I have a confession. I was born in New Zealand. I first left the country at the age of 17 and lived for a year in the USA as an exchange student. I returned home to study at University, then moved to Australia where I spent the next 16 years in Sydney.
I’ve effectively spent my adult life living outside of New Zealand. As a result I consider myself an Australian who was born in New Zealand. Such a distinction is understood and commonly accepted in Sydney. Even Russell Crowe is one of us. I travel on an Australian passport, speak with an Australian accent and own Australian property.
However, since arriving in London I’ve found myself described as a Kiwi time and time again. Beyond Australia’s borders the concept of an Australian born in New Zealand doesn’t exist. From a British perspective your place of birth defines you, not your place of last residence or personal identification.
Somehow I’ve become a stranger in my own body. I feel like an Australian and consider myself an Australian. Yet for the first time in my adult life everyone wants to make me be somebody else - a person that isn’t me. I'm expected to know when the Kiwis are playing cricket and care about the fate of the All Blacks. I don't. Friends and work colleagues can’t understand the problem. “You were born in New Zealand, you must be a Kiwi.”
I don't dislike New Zealand. I'm not ashamed of my birthplace. However, its not a place that feels a part of me. To have my identity reassigned without my consent or consultation has been a most surprising and unexpected consequence of relocating to London. I feel as if some part of me has been stolen.
More than 460,000 Kiwis currently live in Australia, almost one in ten New Zealand citizens alive today. Another 200,000 live in Britain. I wonder how many of them have also lost their identity?
I’ve effectively spent my adult life living outside of New Zealand. As a result I consider myself an Australian who was born in New Zealand. Such a distinction is understood and commonly accepted in Sydney. Even Russell Crowe is one of us. I travel on an Australian passport, speak with an Australian accent and own Australian property.
However, since arriving in London I’ve found myself described as a Kiwi time and time again. Beyond Australia’s borders the concept of an Australian born in New Zealand doesn’t exist. From a British perspective your place of birth defines you, not your place of last residence or personal identification.
Somehow I’ve become a stranger in my own body. I feel like an Australian and consider myself an Australian. Yet for the first time in my adult life everyone wants to make me be somebody else - a person that isn’t me. I'm expected to know when the Kiwis are playing cricket and care about the fate of the All Blacks. I don't. Friends and work colleagues can’t understand the problem. “You were born in New Zealand, you must be a Kiwi.”
I don't dislike New Zealand. I'm not ashamed of my birthplace. However, its not a place that feels a part of me. To have my identity reassigned without my consent or consultation has been a most surprising and unexpected consequence of relocating to London. I feel as if some part of me has been stolen.
More than 460,000 Kiwis currently live in Australia, almost one in ten New Zealand citizens alive today. Another 200,000 live in Britain. I wonder how many of them have also lost their identity?
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