The Australian Dream? There’s a dark side to moving down under

Nearly 50,000 people moved from the UK to Australia on a working holiday visa in 2024. But while many of these sun-seekers enjoy a new life or a long holiday, others are unsettled by the country’s politics and pop culture. Kyle MacNeill speaks to the young Brits left disillusioned.

There are suitcases, and then there are moving-to-Australia-forever-suitcases, as a quick scan around Heathrow’s Terminal 3 reveals. Every morning at 11.50am, the Qantas QF10 – the only direct flight from Britain to Australia – soars towards sunnier climes without stopping for a single slurp of kerosene. It carries 236 passengers plus a cargo hold loaded with gargantuan luggage and petrified pets. And, around 16 hours later, it will land in Perth, having whizzed 9,009 miles around the world. The Dreamliner, as the plane is branded, holds the promise of a one-way ticket to a dream life.

Since its first flight in 2018, the service has carried around 500,000 passengers to the land of pristine beaches, Neighbours and Tim Tams. Elsewhere, jets head from the UK’s other major airports to the likes of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (after pit-stops in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai) every week.

Many of those on board are young Brits heading to Oz for the long run. In 2024, nearly 50,000 people moved from the UK to Australia via a working holiday visa, up by 31,000 from the previous year. This increase has partly been fuelled by a new free trade deal: the maximum age was raised from 30 to 35, the mandatory 88 days of gruelling graft on a rural farm was scrapped, and now young Brits can live in Australia for up to three years without having to meet any specified work requirements. Others are travelling for a long holiday or backpacking adventure, rather than making a more permanent move; 590,000 people from the UK enjoyed a vacay down under last year.

But why are so many young Brits going the distance, aside from it being easier? For just over 50 per cent of visitors, it’s to see friends and family; more than 1.2 million Brits now live in Australia. For the rest, it’s often about chasing a dream – Australia is seen as the land of eternal sunshine and near-horizontal levels of laidback living, where affluence goes hand-in-hand with nonchalance.

And, with many Brits wanting an escape, it’s pretty much the furthest you can physically go (unless you double down and head to Dunedin in New Zealand). “The UK was just so s***, with inflation and the move to far-right politics, I think people were just a bit done … Australia was a good answer to that,” says Izzy, a 29-year-old teacher who lived in Brisbane for a year and is now travelling across NZ.

Plenty of Brits make the move and never look back. James, a 29-year-old publicist, says he’s a “huge fan. The geography, animals and plants are totally unique. The warm weather also influences everything; Aussies love to spend time outdoors and take part in sport or surf or swim. It’s also easy to get a working visa so you get the opportunity to live here, rather than just visit.” Izzy agrees: “They do work/life balance incredibly well, it’s amazing.”.

But if moving to Australia is like Vegemite, then some people inevitably don’t love it. Though painted as the land of perpetual beach barbecues and perfect weather, the Australian Dream can wind up being nothing more than an illusion. So why are some Brits experiencing flyer’s remorse? Lyle, a 27-year-old history teacher who moved from Dorset to Melbourne, thinks that some people’s view of the country is too airbrushed. “The idea that you’re surfing all the time and it’s a constant beach party is a mirage,” he says. “I think solo younger travellers with less money and work experience definitely have a bigger comedown to the reality of finding work in an expensive country, when the first month of partying is done.”.

Izzy, meanwhile, was surprised by the culture shock. “I think I expected just the UK and the sun; I thought culturally they’d be very similar. And they're really not. It's very American,” she says, lamenting that everything is a long drive away. “It takes literally days to get anywhere,” Antonia agrees.

I did feel my Blackness a lot more in Australia than I ever have in the UK. Then there’s the politics. Peter Dutton, the current Leader of the opposition, is in serious election contention this year; he has recently praised Trump and taken aim at “wokeness”. This right-wing spirit seems to be on the rise. “In the UK, we have such a huge diversity of people and a really multicultural environment, and I think we take that for granted as something that’s just inevitable,” says Antonia. “But when you go to Australia, you don’t have that at all. And I did feel my Blackness a lot more in Australia than I ever have in the UK.”.