This might or might not be a phenomenon in Australia, or if it is it might not be to the same degree that it is in the United States, but other reasons for constant household moves is military families and migrant farm workers’ families.
I did not experience either of those as I was growing up, but of course my wife and children did because I got married after four years in the military and remained in the service for almost another decade after that. There are some instances wherein the servicemember deploys or is transferred or is assigned temporary duty that takes him or her away from the family, and the family remains in a particular location/household until he/she returns. For instance, I went to Japan for a year and my family remained in the US; that was known as an unaccompanied tour of duty. Had it been an accompanied tour wherein the family also goes overseas, it’s for three years, with a possibility to extend just prior to the end of the three years. I knew some families that had not been in the US for up to a decade. Also, for a single person, an overseas tour was two or three years.
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That’s far too long ago to remember any specifics, either those of which works were read to me or naming the reader(s). I have no exact recollection of any such incidents, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.
However, my situation is a bit different than might be found with the average child. In both high school and college, my mother was an English major, and fancied or still fancies herself a writer of poetry, short stories, and other works. She taught me to read at such an early age, possibly as young as two, that I have barely any memory of never knowing how to read. Reading was so ingrained in me that I find it second nature. I was voracious at it, I have always loved reading, and as a young tyke, I read everything that I could get my hands on and everything that was appropriate for my level of understanding. Unfortunately, I can’t remember any particular books or stories that I read or were read to me. I’m sure that since I knew how to read, there is every possibility that she may have left me to my own reading.
This is a great question, you’ve stirred memories in me that even though I’m foggy on intricate details, I love the look back. I will enjoy reading others’ answers to it.
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Shuhak 