I took the song literally. England is great, but Australia would look pretty inviting without all the class nonsense. In the US, we don't consider class, but in the UK, especially at the time this song was written, class distinctions made it unnecissarily difficult for an individual to advance up the economic ladder to a better life. Not sure what the taxes were like between Australia and UK then (or now), but the line 'You get what you work for' implies an unfair tax burden in the UK. Add 'Sunny Christmas Day' to the picture, and you can imagine Australia as the chance of a lifetime. At the end of the album, Arthur's children are sailing off 'to a new horizon where there's plenty for everyone'. Sounds like Australia represents all the opportunity that was lacking in England.
I took the song literally. England is great, but Australia would look pretty inviting without all the class nonsense. In the US, we don't consider class, but in the UK, especially at the time this song was written, class distinctions made it unnecissarily difficult for an individual to advance up the economic ladder to a better life. Not sure what the taxes were like between Australia and UK then (or now), but the line 'You get what you work for' implies an unfair tax burden in the UK. Add 'Sunny Christmas Day' to the picture, and you can imagine Australia as the chance of a lifetime. At the end of the album, Arthur's children are sailing off 'to a new horizon where there's plenty for everyone'. Sounds like Australia represents all the opportunity that was lacking in England.