TAMWORTH optometrist Emily Chen is among a growing band of young professionals leaving the bedlam of city life for a quieter existence, helped out by a government scheme aimed at growing regional centres.
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When Ms Chen made the move in January of this year she was able to get a grant under the Skilled Regional Relocation Incentive scheme, which has just recently been extended by the state government to the end of March next year.
Deputy premier Troy Grant said the $10,000 incentive, which is paid in two equal instalments to eligible applicants who move to regional NSW for full-time employment, had been taken up by more than 300 people so far, with another 250 applications pending.
He said three-quarters of recipients had been under 40 and that the New England/North West was among the five most popular regions for relocation.
Ms Chen, 24, moved from Matraville in Sydney, where she grew up, after graduating from the University of NSW with an optometry degree and started work with Paul Harvey Optometry at Shoppingworld.
She had done a week-long work placement with the business during the fourth year of her degree and said she’d enjoyed her time in Tamworth and the people she’d met.
So the seeds for a move to somewhere quieter once she graduated were sown, and after applying to a few different businesses in different regional centres, Paul Harvey Optometry offered her a job.
“I knew I wanted to work outside Sydney – there’s just more opportunities (professionally),” Ms Chen said.
“And I was looking for somewhere smaller, not as busy – I love I can be anywhere in no more than 10 minutes.”
She’s now made a group of friends and said she was enjoying the more “laidback” lifestyle.
The fact she arrived in Tamworth in January, right before its busiest time of year, didn’t deter her either, getting out and about and enjoying her first real taste of country music.
She’s now made a group of friends and said she was enjoying the more “laidback” lifestyle.
Ms Chen’s not alone either, estimating that about one third of her graduating class have joined her in areas outside the state’s capital.
The only thing missing from her new home is what makes so many inlanders “relocate” to the coast each summer.
“I do miss the beach,” she smiles.