Aussie life in London: footy, Anzac Day, mates

London makes it easy to be Australian. There's footy on Saturdays, a dawn service in April and a grand old building on the Strand with our name on it.

The short version

The 2021 Census counted about 50,000 London residents born in Australia and Oceania, rounded to the nearest 50,000 [1].
AFL London runs men's and women's competitions with clubs from Wimbledon to North London. The 2026 season started in April [2].
Anzac Day starts at 5am with a dawn service at the Australian and New Zealand memorials at Hyde Park Corner. No tickets needed [3].
Australia House on the Strand is home to the Australian High Commission, and has been since 1918 [4][5].
Your people are out there. The trick is turning up somewhere every week.

How many of us are there?

Plenty, though the exact count is slippery. The Office for National Statistics' 2021 Census put London's population born in Australia and Oceania at around 50,000, rounded to the nearest 50,000 [1]. That group includes New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders, and it misses Australians born elsewhere and dual citizens born in the UK.

What matters more: you're never far from someone who knows what a Bunnings snag is. Australians work in London hospitals, schools, pubs, banks and building sites, and plenty of them have been here for decades.

Footy, cricket and the weekend

AFL London

Australian rules football is alive and well in London. AFL London runs a men's competition, a women's Premiership and a women's Conference division, plus social games. Clubs listed for 2026 include the London Swans, North London Lions, Reading Kangaroos, South East London Giants, Sussex Swans, Wandsworth Demons, West London Wildcats and Wimbledon Hawks [2].

The 2026 season kicked off in April, with games at grounds like Bounds Green and Hackney Marshes [2]. The Wandsworth Demons took last season's men's premiership and the West London Wildcats won the women's flag. Some London clubs also play in the European Champions League against teams from across the continent [2].

You don't need to be a gun. Most clubs welcome beginners, and the social side, from the post-match pub to the end-of-season bash, is half the point.

Other ways to get a game

Cricket: London is full of amateur clubs that play through the summer. Ask around your area.
Touch and rugby: Social touch footy and rugby clubs are common, especially in the south-west.
Watching the big games: Grand finals, State of Origin and the Ashes mean early starts or late nights. Plenty of pubs screen them; book a table if it's a big one.

Anzac Day in London

Anzac Day is when London's Australians turn out in force. In 2026, the Australian High Commission listed three main commemorations on 25 April [3]:

Service	Where	Time	Tickets
Dawn Service	New Zealand and Australian memorials, Hyde Park Corner	5–6am, gates from 4am	Not required
Cenotaph Service	The Cenotaph, Whitehall	10.55–11.30am	Not required
Westminster Abbey Service	Westminster Abbey	12–1pm	Required, register online

Get to the dawn service by about 4.40am. There's no seating and big bags aren't allowed [3].

The Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner is worth a visit any day of the year. Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister John Howard dedicated it on 11 November 2003. Its curving wall of West Australian green granite carries the names of 47 battle sites and about 24,000 Australian hometowns [6]. Find yours. It's a strangely moving moment on a grey London afternoon.

Australia House and your consular lifeline

Australia House on the Strand is one of London's grand buildings. King George V opened it on 3 August 1918, and it's described by the High Commission as the longest continuously occupied foreign mission in London [5].

It's also a working office. The Australian High Commission handles passports and consular help for Australians in the UK [4]. Two numbers to save in your phone:

Passport queries: +44 (0)20 7887 5816, weekdays 9am to midday [4]
Consular assistance: +44 (0)20 7887 5776 [4]

Lose your passport, land in hospital or get caught up in an emergency, and that's where you start.

Where Aussies hang out (and live)

There's no single "Aussie suburb" any more, but a few patterns hold:

South-west London has long been home base for young Australians, from Clapham and Balham to Wandsworth and Wimbledon. Several footy clubs train nearby.
West London, around Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith and Ealing, suits people who fly in and out of Heathrow a lot.
North and east London draw Australians working in tech, media and the creative industries.

Earl's Court was once so popular with Australians that it earned the nickname "Kangaroo Valley". Those days are mostly gone, but the area still turns up in plenty of parents' and grandparents' London stories.

Beating homesickness

Most Australians say the first London winter is the hard part. The sun sets before 4pm in December, friends at home are asleep when you're free, and Christmas without a beach feels wrong. A few things that help:

Lock in a weekly fixture. Footy training, a run club or a trivia team. Routine beats loneliness.
Plan the time-zone calls. Early mornings in London catch the evening in Sydney. Set a regular slot.
Lean into the seasons. Christmas markets, bonfire night, pub fires and long summer evenings that stay light past 9pm.
Use the travel. Europe is on your doorstep. A weekend away resets the mood.
Get sunlight and a GP. Register with a doctor early, and talk to them if the winter blues stick around.
Find the Aussie shelf. Most big supermarkets stock the essentials, and specialist shops fill the gaps for Tim Tams and Vegemite cravings.

Staying connected to home

Life in London doesn't mean switching off from Australia. A few things to keep on your radar:

Voting: you can stay on the roll and vote from overseas. See voting from overseas.
Family visits: Australians visiting you for a holiday need a £20 electronic travel authorisation, valid for two years [7]. Give them a heads-up before they book.
Money: keep your Australian accounts tidy and avoid paying too much to move money home.

Join the community

London is huge, and it's easy to feel anonymous in a city of millions. The fastest fix is other Australians who've done it before you. Join Cooee UK, our Facebook group for Australians in the UK. Ask about flatshares, find a footy club, or just whinge about the weather with people who get it.

Aussie life in London: where to find footy, your mates and a dawn service