Publication Date: Aug 2009
RRP: $34.95
ISBN: 9780980464863
Format: Paperback
Size: 165mm x 245mm
Pages: 256
Category: Australian History, History

Australians in Britain

The Twentieth-Century Experience

Edited by Carl Bridge, Robert Crawford and David Dunstan

Open Access

Much is known about British migration to Australia and something is known of British communities in Australia, but knowledge, particularly quantitative, of the reverse process is very sketchy. The phenomenon has been acknowledged but little explored. There are a number of important studies of significant Australians in the UK, and there has been recent research on the current Australian diaspora, but there is no study of the overall Australian presence, its constituents or its characteristics. Developments in this field of research offer an important window on how Australians related to the ‘British world’ historically and on the dynamism of the contemporary relationship.

Australians in Britain is an edited collection of papers of international research on the character and experience of overseas Australians and Australian communities in Britain since c.1901. It offers a comprehensive overview of current scholarship in this exciting, new and developing field of inquiry. This book has a contemporary focus, drawing on both recent and historical experiences with a view to understanding continuing trends, such as the consistent preponderance of women and the recent surge in young professionals, and issues such as expatriatism, imperialism, globalisation, national identity and overseas citizenship.

This book will appeal to scholars of Australian Studies (within Australia and Britain especially), History, Demography, Literary and Cultural studies and Tourism. The topics of this book range from Australians in Britain (especially London), including artists, literary intellectuals, students, women, tourists and travellers, servicemen, nurses, teachers and journalists, global professionals; the changing community; demographic trends; migration; links between the two countries; Australian newspapers in London; and Australia in the ‘British world’. Much is known about British migration to Australia and something is known of British communities in Australia, but knowledge, particularly quantitative, of the reverse process is very sketchy. The phenomenon has been acknowledged but little explored. There are a number of important studies of significant Australians in the UK, and there has been recent research on the current Australian diaspora, but there is no study of the overall Australian presence, its constituents or its characteristics. Developments in this field of research offer an important window on how Australians related to the ‘British world’ historically and on the dynamism of the contemporary relationship.


Carl Bridge

Carl Bridge is Professor and Head of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. He was one of the organisers of the 2005 Symposium on Australians in Britain jointly organised by the Menzies Centre and the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash. His...
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Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford is a Senior Lecturer in Public Communication at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is the author of But Wait There’s More …: A History of Australian Advertising, 1900–2000 (2008). As the MSA Research Fellow at Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College...
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David Dunstan

David Dunstan is Deputy Director and Senior Lecturer with the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University. He was one of the organisers of the 2005 Symposium on Australians in Britain jointly organised by the National Centre and the Menzies...
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