The Return of Ulysses: 80,000 Australian Citizens Repatriate Home

Abstract

Greece had been the second, after the U.K. most popular recipient country of the world Australian Diaspora.1 During the period 1980-2008 over 135,000 Australian citizens settled permanently in the major urban centres of Greece. Following the European Economic Crisis and the collapse of Greek economy in 2009, a huge repatriation of the Australian Diaspora commenced. The exodus had two different characters: (a) The repatriation in the first instance of approximately 80,000 Australian citizens with their dependent members, children and spouses until the end of 2013, giving a well-estimated total of 110,000 persons within the period 2009-2015; and (b) The immigration of approximately 10,000 new economic Greek settlers to Australia utilizing different forms of visas. This massive influx of more than 100,000 actual and/or prospective Australian citizens enriches Australia socio-economically and culturally as most of them are members of the middle class, comprising (of) professionals, technocrats, businessmen, scientists, artists who had attained TAFE or tertiary education.2 However, neither the organized Greek community nor the Australian institutional life were prepared to receive this massive influx of fellow compatriots; currently, there are no communal or state infrastructure or networks to absorb, utilize or assist them to conform, adapt and acculturate.