Finnish Migration to Australia: Upside down, Down Under

The story of Antti Tiri was an entry in our Finnish Migration to Australia essay competition. In 2015, Antti died suddenly of an undiagnosed brain tumour. We were deeply moved by this story of a much-loved and adventurous Finn who was living out his dreams Down Under. The author, Selina Day, one of Antti’s Australian colleagues wrote the story to honour his memory and the Embassy has published this story with the permission of the Tiri family.

Image: Antti's joy is captured as he performs a skydive.

"Sometimes there are moments when you feel that your life is totally upside down."

With these words, 35-year-old Oulu-born Antti Tiri tweeted his exhilaration about jumping from a plane. High above Sydney, Antti fell through the clear blue skies. His utter joy at the skydive coursed through his veins, the physical force of dropping at speed - from thousands of metres above the earth - moulding his face into a flapping, happy mess.

It was exactly the kind of breathless adventure Antti had dreamed about upon moving to Australia from Helsinki in April 2014. A journalist for STT, Antti was the leader of a team of four, selected to staff the Finnish news agency’s overnight shifts from Sydney. Aside from saving costs, the two-year postings were designed to increase productivity, because STT staff would produce the Finnish news during the Finnish night - for Finns a world away - during Australian daylight hours.

Antti had eagerly applied for the move Down Under. He was tired of the long, dark winters in Helsinki. The older he became, the heavier they felt. Australia and Sydney looked like paradise.

Image: Antti Tiri shows delight at his new city, pictured here with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

Enduring Finnish-Australian friendship

But for Antti, and the many friends he would make, the posting turned out to be so much more. And it would give rise to a deep and enduring friendship between Finland and Australia.

I came to know Antti Tiri when I was Manager of the “European Bureau”, a diverse collection of 12 European and Nordic news agencies whose journalists began working from the headquarters of Australian Associated Press in 2013. Ultimately, more than 200 “Euro Buro”* journalists would populate the offices of AAP over the next several years. When Antti arrived, just eight people had preceded him.

Image: Antti hard at work for Finnish wire service STT, in the national headquarters of Australian Associated Press.

The very first thing Antti would learn about Australia is that blueberries do not grow wild. Even with no experience yet of the Aussie dollar, he immediately understood that $9 for a small punnet at the supermarket was a mind-boggling difference between his old and new countries. At his parents’ home in Virpiniemi, he later explained to me, he would simply collect them from the forest floor, under the Finnish concept of Everyman’s Rights.

The very first thing Antti would teach his new Aussie friends about Finland was not the vast tracts of pristine wilderness and never-ending trees; or the enigmatic Aurora Borealis, which dances and drapes through the sky, if you should be so lucky; or the pervasive sauna culture, which in winter can mean dipping between snow and 80C steam; or even the fact that - for just a few euros - you could meet the Real Santa. 

With a glint in his eye, he presented a small black, white and red box containing “Finnish liquorice”. It was not, in fact, any kind of liquorice, but ammonium chloride poison known and loved by Finns as salmiakki. Apparently, he was trying to kill us

“Tänään hyökätään”

 Despite this, Antti would veritably bounce into work every day, stride purposefully past my desk, and say to his colleagues “Tänään hyökätään” - “Today, we attack.” The excitable call to action harked back to Antti’s time in ROTC, from which he graduated with top honours. Military knowledge and service were important to him, and he rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. Perhaps because of the discipline instilled in him, he had an assertive, no-nonsense leadership style.

At work, if he considered the bathroom not clean enough, he would send an All Employees email in which he gave a none-too-subtle reminder of the existence of the toilet brush. But he was never impolite or unfriendly. He did everything with love and passion. He cared. When it was time to relax, he knew how to unwind and how to party. When a friend was down, he was the first and the last to be there.

In Finland, Antti had played pesäpallo for Oulun Lippo in the elite national major league, Superpesis. Pesäpallo was played in Sydney too, by some expat Finns. But, when in Australia, do as Aussies do - so Antti had a season ticket to Sydney Olympic Park swimming pool instead. He also played golf and was an avid cyclist. And he had a triathlon on his mind.

Image: Antti Tiri celebrating a win while playing pesäpallo for Oulun Lippo team in Superpesis in 2003. Photo: Eljas Sallmén and Kaleva media.

Emotional pilgrimage 

Just five weeks after that exhilarating skydive of February 2015 - and with more than three years of living yet to enjoy in Australia - Antti Tiri was dead. A massive but undiagnosed brain tumour claimed his life. He had developed a headache on the Monday and by the end of the week he was gone. He was 36, having celebrated just one birthday in his new home.

Antti’s body was repatriated to Finland. But his spirit is now free in the banks and beaches of the Parramatta River and the Sydney he fell in love with.

In 2016, I made an emotional pilgrimage to Finland, joining some of Antti’s Finnish and also Belgian friends who had worked in Australia with him. We all yearned to understand about Antti’s roots, his history, his family. To see the forests where he had reaped so many of his beloved blueberries.

Antti’s parents Reijo and Jatta welcomed our group as if we were their own children. At their peaceful home, nestled in quiet woodland on the Bothnian Sea, we feasted on lovingly prepared moose stew and new season potatoes. Jatta had also made blueberry pie, a moving and symbolic gesture, knowing, as she did, the backstory of Antti’s first Australian supermarket encounter. Around the abundant dinner table, we imparted stories of their son - our friend and colleague - about the incredible life he had begun to carve in a land so far away.

We visited the old and exquisitely beautiful Haukipudas Church, where Antti had marked all his life’s milestones and where, in his death, his family had gathered to mourn. We paid our deep respects at his grave, placing candles and standing silently, arms wrapped around each other, as we remembered this brilliant young man, taken too soon. We were even treated, on a side trip to Levi, to that “Tricky Lady”, the Aurora Borealis.

Lifelong exchange 

Strong Finnish-Australian relations were born, not when Antti died, but from the moment he expressed such shock at those expensive little blueberries - and patriotic pride at a Finn’s privileges in embracing the land and, by extension, their national identity.

Image: Antti with outstretched arms at the Opera House, symbolising his excitement at being in Sydney - and how much he wanted to achieve.

Little by little, his Aussie friends uncovered so many similarities between our two cultures. The dry, larrikin humour that typifies a knockabout Aussie also appears to be a defining feature of the Finnish psyche, as does the unbending notion of keeping one’s promise. As for the Finnish “sisu”, Australians also have a gritty determination to persist, to make things work, to push through, to never give up. Family and friends are, of course, vitally important, too.

Our small group of Finns and Aussies have begun visiting each other every year - and will continue to do this when post-COVID travel allows. In Antti’s memory, it will be a lifelong exchange of love and adventure - between the island country Down Under and beautiful Finland, up high at the Top of the World.

The “Euro Buro” program remains, and Finland continues to send journalists to Sydney. Every year, STT runs an Outstanding Journalist award in Antti Tiri’s honour.

Author Information: Selina Day is a journalist and sub-editor who for 30 years worked at the national newswire Australian Associated Press, where she had the privilege to meet and work with Antti Tiri. Most recently, she was Senior Editor at 7NEWS.com.au.