An Interesting Book - Why You Are Australian

[Anne B]

I have just read a book called ‘Why you are Australian (A Letter to my Children)’ by Nikki Gemmell. The author is an Australian woman who has been living in London for 12 years with her Australian husband, where their 3 children were born. The book is about how she took her children back to Australia for 3 months as she was desperate to show them an aussie childhood before they become too ‘British’. I think many of the reasons why she wants the children to live in Australia are the same as for a lot of us, and in places her thoughts are so similar to what my husband and I had been thinking it was unreal. My husband is Australian and we too had been living in England for 12 years and were desperate to get back to Australia to give our British-born kids a better lifestyle.

 

If you want to understand what Australians value about what is good about the Australian way of life, then read this book. It also discusses a lot of issues facing Australia today and highlights the dilemmas of being an ex-pat and being away from your family. It is not all anti-British by any means as she loves a lot of things about London and the UK, and her husband doesn’t want to leave.

[Guest Sallyanne]

I've just tried to find this book on Amazon but can't find it. Is it new out in Australia?

 

Just on a different point - I see that you are on a spouse visa. I'm Australian and my husband is British, we are wanting to move at the end of this year. Did you find the process as traumatic as what some other people seem to have found on other forums?

[Leicesterlad]

Booktopia is an excellent online book supplier, with a pretty fast delivery service, which has the book available for $23:99

 

why-you-are-australian-a-letter-to-my-children

[Anne B]

Hi Sallyanne

I got the book as a present so don't know where you can get it from. It's a hardback published 2009 so I reckon it's pretty new out. We've just moved house so I've no idea where it is at the moment amidst all the chaos to look up the publisher or the ISBN. It's well worth reading.

 

As for the spouse visa, they seem to want to know everything about you!!! I got a lot of helpful advice from Poms in Oz and took the attitude of giving them everything they could possibly want up front. We've been together 18 years and married for 15 so I never thought I wouldn't get it. In the end it took a month, it would have been quicker but we went on holiday in the middle of applying which delayed having the medical. It is a hassle and was very stressful and we did feel resentful about the time, effort and money involved but that's the way the Australian government work. Good luck.