Why are British people who have settled in Australia called "ten catties"?

In Australia, "ten pounds" does not mean money, but refers to a kind of people-British immigrants to Australia.

Australia uses Australian dollars instead of British pounds, which can hardly be seen or spent locally, but the word "ten pounds" is mentioned from time to time, referring to the British who moved to Australia after World War II.

After World War II, Australia was seriously under-populated, with only over 7 million people on 3 million square miles of land. Neither national defense nor economic reconstruction can be carried out. 1947, Britain and Australia signed the Agreement on Freedom and Assistance to Immigrants. Eligible Britons and their families can rely on Australia only by paying 10, and the threshold is extremely low. This is why British immigrants are called "ten pounds" in Australia.

In fact, the ten pounds can't really cover the cost of the trip. Actually, most of it is shared by the two governments, and 65,438+00 is only a token fee.

Why should we introduce British immigrants instead of people from other countries? This can be traced back to the immigration control act promulgated by the Australian government in 190 1, which prohibited non-whites from immigrating to Australia. This was the beginning of the famous "White Australia Policy".

Australia was discovered and ruled by the British for a long time. At that time, people thought that the language and culture of Britain were no different from those of Australia. Helping British immigrants is an effective way to maintain Australia's "British nature" and increase its population.

The plan was put forward by Arthur Karrbo, Australia's first immigration minister. He advocated encouraging and subsidizing British immigrants. For every non-British immigrant, 65,438+00 British immigrants will be introduced. 1947, the two countries signed an agreement. Australia requires all sponsored immigrants to work in Australia for at least two years, and the government will guarantee subsidies before they find jobs; Immigrants do not provide social welfare including medical insurance, unemployment insurance and employment services. The federal government is responsible for recruiting and transporting immigrants, and the state governments are responsible for reception, temporary accommodation and follow-up work.

At the same time, Australia's propaganda in Britain was also in place, grasping the most scarce things in Britain at that time-sunshine and meat.

According to statistics, from 1947 to 1982, the number of British immigrants who moved to Australia exceeded1600,000, of which more than 70% were "10 lb" who received assistance from the Australian government, and 3/4 of them finally settled in Australia. Although a large number of non-British immigrants joined in, they could not compete with British immigrants in number.

"Ten Pounds" made great contributions to Australia's economic and security defense after the war, especially provided many professional and technical talents, and promoted Australia's industrialization process. Among them, many outstanding figures were produced. Julia Gillard, who was elected as Australia's first female prime minister in 20 10, moved to Australia with her parents in 1966.