Australian Diaspora
Yesterday a Melburnian (probably in his 40's) told me that a bunch of 25 or so of his former classmates had recently their highschool reunion in New York City. The class total being 200 odd students, this unbelievable scenario is definitely a rarity but it does demostrate the high number of professional Aussies residing overseas (and not just working in London pubs).
Dr Michael Fullilove of the Lowy Institute (founded by Mr Frank "Westfield" Lowy) applauds the fact there is a large number of Australian expats working abroad, which he believes improves our image as hard workers, and possibly strengthens relations and increases foreign investment. With around a million Aussies overseas at any given time (and about three quarters of them living and working permanently), it's not hard to see how Fullilove comes to these conclusions.
Remarkably, Aussies have climbed some impressive ladders over the years. The head of both MacDonald's and British Airways are Australian, as was the head of Ford until a couple years ago. Perhaps an abundance of Aussie talent, the so-called "gold collared" workers, overseas partly explains why there are Scottish expats heading 3 or 4 of our main banks. Or are Scots just drawn to money and power?
Despite our humble beginnings and an image of being a bunch of beer-drinking yobs* a journalist at The Times of London, seeking to explain the number of Australians leading British cultural institutions, wrote: “Aussies are seen as competent, confident, smart, cultivated
and literate.” Well, I guess he had to. The editor of The Times was indeed an Aussie.
*Actually, wines sales have been on the increase for sometime now, hence Fosters' investment in a number of wine labels.
Dr Michael Fullilove of the Lowy Institute (founded by Mr Frank "Westfield" Lowy) applauds the fact there is a large number of Australian expats working abroad, which he believes improves our image as hard workers, and possibly strengthens relations and increases foreign investment. With around a million Aussies overseas at any given time (and about three quarters of them living and working permanently), it's not hard to see how Fullilove comes to these conclusions.
Remarkably, Aussies have climbed some impressive ladders over the years. The head of both MacDonald's and British Airways are Australian, as was the head of Ford until a couple years ago. Perhaps an abundance of Aussie talent, the so-called "gold collared" workers, overseas partly explains why there are Scottish expats heading 3 or 4 of our main banks. Or are Scots just drawn to money and power?
Despite our humble beginnings and an image of being a bunch of beer-drinking yobs* a journalist at The Times of London, seeking to explain the number of Australians leading British cultural institutions, wrote: “Aussies are seen as competent, confident, smart, cultivated
and literate.” Well, I guess he had to. The editor of The Times was indeed an Aussie.
*Actually, wines sales have been on the increase for sometime now, hence Fosters' investment in a number of wine labels.
posted by Engels at 10:30 am
13 Comments:
ahahahahaah... i love the close on this....
as for scots though, the only scot's i know are drawn to pubs and drunken brawls... i never stuck around long enough to see the money and power part...
Scots have always been running things - despite them being outnumbered by the English in Britain, the Scots pretty much ran the British Empire, especially the financial side of things.
Scottish pirates set up many of the big companies in British Hong Kong, for instance.
And let's not about forget the Scot Lachlan "I'll put my name bloody EVERYWHERE" Macquarie.
I'm pretty sure it's four Scots. Crikey said something about it. I'll wiki...or google.
Reverend, I try to use The Economist rule of writing an ordinary article/entry but polishing it up by having a good closing sentence.
No surprise about the Scots. Our banking setup basically copies their's: the modern branch-banking system (as opposed to US-style unit banking) first emerged in Scotland, and Australia has one of the most concentrated financial systems in the world.
Nice work engels with using the comical economist rule ending, gets me everytime. As I type I'm drinking a Fosters would you believe...
Scottish banking system, eh? They do have that image of being tight. The last two bosses of the World Bank have been Jewish for the you conspiracy theorists. And the second last was Australian.
The Australian "honours" uni system is also Scottish.
Mr ANZ and NAB are both Scottish - I wikied it.
Go the Fosters, which is a Scottish name.
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