Feature
Issue No. 38 - December/January 07/08
SA\‘s expats take pride of place
by Tim Harcourt
Whilst speaking to an Adelaide University alumni function at The Lowy Institute in Sydney recently, I could not help but notice that the place was chock-a-block.
It should come as no surprise really because everywhere you go in the harbour city you run across South Australians in all walks of life.
“But we’re economic refugees, not cultural ones,” quipped Adelaide IT graduate Dan Hansen, now working at Deutsche Bank.
Hansen’s observation is based on the “rust-belt refugee” tag-line given to South Australians, and some Victorians, in the early 1990s. They had moved north and east in search of economic opportunity.
Like many young professionals, Hansen moved to Sydney almost straight out of university and has been joined by many of his peers since.
So how do South Aussies fare in ‘Sin city’? Not too bad, it seems, which is reflective perhaps of SA’s strong education system and the fluidity of Sydney’s cultural and business life - perhaps there’s a bit less ‘old school tie’ in Sydney than in other cities.
Take a random walk around a number of different sectors of Sydney society, and you’ll find many South Australians.
For example, in the media you’ll find TV personalities past and present: David Koch, Anne Fulwood, Richard Morecroft, Indira Naidoo and Clive Hale.
In radio, there’s Fran Kelly and in the print media there’s The Australian’s Michael Stutchbury and Matthew Warren, Business Review Weekly’s Peter Roberts and Robert Guy and David Bassanese from Australian Financial Review.
And If you want to know the weather, the Weather Zone’s Brett Dutschke also hails from SA.
In business and finance, there’s Basil Sellers, David Garrard, Dick Warburton, Greg Flavel, Cassandra Scott, Mark Ryan, Peter Fitzgerald, Sam Nickless, Nic Jarvis and Carolyn Hewson. The newest Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank, Guy D...
