Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Migration histories often neglect return migration. More than a million Britons migrated to Australia in the peak years of migration between 1945 and 1971, the majority using the assisted passage migration scheme. A significant proportion returned to Britain. This research involved the collection and analysis of written and oral life stories by these return migrants. It complemented La Trobe University (Melbourne) research involving the life stories of postwar British migrants still resident in Australia. The research aimed to enrich our understanding of the post war movements of people between Britain and Australia, of the experiences of British migrants in Australia, and of the motivations, processes and meanings of return migration. The research also aimed to develop more general theoretical understandings of the ways in which migrants deal with disjuncture and displacement and construct life stories which make sense of the turbulent interconnections between memory and identity, and between migration, place and nationality.
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The digital resource comprises:
1. Transcripts of 31 interviews conducted with men and women who emigrated to Australia under the assisted passage scheme between 1947 and 1973;
2. Summaries of these interviews;
3. A database in which these 31 interviews are coded according to the primary themes of interpretation.