I want to claim asylum...

DSO · #1 12-10-2005, 07:38 AM

...from rubbish weather, cloud cover and impending winter
...a country that is quite frankly Full Up (we are a small island of 60 million people - imagine a place the size of the state of Victoria with all those people)
...overbearing light pollution (because of the above reason)
...no chance of a job (the employment situation here is BAD)
...no Magellanic Clouds, no Omega Centauri and no 47 Tucanae

As I don't qualify for the points system and I'm too old for the working holidaymaker scheme I'm going to come and claim asylum.

I wish it was as easy as that.

On a serious note, as Australia and the UK are both members of the Commonweath (sod the European Union as far as I'm concerned) why is it not easier for British natives to live in Australia and vice versa without all the red tape?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #2 12-10-2005, 07:47 AM

I think we upset someone high up when we changed out anthem from "God Save the Queen" to "Advance Australia Fair"

h0ughy (David) · #3 12-10-2005, 07:48 AM

I am glad you have joined this forum DSO! we should be able to keep you sane and provide you with the views you are missing out on!

DSO · #4 12-10-2005, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

I think we upset someone high up when we changed out anthem from "God Save the Queen" to "Advance Australia Fair"

There's talk from time to time here about ditching "God Save The Queen". I wish we would because I don't believe in a god and I don't want the Queen saved! Mind you, we're likely to end up with something equally stiff and pompous because we're Brits and stuffed shirts rule, it seems.

I am going to have to save for another trip Down Under, but as I haven't got a job I think I might not get there before I'm 55!

It does hack me off that there isn't more free movement between Australia, the UK and NZ as the countries have a lot in common besides being part of the Commonwealth.

Sorry, just frustrated due to horrible weather and the fact I can't get a job...

*Whingin' Pom*

33South (Chris) · #5 12-10-2005, 08:33 AM

Welcome from an ex-brit, it could be worse, you could live in Northern England.

My son moved to Manchester from Australia, got married etc - can you believe it.

astroron (Ron) · #6 12-10-2005, 01:44 PM

Hi DSO, as an ex pomm myself I feel for you, the rot set in when Britain said no to Commonwealth countries people who got independance from Britain to go to Britain as British citizens, unfortunatly Australia was included in this so as not to be seen as a racial policy. The Australian Government under Gaugh Whitlam retaliated with the same policy, and that is where we stand. If you ever get up the dough to come down under, come up to sunny Queensland and I am sure you will very welcome.astroron

ving (David) · #7 12-10-2005, 01:49 PM

I have been accused of being english before and it aint good

of course we wish we could help, but there you go...

fringe_dweller · #8 12-10-2005, 02:35 PM

Hi DSO welcome to gods own country

(oh hang on thats qld?) There are many here in Oz of the opinion that we are full up too - thats partly how the libs (tories) keep getting re-elected - the bumper stickers i saw on farmers utes in qld recently come to mind

besides you chaps are still paying for being a colonizing superpower

and re oz - brit relations - lots of us still remember when the UK dumped Oz in the 70's (and the rest of the commonwealth) in favour of the EU (not that you had any choice) as a major trading partner (there was a time when u couldnt buy a can of fruit or food that wasnt labelled oz/nz in the UK i am told) and we suffered greatly in the transition - but we are now stronger for it and are greatly thankful that mother england cut the umbilical cord thank you very much
I lived in the UK for a few years - i love history and the UK is certainly the place for that

and being able to get on a bus/ferry for 20 bucks and be in another country in an hour or less is something we dont experience very much here lol - I love concerts/music/museums/galleries an such - being able to go and see all my favourite international acts at the drop of a hat in some tiny pub was something I enjoyed about the UK too - I loved the buzz and vibe in the atmosphere too - so it depends on your view point i guess - but i hated British food and how expensive it was (a dodgy pizza was like equiv $60 aud one time LOL - going back 14 years ago) - the thing I love and missed the most about Home is the quality of the food - superb - we dont know how lucky we have it - and thats why we are all fat?
Kearn

RAJAH235 · #9 12-10-2005, 11:29 PM

DSO, Have you stolen anything lately? That might help!

Ving, you don't sound English.

L.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #10 12-10-2005, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fringe_dweller

being able to get on a bus/ferry for 20 bucks and be in another country in an hour or less is something we dont experience very much here
Kearn

Very Much?? Ahh, you mean 'not at all', 'never', 'no way'.

Are stowaways still chucked in prison? (hint hint)

DSO · #11 13-10-2005, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astroron

Hi DSO, as an ex pomm myself I feel for you, the rot set in when Britain said no to Commonwealth countries people who got independance from Britain to go to Britain as British citizens, unfortunatly Australia was included in this so as not to be seen as a racial policy. The Australian Government under Gaugh Whitlam retaliated with the same policy, and that is where we stand. If you ever get up the dough to come down under, come up to sunny Queensland and I am sure you will very welcome.astroron

Trust the UK government (ANY UK government in fact) to stuff things up. Pity Gaugh Whitlam didn't rise above it. Our government of the time certainly shafted AU and NZ by decreeing the UK throw our lot in with people who have traditionally been our enemies, not to mention shafting those of us who desire to leave the UK and go to nicer climes without having to learn another language.

