six - ‘We belong to the land’: British immigrants in Australia contemplating or realising their return ‘home’ in later life

Summary

Though earth holds many splendours,

Wherever I may die,

I know to what brown country

My homing thoughts will fly

My country by Dorothea Mackellar

Introduction

Dorothea Mackellar's poem, of which the above is the final verse, was written when she was homesick in England, far away from her birthplace in Australia. It is an iconic and romantic rendition, which evocatively recalls the pastoral landscape of England before rejoicing in Australia's more rugged geography and the poet's love for this homeland. The poem was given to me in Australia by one of my British born respondents, who, like many featured in this chapter, recognised its underlying sentiments, most particularly those enshrined in the final verse, although in their case ‘homing thoughts’ were to a more lush and less brown country.

During the course of my social gerontology research and my social work practice over the years, I have occasionally heard older people talk of a heartfelt desire to return to their place of birth or childhood before the end of their life. A vague interest in this phenomenon grew as I myself became older, but was only fully ignited when two unexpected events took place, in quick succession. The first was a visit to Sydney, Australia, the city of my birth and early childhood, to present a paper at a gerontology conference. Although not having set foot in that country for over 30 years, on leaving the airport and travelling though the city I suddenly, and unexpectedly, had an overwhelming feeling of being ‘home’. The second relevant event was a chance sighting of a message posted on a BBC website, from an English woman who had watched a TV programme about post-World War Two emigrants to Australia, of which she was one. Her message read, ‘I am too British to change my nationality and never will regret coming back [after 30 years]. As the years went on, my dread was that I would die before returning.’

I subsequently decided to send a letter to the editor of a major Australian newspaper, inviting interested readers to contact me with their views on return migration in later life.