Sailing into the sunset?
As Ten Pound Poms returns, life for the intrepid Brits who were sold a dream Down Under remains challenging, says writer Danny Brocklehurst
Jim Dyson/Redferns
- Matt Charlton
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–In 2026, Qantas will launch the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney. Nicknamed ‘Project Sunrise’ (passengers will be on board for so long that they’ll see two sunrises) the plane will spend 22 continuous hours in the sky. As punishing as this journey may seem, it’s in stark contrast to the six weeks that it took the Ten-pound Poms – so-called because of the cost and the ruddy complexion akin to a pomegranate acquired on exposure to the Aussie sun – to reach Sydney’s shores in the 1950s.
For £10 (about £350 in today’s money), Brits bought passage aboard a ship and the promise of sunshine and a new life, with their accommodation and employment waiting for them when they disembarked. The Ten-pound Poms – or Assisted Passage Migration Scheme – was part of Australia’s post-war ‘populate or perish’ policy, the aim of which was a much-needed boost for the country’s population and workforce. But of course, not everything went according to plan.
The reality that confronted many British emigrants escaping the decimation, depression and rationing brought by the Second World War – is being brought to life once again in series two of the BBC drama of the same name, starring Michelle Keegan.
My great aunt Ellen was one of the people who made this journey. In 1950, she and her husband John left the Isle of Dogs in London and boarded the MV Georgic. They arrived in Australia one and a half months later, expecting a running start into their new lives.
“People saw an advert in a newspaper or at the cinema. Then they went to Australia House and were shown what can only be described as a propaganda movie,” writer of the drama, Danny Brocklehurst, explains. “Speed boats, water skiing, white-picket fences around big houses, and kids playing on the beach.”
There were huts in a camp, with dunnies, flies and baking heat
But until 2023, when the first series of Ten Pound Poms was broadcast, it seems the real story slipped through the cracks of history, particularly in the UK. It was brought to Brocklehurst’s attention by production company, Eleven Film. After a career writing contemporary series such as Ordinary Lies, Brassic and Accused, it also marked his first foray into period drama. What turned his head? “I don’t like a lot of period drama! But I think the reason for that, is I find that it doesn’t have much contemporary resonance. To me, it just looks like people dressed up in bonnets and silly costumes and I can never get past that.
“Eleven Film sent me a link to an old documentary and said, ‘Do you think there might be a drama in this?’ I watched it and was fascinated by the themes that were potentially there – to do with escape, starting over and also prejudice – and it tempted me. And then I read a book on it and thought, ‘There’s a series in this for sure.’”
The prejudice in this fresh start becomes apparent early on in the drama. The scheme was a ‘whites only’ initiative with Chinese immigrants turned away and for those granted entry, broken promises and harsh realities awaited.
My great auntie and uncle were promised employment for John, an engineer. However, the job didn’t exist. “There were a lot of people around then ripping off immigrants,” my cousin David, their eldest son, tells me from Sydney. Contrary to the gleaming homes and gardens of the publicity material, immigrants were initially placed in migrant hostels.
“They were Nissen huts in a camp in the middle of nowhere, with dunnies and flies and baking heat, which just made the tin huts even warmer,” says Brocklehurst.
The fact that Villawood Migrant Hostel, where Ellen and John were placed, is now an immigration detention centre, speaks volumes. They were subsequently cheated out of their house deposit, and ended up living in the garage of a friend they had met on the boat; David had a chest of drawers for a crib.
The uncomfortable similarities with the modern-day immigrant experience are hard to ignore – was this a deliberate decision? “It’s clearly not the same – it’s a bunch of white Brits going to Australia,” says Brocklehurst. “But I think there are some interesting parallels to do with, ‘You are the outsider; you are not wanted somewhere’. It was very much a sense of, ‘They’re coming over here, they’re taking our work, they’re not like us, they moan, they don’t integrate…’ so it doesn’t take a massive leap.”
John and Ellen (left) with friends on board the MV Georgic, on which they sailed in 1950. Matt Charlton
They were also stranded; immigrants had to surrender their passports for two years “unless you could afford to pay your own way back,” he adds. “Even then it was quite complicated with all sorts of rules, like women weren’t allowed to return unless their husband allowed it.”
All the more shocking is the account of the Aboriginal experience, also a storyline in the show. Though this is primarily the tale of Poms, for Brocklehurst there was no possibility of ignoring the plight of the indigenous people. “It’s an important story and it’s important to touch on it,” the writer says. “In series one, there was this great big racist rant by one of the characters, and there was a bit of discomfort about that being allowed in the show, but I fought hard to keep that in, because its representative of what was going on in 1956 Australia.” Aboriginals were only classed as people by the Australian government in 1967.
Overarching themes, modern parallels and lessons from history are just the building blocks for what is essentially a character-driven show. It depicts perseverance, resilience, frailties and survival of the fittest against an incredibly harsh environment.
By the time the migration scheme ended in 1982, 1.5 million Brits had chanced their arm at a new life. Only a handful returned, with some then going back to Australia, giving birth to the term ‘Boomerang Poms’. After a difficult start, the majority of emigrants flourished; Ellen and John only ever returned to the UK for holidays in 1968 and 1979.
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On a recent trip to Australia I visited Ellen, now aged 100 and living in a care home in Sydney. I showed her photos of the boat she arrived on. She remarked, “It wasn’t easy, but we made a good life for ourselves.” It seems like a good dream to me.
Authors
Matt Charlton
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