ten pound tourist
nounEtymology
From ten + pound (“unit of currency”) + tourist. An allusion to the immigrant′s contribution (in sterling) paid for passage to Australia under an assisted immigration scheme, the remainder being paid by the Australian government. The scheme operated from 1946 to 1982; in 1973 the immigrant contribution was increased to £75. The term tourist refers to the obligation (only) for participants to remain in Australia for two years; some elected to return after this time.
Definitions
An assisted immigrant to Australia from Britain, from the decades following World War II.
- In 1971 my own (Anglo-Celtic) parents traveled from the “Mother country” (the United Kingdom) as assisted immigrants, among the last of the “ten-pound tourists.” My brother and I traveled free (see Appleyard et al. 1988).
- Billy′s parents were ‘ten pound tourists’, arriving in Australia in 1962.
The neighborhood
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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA