You'll find plenty of Australians flying in European airlines, the only thing you need is the right to live and work in the EU with no restrictions and your UK passport gives you that.
Regarding the 14 ATPL exams, as far as I remember, you can be issued with a validation on your Australian license, when you first start and this is valid for a year. During this time you'll need to take the 14 exams and you'll then be granted an EASA ATPL. From what I've heard from people that have done it, they all did it distance learning and said it was hard work but doable. As far as a flight test is concerned, I think your initial sim check or a recurrent sim counts towards that.
Plenty of airlines in Europe are hiring, so just check out what jobs there are and see if your experience matches the requirements.