What Britain did to the citizens of other Commonwealth nations is nothing short of betrayal (and yet we let anyone else in!). Ridiculous. We are now ruled, in part, from Belgium by people who we have never really got along with.

Hopefully I'll be able to raise enough dosh to return to Australia (I was last Down Under in 1997) in the not-too-distant future. I can't stay jobless forever and maybe with retraining I'll qualify for enough points to move there eventually.

I know I have probably perpetuated the image of the Brits as "whingein' Poms" and actually for a lot of my fellow UK citizens that isn't too far from the truth, but when you think about our near endless clouds and rain and overcrowding maybe you could cut us a little bit of slack.

Still it isn't all bad, as I said above, I can't stay jobless forever (I hope!) and I can always fly out every few years!

ving (David) · #12 13-10-2005, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAJAH235

Ving, you don't sound English.

L.

er... you havent heard me.

cahullian · #13 13-10-2005, 09:45 AM

hey ving you sound as English as I do. he he
My dad is English (Bath) so I can understand people mistaking me for a pom. (not)
I left Norn Iron 20 years ago and am going back for a visit next April to visit my sister, (Halifax) ref a few football games, and watcha few Premier league matches (my sister's boss have a corporate box at Bolton Wanderers)
Not looking forward to the clouds and light pollution but I will take my yet to be purchased ED80.

So how about I buy a big suitcase and you can stow away DSO???

Gazz/Irish

DSO · #14 13-10-2005, 09:59 AM

Hopefully by April my team (Southampton) might be on the verge of returning to the Premiership...or maybe not. Ambition is not a characteristic of that football club.

Yep, I'll stow away. Maybe I could take the drastic step of visiting Oz and then finding some mug who'll agree to get married so I can stay.

RapidEye · #15 13-10-2005, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fringe_dweller

besides you chaps are still paying for being a colonizing superpower

At least you guys didn't have to take up arms and toss them back into the pond to get rid of them

Heck, we even had to toss their tea into the harbor

Striker (Tony) · #16 13-10-2005, 12:00 PM

On a side note...Just recently I had some Pommies from Manchester over visiting for 4 weeks.....they were pulled up going through Custom's Brisbane Airport to be asked why their criminal record information was not filed out......my relative replied...."I didn't think a criminal record was compulsory anymore"....lol...had to be there....was very funny.

iceman (Mike) · #17 13-10-2005, 03:29 PM

lol Tony, nice one

fringe_dweller · #18 13-10-2005, 05:20 PM

haha never heard that one before

and yes we do have shackle marks left over from the convict days (thats the main one i have ever heard) I have rarely met a (whitey) Aussie who's family history in aus goes back much further than a 100 years or so - the ones that can claim convict origins are like royalty? now

Maternal side in my case goes back to 2nd (free settler) fleet - something to do with one of Dr Redfern's wife's sisters - scottish sheep farmers - family name Watt - best i can do
any first fleeters out there?

hmmm
Kearn

Starkler (Geoff) · #19 13-10-2005, 05:31 PM

1880's my ancestors came out from Cornwall.
My parents are big into geneology and have traced parts of the family tree back to the 1600's.

P.S. The whinging pom tag is normally for those who move to Aus , then complain about how things in England are so much better

xstream (John) · #20 13-10-2005, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fringe_dweller

any first fleeters out there?

hmmm
Kearn

Yes I can lay claim to being a First Fleet descendant ( Maternal side ).

Here's an extract of his deportation:-

Mariner,William (c1762-)
William Mariner, a labourer aged about 23, recieved sentence of death at Oxford on 8 March 1786 with Thomas Gearing (qv) for being accessory to sacrilege and burglary from the chapel of Magdalen College. They were said to have helped another man enter the college by means of a ladder and steal from the chapel two pairs of altar candle-sticks and a communion dish to the total value of £25. He lived in the parish of St Peter in the East, Oxford and was also convicted with Gearing and several others for theft of seven live geese. Reprieved to transportation for seven years (Gearing for life ) he was ordered to the Ceres hulk on 12 April and delivered to Alexander on 6 January 1787.
At Port Jackson Mariner was charged on 27 December 1788 for neglecting his work but the charge was dismissed. On 7 March 1789 he was ordered 100 lashes for theft of turnips from Major Robert Ross's farm. In December 1791, Governor Phillip included his name among those absconded before expiration of their sentence. A later record showing this man leaving the colony by Brittannia in 1794 is very likely to refer to William marney or Marriner (qv).