On a downer down under

Nearly 50,000 people moved from the UK to Australia on a working holiday visa in 2024. But while many enjoy a new life or a long holiday, others are unsettled by the nation’s politics and pop culture. Kyle MacNeill speaks to the disenchanted

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There are suitcases, and then there are moving-to-Australiaforever-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.