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Hello, my husbands company is moving us to Perth. We have 2 teen daughters . As we are very excited but nervous at the same time . We are looking at the Canning Vale area. From what we seen online it stated low crime rate . Any suggestion? Also schools my husbands company will will cover some school cost . However we are completely lost when it comes to the best option . Had a friend that lived in Perth as a teen in the 80s and she said they went to public school there with no problems . Would like feed back on that as well . Any thing we need to know that pisses you guys off that Americans do ? We do not want to do that or offend . Please inform as we dont want break any of your social or cultural rules . We just want to find our place in your community the best way we know how . Any areas we need to stay away from ect . Thank you for your time in advance . Tina
Lucky you! Australia is a wonderful country and its inhabitants are great. I'd advise against criticizing Australia's gun laws and universal healthcare. If you're evangelical, don't preach. And, don't compare aloud, as in "In Texas, we have much larger houses, cars, etc." You and your family will definitely enjoy yourselves!
I am struggling to think of any things that should concern you too much. The author Paul Theroux once wrote something like the Australian book of etiquette is a very thin book, not written in a complementary way, but in fact you should find the culture has many more similarities than differences.
Good advice above. On the whole, Australians are less religious than Americans, yet for historical reasons a large percentage of students attend religious schools. Here they are heavily government subsidised, again for historical reasons, and quite tightly controlled. The amount of religious input in these schools goes on the spectrum from token to considerable. I hope someone else can advise you on WA schools as education is overall a state responsibility and the systems vary a little. I am in NSW and here the top performing schools are public selective. You need to look at myschool.edu.au which is the government website comparing basically every school in the country. Are your kids aware that virtually all school students wear school uniforms right to the end of high school? I think they do in WA and here in Sydney they certainly do. There is no push to change this custom and I think it contributes to the way we then wear very conformist clothes for work, often dark colours.
It could be worth doing some research on the reason why we have strict gun laws, research the Port Arthur massacre, and again there is strong community support for gun laws. Put it like this, I am retired and I have never in my life seen a gun in a private home. So if you support private gun ownership perhaps keep that to yourself initially.
Yes, would avoid calling our health system a socialised health system! Be aware that the US is virtually the only wealthy country without some type of universal health system. You are the exception, not the rest of us. Our system is actually a hybrid system where many people have some private health insurance and depending on your visas, you may have to have health insurance In general, we use the private system more for elective surgery, rehab and so on. The public system is the best system for emergencies, etc but the systems work in together. So you may have an emergency operation in a public hospital but if insured, be transferred to a private hospital for rehab. There is very strong public support for our system and any ideas politicians have of weakening it are howled down very quickly.
We have 40% of our population born overseas, maybe a bit lower in WA, so being a newcomer is nothing unusual. There is nothing to be nervous about, make sure you get up to the Kimberley while you are there.
Tipping is a bit different, overall we don't do it anything to the degree that you do Having said that, there are tip jars and people often tip 5 or 10% in restaurant. But never for bad service. Also we do not tip hairdressers and a host of other people that you do. We have a high minimum wage compared to most places and your waiter should be paid about $A20 an hour, same as many other workers.
Pretty much spot on advice given to date. Actually Perth has the highest number of overseas born in Australia, in per cent terms, but less diverse than the bigger cities. High numbers of UK born being by far the largest here in WA. Saying that, far more diversity is plainly evident over recent years.
You ask about Canning Vale. It's an area drive through on occasions but never lived. As I live inner city, such suburbs have little to no appeal to me, but each to their own. Perhaps being from Texas you are used to suburban living ?
The area strikes me as extremely car focused. Public transport would not be ideal, not sure how it would be for teenagers as such. Another thing neighbours pretty much, in my experience, keep to themselves here. Not so much the knock on door and introduction, as I believe may happen more readily in America.
Contacts more work related, unless having special interests. Folk tend to be more reserved. Nothing special Americans need to watch out for. Politics is not readily discussed. Criticism of Australia or things within it not readily accepted. AS mentioned things like Health system, a good idea not to criticise, as few here would look on the American system favourably.
Few would, I suspect really care that you are American. Daughters may be something of a 'novelty' (small n) at school for awhile, in many respects the difference may not be so great, but the small things will noticeably stand out and may over time inflate the differences.
Good luck on your move to Perth. Come back to the forum and tell us how you find this city. It will be interesting to read your account.
I agree with much of the points above however there is a lot of criticism on the national day of Australia among many Aborigines, and their supporters and there is always protests in the city by Aboriginal activists that day which is this weekend. That shows there are still divisions among Australia. It the same with Columbus day in the USA where many American Indians find that day offensive.
Like Texas there are socially conservative politicians in Western Australia, however, they don't demonstrate the religious rhetorics Texas politicians are stereotyped to demonstrate.
I would move to Australia if I could to get away from American politics. The last thing I would do if I moved there would be to talk up not having universal health care or brag about all the gun rights we have. But then again, I would never live in Texas either (unless I absolutely had to for a job or something).
I can't imagine the culture shock of a family that likes Texas conservative culture moving to a major city in Australia. Hopefully it works out. Perth looks amazing.
Perth is a huge step up from Texas. You should really enjoy it.
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