 ‘’. The cost to each family varied between £3 for a single individual to £50 for a large family. My own family also left from Liverpool in 1950 almost a century later.

We were keen to go because hubby was a brass bandsman, and a band magazine said a band in Tasmania was very short of players. They offered a place in the band, a rented house, and help finding work, hubby was an engineering toolmaker. As I said above, we didn`t go in the end, but always regretted it.

My parents made the decision in 1957 - we kids found out about it when we got home from school one day and Mum was packing ! We got to Sydney in a huge heatwave, but nothing put Mum and Dad off. I remember Dad saying "A man could wear shorts every day of his life here - I'm staying", and so we stayed. We've all been back to the UK for visits over the years, but we've all stayed in Oz.

My df wanted to take us but he failed medical ,he died not long after I was 4 so luckily we didn't go has mum would have been left with us 6girls alone away from family.

One NZ cousin and his DW are coming to stay in a few weeks.
They come most years as she went out as a young nurse, met my cousin, settled down, had a family etc
One of their sons now works in Scotland is married with DC so his parents visit when they can. I think his mum likes to taste Britain again though her parents have died and there's an elderly cousin

When we were newly wed my late DH wanted to emigrate to Australia but I never wanted to live on the other side of the world.
I had a friend at school who went in the 1960s. She said the were put in something like nissen huts and the food was awful. It took some time to get a house. They came back after a couple of years as her sister need healthcare and there was no NHS. A couple of years later they went back and stayed there.