ten pound pom

See also: ten pound Pom

English

Alternative forms

• ten pound Pom

Etymology

From ten + pound (“unit of currency”) + pom (“British person”); compare ten pound 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.

Pronunciation

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Noun

ten pound pom (plural ten pound poms)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) An assisted immigrant to Australia or New Zealand from Britain, from the decades following World War II.
   • 2004, Margo Daly, Alison Cowan, Adrian Proszenko, The Rough Guide to Sydney, page 323:

     Under the slogan “Populate or Perish”, the government reintroduced assisted passages from Britain - the “ten-pound-poms” - also accepting substantial numbers of European refugees.

   • 2008, Eric Richards, Preface: Destination Australia: Migration to Australia Since 1901, page xiii:

     She was able to overcome the hurdles of the Immigration Department because she had actually been born in Adelaide five years before, the child of ‘ten pound Poms’ who were now re-returning to Australia.

   • 2008, Timothy Darvill, “Jones, Rhys Maengwyn (1941-2001)", entry in Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology, 2nd Edition, unnumbered page,

     On graduating he became one of the last ‘ten-pound poms′ by migrating to Australia under a scheme where the individual paid £10 and the Australian government paid the rest of the fare for a one-way journey.

Synonyms

• ten pound tourist