As you would expect, it’s hard to quantify the total number of people who have emigrated from the UK to Australia.
What we do know, however, is that the Home Affairs Department confirms that there were 1.1 million UK-born individuals living in Australia in June 2022, making them the largest diaspora in the country.
Many people still look to make the journey to live in Australia, attracted by the weather, lack of a language barrier, and relaxed outdoor lifestyle. According to Statista, the net migration figure was more than 19,000 in 2023.
Given the numbers and the strong links between Australia and the UK, it’s no surprise that the number of people emigrating has included many famous people, many who came with their parents when they were a child, and others who made the journey of their own volition.
Find out more about some of these individuals.
The era of the “Ten Pound Poms”
The biggest driver of emigration from the UK to Australia was the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme created in 1945 by the then-Labor government. It was designed to boost the population and supply workers for the post-war economic boom.
The Australian government subsidised the cost of the journey, which meant children travelled free, and adults paid only £10, hence the expression “Ten Pound Pom”.
The scheme was overwhelmingly successful and resulted in more than a million migrants travelling from the UK to Australia between 1945 and 1972.
That number included John Harrower, who made the journey with his family in the early 70s. John is now a Senior Financial Planner in our Perth office and wrote about his experiences in a previous newsletter.
2 Australian Prime Ministers were post-war migrants from the UK
All but one of the 31 people who have held the office of Australian Prime Minister have had British ancestry.
Indeed, the streak was only broken when Anthony Albanese, who had an Irish mother and Italian father, became Prime Minister in 2022.
Only six of the 30 were actually born in the UK, however. Two of those are inextricably linked by the 2010 federal election.
The winner of that election was Australia’s first, and so far only, female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
Her parents were Welsh, and she was born near Cardiff. Her family made the move on medical advice because of her poor health. They arrived in Australia in 1966 and settled in Adelaide.
The opponent she beat in the 2010 election, who did subsequently become Prime Minister in 2013, was Tony Abbott.
Son of an Australian mother and English father who met in England, Abbott was born in London, and migrated to Australia in 1960 at the age of three.
3 brothers from Manchester on their way to superstardom
The Gibb brothers, Barry, Robin, and Maurice, originally hailed from the Isle of Man, and formed their first-ever band – the Rattlesnakes – as early as 1955 after moving to Manchester.
They became the Bee Gees when they were performing at speedway meetings in Brisbane after emigrating to Australia in 1958.
Despite releasing several singles while based in Australia, they became frustrated by a lack of commercial success and returned to the UK at the start of 1967. Ironically, it was while on the voyage home that they found out that their latest single had actually become a big hit in Australia.
3 Scottish boys who created rock history
While the Bee Gees made their name first through middle-of-the-road pop ballads and subsequently with a string of disco hits, some other emigres from the UK who came as part of the post-war exodus from the UK followed a rather different route to musical stardom!
Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young made the 10,000-mile journey from Scotland to Australia in the 1960s, and subsequently became founding members of one of the greatest rock bands in history – AC/DC.
The brothers spent the first half of their childhoods in Glasgow, before making the journey with 11 other members of the Young clan to Melbourne in 1963.
As well as the Young brothers, original AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott was another Ten Pound Pom, who had made the journey to Australia with his parents a decade before.
A controversial cricketer welcomed with open arms
Of all the Brits to emigrate to Australia, probably the most unexpected was someone who had become a hate figure there 16 years before.
England cricketer, Harold Larwood, was one of the central figures in the notorious “Bodyline” Ashes cricket series in 1932/33.
While the instigator and chief villain was the England captain Douglas Jardine, Larwood was the spearhead bowler, and he attracted much of the ire of the Australian public.
Yet in 1949, he and his family settled in Australia, where he was warmly welcomed and spent the remainder of his life.
Coincidentally, the next fast bowler to terrorise Australian batters, Frank “Typhoon” Tyson, also made the same journey, after he married an Australian woman and emigrated in 1960.
A Grammy award-winning singer and actor
Singer and actor, Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England in 1948.
She boasted a family that could have come straight from a wartime thriller. Her father was an MI5 officer who worked on the Enigma Project at Bletchley Park, while her Jewish mother was a refugee from Nazi Germany, whose father was the nuclear physicist, Max Born.
In early 1954, when Newton-John was five, her family emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, on the SS Strathaird.
She developed her singing career in Australia in the early 60s and started to achieve some recognition before returning to the UK in 1966. Throughout her career she demonstrated a clear commitment to both countries and never forgot the deep roots she had set down in both the UK and Australia.
Get in touch
From cricketing legends to Grammy-winning singers, the stories of UK migrants to Australia highlight the strong historical and cultural ties between the two countries. Whether driven by opportunity, family, or lifestyle, the journey to Australia continues to captivate many.
If you’re considering making Australia your home, planning your financial future is just as important as the journey itself. As specialists in financial planning for those moving to Australia, bdhSterling can help you navigate the complexities of cross-border finances, ensuring you start your new chapter with confidence.
Get in touch with us to learn how we can assist in securing your financial future as you make your move.
