Australia's multicultural composition is much talked about (with approx 1 in 4 of the population born overseas, and 44% of the population either being born overseas or having at least one parent born overseas), but conversations about immigration to Australia often neglect the largest group of migrants - those from the UK, comprising some 24% of all foreign arrivals to Australia, according to the 2006 census - who experience at least some of the same upheavals and dramas of other immigrants, and yet feature only rarely in our discussions about immigration.

This book tells the story of subsidised migrants from the UK to Australia (from the 1940s to the 1970s), drawing on interviews, letters, diaries, photographs, and written accounts, talking about the plans, expectations, realities, ambivalence, family relationships, identities, and diverse experiences of those who settled in Australia, as well as a sizeable group who subsequently returned to England.

I was particularly fascinated by the accounts of those who Hammerton and Thomson described as 'pioneers of the backpacking generation', whose accounts spoke of 'restlessness', 'itchy feet', a quest to 'find themselves', and other such motifs, which I had assumed to be more contemporary in nature.

A very readable account, that leaves me intrigued and wanting to know more ... ( )