The grass is always greener: Why we’re writing stories about people who have moved to the New England

The New England has always been a special place.

Its breath-taking beauty and bountiful soils have always been an attraction, but there was always an x-factor. It can’t be written more coherently than that the New England is special because it’s the New England.

This is God’s Country, blessed and magical in a way that’s hard for humans to describe.

Our New England communities are also undergoing a profound change. For the first time in more years than most of us can remember, our communities are growing, not shrinking.

The COVID-19 pandemic began a significant reassessment by many about where and how they want to live. And while the early evacuees who headed to coastal holiday towns like Byron Bay have started to go back home to the city, those who moved to the New England have, by and large, made the move permanent.

The exploding value of homes, rapid development of new estates, and schools bursting at the seams are just some of the real-world evidence of this transition. The other, far more significant, shift is the emergence of so many new businesses. Some have moved their businesses to the New England, and others abandoned the employee life with the city commute, venturing out on their own or doing the thing they always dreamed of.

In recent years, the New England has transformed to become a tapestry of artisan creators and producers of high-quality goods, while manufacturing generally is slowly but surely catching up to education and agriculture as one of our leading industries. We now have multiple breweries and distilleries, t-shirt manufacturers, health products, housing, furniture and even a new pet food factory alongside the long-term local giants like BOSS, Bindaree and Baiada.

The New England has also demonstrated, time and time again, that it is capable of supporting small and special to become big and special. And, post-pandemic, some of our local powerhouses seem to have found a new gear. Remember the little New England Credit Union? Regional Australia Bank now employs around 300 people and, in 2023, broke the sound barrier to exceed $100m in revenue.

The proliferation of local events makes the entire region an art, foodie or music lover’s delight, with a veritable calendar of rolling festivals ranging from country music to queer art, lamb and potatoes to sustainable living, all things Celtic to all things locally crafted.

Even New England Times is only one of a handful of new media outlets to emerge in the New England in recent years, with glossy magazines like FOUND Regional bursting at the seams with the delights of rural life.

With all this growth and business, there are lots of jobs, and there are so many people that have moved to the New England for work.

There are also many more who have moved to the New England and kept their jobs elsewhere, working remotely from where they actually want to be.

Some are boomerangs – local kids coming home. Many more are completely new faces.

And with all these new people come new friends, new members of the footy club, new volunteers, new students in the classroom… and the face of the New England community continues to change too.

And all of this is happening somewhat independently of the renewables transition, which is only adding to the buzz and extraordinary levels of new money coming into our communities that had barely been holding on for so long.

But for those who never left, it’s not always easy to see the incredible opportunities and richness life in the New England has to offer. Beaten by successive governments and lived experience into a submissive posture of expecting everything to be taken away, indoctrinated to believe that shops are empty and ‘nothing ever happens here’, it is sometimes hard for locals to appreciate the transformation underway. And they certainly won’t take the credit for providing the special communities that are making the New England one of the most desirable places to move in the ongoing regional migration.

As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.

So, to see just how green the New England is, we need to understand the viewpoint of our newest residents.

It has been an absolute delight to speak with so many new New Englanders. (We didn’t tell them they wouldn’t be a local for a few decades yet.) So many talk about being drawn here, like they were coming home, or to where they belonged.

As the New England adds the uniqueness of each of these newcomers to our collective community, lets hope that all of us can take a moment to see what they see with their fresh eyes, and catch their infectious enthusiasm for this special place.