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From the Essential Viewing website:

"The story of invisible British migration to Australia.
Ten Pound Poms is a classic one-hour social history documentary tracing the story of the Ten Pound Poms and their families from the post-war era through to the 1960’s.

In the thirty years following World War Two, 1.5 million Britons voluntarily migrated to the former penal colony at the opposite end of the earth. It was one of the largest planned migrations of the Twentieth Century. From all corners of the United Kingdom, these so called Ten Pound Poms shared the common dream that Australia was a land of sunny skies and boundless opportunity. They hoped to escape post-war rationing and stiff, class-bound British society. In truth they were moving to a foreign country far away from familiarity. It was a roll of the dice for all of them.

After the initial sweat and tears of settling into a foreign land, most thrived and their children became true-blue Aussies. Yet for many, Australia was too much to bear. In time, over a quarter of them returned home, happy to turn their backs forever on the sun burnt country and land of endless plains."

Fantastic documentary featuring modern and archival orchestral cues with a little country and 50s rock 'n' roll thrown in.

A stunning 2.6 million Britons tuned in to watch Ten Pound Poms when it screened on BBC2's prestigious Timewatch slot in early February in 2008. Given that the Timewatch slot usually averages an audience of 1.8 million, this made Ten Pound Poms one of the most watched Timewatch documentaries ever screened!

• Broadcast on ABC Australia and BBC in the UK (2007 and 2008)

• Sydney Morning Herald Couch Potato Awards (2007) - Winner, Best Local Documentary

• 55th Sydney International Film Festival (2008)

• Nominated for a Dendy Award, Best Community Documentary (2008)

Purchase the DVD View the trailer

What the Critics Have Said

“skilfully interwoven present-day interviews, archival footage and photographs.” - Lenny Ann Low, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 2007

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