One sleepy Sunday night in London, a throng of terrifyingly trendy twentysomethings are partying like they’re in another time zone. Australia’s most influential DJ crew, the Bang Gang Deejays, arrived in London and Paris this summer, and with them came a party culture neither capital has seen the like of for a while. “Australians treat parties like festivals,” says Bang Gang’s Gus Da Hoodrat. “Everyone jumps around like it’s a huge mosh pit.”

The Bang Gang Deejays are a taste of something rather interesting going on down under. Once described as the UK on Prozac, Australia has always been considered a cultural backwater. Now it’s time to think again. As Steve Pavlovic, the founder of Australia’s celebrated label Modular Recordings, puts it: “It’s burning over here at the moment.” The country, he says, is changing fast. “It’s really exciting — every week, something new happens.”

And it’s not just music. The Aussie fashion label Sass & Bide has come of age, with its Black Rats leggings the must-have trousers of the summer — both Mischa Barton and Kate Moss have barely been out of theirs. The label Antipodium claims Alexa Chung as its face, and Ksubi, a favourite of the Olsen twins, is so hip it has Kanye West and Jeremy Scott clamouring to collaborate. The restaurant scene has seriously upped the ante, too. Gordon Ramsay is opening a restaurant in Melbourne later this year to join Jamie Oliver’s, and Jonathan Downey, the entrepreneur behind the Match Bar and Clubhouse groups, is, in his words, “on the rampage” in Sydney and Melbourne, opening members’ bars, restaurants, nightclubs and hotels.

“The credit crunch is not hitting us like the rest of the world,” says Pavlovic. “The economy is good, the wine is good, spirits are good and the sun is shining.” And with the arrival of its progressive prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who is infinitely more in touch with Australia’s younger generation, the mood is buoyant. No wonder it’s the hot desk of choice for a wave of WiFi whizz-kids. Tom Etridge, a 36-year-old London-based entrepreneur, now works from his Bondi bolt hole for four months a year. “I bought a house there because the quality of life is so much better. I can spend two hours driving through London, but in Sydney, I live 10 minutes from work and 200 yards from the sea. And there’s beautiful food, like in northern Italy — good ingredients, simply made.

“People are happier there. I have a theory that if Australia were between Africa and South America, it would be in the perfect time zone, but it would be ruined by its popularity.” At Christmas, he says, it really kicks off — last year he spent a party-sodden month with Groove Armada and the girl from Faithless.

But many of those who visit are choosing to settle. In the year to April 2007, more than 31,000 Britons emigrated to Australia — 2½ times more than a decade ago. Zoe Kennedy, a 35-year-old TV producer, moved to Sydney six years ago. “Here, we work to live; in the UK, it’s the other way round,” she says. “It’s a lot to do with the outdoor culture and climate. I can see dolphins and humpback whales from my window — you don’t need so much money to have a good time.”

It’s Australia’s party scene — banging house parties and cool, experimental DJs — that is really teaching our expats how to live. An endless summer makes for an endless party. “I often find myself on a rooftop terrace with an ocean view and 300 people jumping up and down,” says Kennedy. “Outdoor nightlife extends the way I party.”

The Belgian DJ collective Soulwax agree. As front man Steph Dewaele says: “The Australians just go nuts.” He compares Australia to America in the 1970s. “There’s a real sense of opportunity because there’s no precedence,” he says. “Out of that, really cool things happen. It’s one of my favourite places.”

Previously, expat Aussies appeared in no great hurry to return, but now the country is seeing a mass homecoming — at a rate of 34,000 a year — bringing cosmopolitan ideas from around the world with them. Freelance production manager Cassandre Khoury, 39, is one such “boomerang migrant”. “I’ve been in London for five years,” she says. “I want to start my own production company and I know I could make it happen in Australia, but not here. It feels as if there are more opportunities over there now.”

“Australians are actually very hard-working,” says Geoffrey J Finch of Antipodium. “When you grow up in isolation, a long way from the rest of the world, you need to take a lot of risks to prove yourself.” Others talk of a drive that stems from its chronic inferiority complex, no thanks to British snobbery. “The internet has brought Australia a lot closer to the rest of the world,” says Pavlovic. “By being so removed, yet open to influence, it acts like a great sponge.”

Coming from the Land of Oz

THE FASHION BRAND The name to know is Josh Goot, the Sydney- based designer who does a mean line in streamlined separates and laid-back frocks.

THE BAND With a handle on both humour and hip attitude, Sneaky Sound System have supported Scissor Sisters, played Glasto 2008 and been honoured with various “single of the week” accolades by UK DJs for their stomping dance tunes.

THE FOOD For mangoes that taste like mangoes, prime wagyu steak and the most delicate shellfish, foodies flock to Baguette in Brisbane and Tetsuya’s and Bills in Sydney.

THE WINE Clean, bright, smooth and well-rounded, Australia is the UK’s biggest supplier of wine. Try a butter- smooth Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay or Wynns Coonawarra Estate’s rich, cassis-flavoured cabernet sauvignon.

THE BOY Everything the product designer Marc Newson touches turns to gold — and he’s had his hands on the lot, from surfboards to spaceships, vibrators to sofas.

THE GIRL Gemma Ward, the ethereal 20-year-old baby doll from Perth, hails “from another dimension”, according to the photographer Nick Knight. This summer, the model makes the move into film, starring opposite Liv Tyler in The Strangers.

THE TV SHOW Australia’s Ricky Gervais (but younger and cuter), Chris Lilley takes The Office to high school with his mockumentary series, Summer Heights High (on BBC3). As well as writing it, Lilley plays the stuck-up schoolgirl, the bad boy and the camp drama teacher, to hilarious effect.

THE HEALTH ELIXIR Emu oil is a natural wonder-worker: aborigines have been using it for thousands of years to nix muscle and joint pain. UK therapists are getting in on it now.

THE ART Contemporary Aboriginal art is “the most important new art movement in the world today”, according to the critic Robert Hughes. Key names include Emily Kngwarreye, Gloria Petyarre and Daniel Walbidi.

THE COSMETICS For the dewy, clear skin of a surf chick, turn to Becca, the range designed by the Australian make-up artist Rebecca Morrice Williams (beccacosmetics.com).

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