Recently named a rising star in Australia’s insurance industry, Tom Hatton of Glenageary made the split-second decision to move Down Under six years ago, while on the Dart on the way home from a job interview.
It was 2017, Hatton was 26 and on the job hunt in Dublin after arriving home from nine months of travelling.
Having previously worked as a senior claims consultant with insurer Allianz, he initially had no plans to move abroad.
“At that stage, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. One lovely wet July afternoon on the way back from a job interview, I was texting a friend who had just landed in Australia a few weeks before and was talking about how good it was already and how much he was enjoying it,” he said.
“I applied for my visa while on the Dart, I came back to my mum who was asking how the job interview went and I said well I think I might have some other plans,” he added.
It probably wasn’t a surprise to my parents when I told them I was going to go live on the other side of the world; I think they were probably somewhat expecting it
— Tom Hatton
Having completed a commerce international degree in UCD which included a year abroad studying in Germany, Hatton says that he always wanted to move abroad.
“My sister’s a few years older than me, she lived abroad, and I had aunts and uncles who lived far across the world in the 1980s so I guess it’s always been something that we had close to us growing up. It probably wasn’t a surprise to my parents when I told them I was going to go live on the other side of the world; I think they were probably somewhat expecting it,” he said.
Hatton followed the well-worn path of many Irish ex-pats before him, heading for Sydney, initially planning to stay for a couple of years before coming home, taking up temporary contract roles and completing regional work to get his second-year visa.
“I was building irrigation pivots on farms in South Australia, which is certainly an experience. I always say I look back on it fondly but I think if you had asked me at the time, I wasn’t too happy about it,” he said.
Soon after he moved to Sydney, he also met his partner and now fiancee Rachael, and was able to apply for partner residency to get a permanent job.
Since then he has been working for insurer Gallagher Bassett, currently in the role of short tail branch manager, responsible for managing insurance claims for government vehicles and properties in New South Wales, including emergency services vehicles and government-owned assets like schools, hospitals and landmarks.
“There’s a lot of pressure and there’s public scrutiny when stuff goes wrong and something happens at a hospital or school and they have to be closed for any period. There’s quite a lot of work that goes into making sure that we can get them operational as soon as possible,” he said.
Recently named one of the Australian insurance industry’s rising stars for 2023 by broker news publication Insurance Business Australia, Hatton was commended for his work and that of his team in the wake of recent bushfires and floods.
“We’ve had a pretty mad time with weather in the last few years. We had bushfires in 2019/20. You’d walk outside your door and you wouldn’t be able to see 100 metres up the road with the smoke. And for the last two years, we’ve had massive amounts of flooding. There have been ‘once in a lifetime’ floods in probably two of the last three years,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of work to make sure that government assets like an ambulance station or police station can remain operational. That’s a win not just for them but for the communities they would be serving as well,” he said
“I’m really proud of the work the team has done in dealing with that, and one thing I’ve learned from working in the insurance industry in Australia is you’re never too far away from the next hailstorm or the next flood or the next bushfire,” he added.
“While you’re on the other side of the world, it very much feels like home.”
— Tom Hatton
Outside of work, Hatton says there is good reason why so many Irish people are drawn to Sydney.
“It’s a really amazing place to live. It’s kind of what you see on the postcards. You’ve got all your beaches, you’ve got the opera house, you’ve got the Harbour Bridge, it’s a really cool city, and there’s lots around it as well,” he said.
“I can’t speak highly enough of it: there’s a lot of people out here for a reason. It’s a different lifestyle out here, weekends at the beach, out and about on bush walks. It’s a really good place to live so for anyone thinking about coming out here, I would definitely say it’s worth it,” he added.
And although it is on the other side of the world, Australia can still feel like home.
“There’s really great communities out here as well. They call it county Coogee there’s so many Irish around. If you’re walking around the beach in Coogee, you’re more likely to hear Irish accents than Australian. While you’re on the other side of the world, it very much feels like home,” he said.
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