GREEK residents are flocking to Australia in search of a better life as economic turmoil in their home country takes its toll on their professional prospects.

Since June, community leaders in suburban Melbourne claim to have been deluged with thousands of letters, emails and telephone calls from Greeks desperate to migrate to Australia, a nation seen as a land of opportunity, British newspaper The Guardian reports.

"They're all university graduates, engineers, architects, mechanics, teachers, bankers who will do anything for work," Greek community president and lawyer Bill Papastergiades said from Melbourne.

"It's desperate stuff. We're all aghast. Often they'll just turn up with a bag. Their stories are heartbreaking and on every plane there are more."

During 2011 some 2500 Greeks have moved to Australia, while officials in Athens told The Guardian that a further 40,000 have "expressed interest" in relocating.

"The other day I had a phone call from a Greek plumber who said he hadn't worked for eight months, had three kids to feed and was so desperate he had considered killing himself," Mr Papastergiades said.

"The same day I received a letter from a professor at Athens University who also said he wanted to migrate with his entire family here."

Unemployment in Greece stands at a record 18 per cent as the country braces to enter a fifth year of recession.

Artist and curator Tessie Spilioti, 45, who relocated from Athens to Melbourne in 2010, told The Guardian she misses her family and friends in Greece every day.

"But Australia is a positive country. It's the land of plenty, there's a feeling of abundance and of opportunity," she said.

"That's missing in Greece. Instead people are panic-stricken, the vibe is bad, the psychology is bad and there's a feeling of almost being under siege."

While Australia tops the list of favoured relocation options, a recent study of Greek university graduates showed that younger generations are turning to more diverse countries such as Russia, China and Iran.