Long Lost Family Tonight

[grumpy01]

Anyone watch this tonight?It just proves that the care of vulnerable children has not improved in the last 70 years.Tonight we learnt the first hand experiences of those who were sent to Australia,very often without parents consent,to a supposed better life.In truth they were sent to institutions run by religious orders where they were subject to beatings and sexual abuse.

[Peter Pedant]

that there was abuse in the childrens homes ( Barnardos) in the sixties is not news

should I watch it - some did OK didnt they?

[grumpy01]

The man featured had served 20 years in the Army in Australia and carved out a good family life.However,the mental scars of his time in “care”were all too apparent.Peter,should you watch it,that is a decision for you.

[cashier]

Oranges and Sunshine is a better film of the same subject and there is a book The Forgotten Children by David Hill, which covers a greater number of children. They were also sent to Canada. I Thought last night's programme was rather pathetic when you consider the scale of the scandal. Just think of all the governments involved.

[cashier]

Don't forget the reasons for it to ensure the prominently white populations of these countries and to get rid of children who would be a drain on society. That was the bit that got me. Vagrant children were also sent to Virginia in the late 17th century as slave labour.

[10ClarionSt]

This stuation went on for over 70 years before it was stopped in 1970. I have related this on here a few times, but my dad was in the care of Dr. Bernardos, as it was then, back in the thirties. He could well have been one of those selected for migration but I suspect he wasn't because he had a rebellious streak in him. He told me he was always in trouble with the carers and the matron, on one occasion attacking the matron with a cricket bat when he was 12 years old. This wasn't the type of child that was required. I suspect they were looking for the more submissive, withdrawn type, who would not give any trouble when they got to their destination.

When he reached the, then, school leaving age of 14, he was told he was no longer the responsibilty of the care home and could choose between going to Australia to "work" on a farm, or he could join the merchant navy. As young as he was, he said he knew that if he went to Australia, it was unlikely he would ever return, so he joined the MN, and when he was 16, he joined the Royal Navy and served through WW2.

I just wonder what he would have made of all of this if he were still alive.

The film Oranges and Sunshine was a film made by the Australians in conjunction with The Child Migrants Trust, which was founded by Margaret Humphries. The trust is still actively trying to re-unite people with their family members.

Margaret Humphries gave evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse when it got under way a couple of years ago. The child migration aspect was the first part of the inquiry.

In 2010, the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, issued an apology in the House of Commons from the British Government to all those who had been affected.

I think the Australian Government had made an apology much earlier, but not too sure about when.

What will future generations make of all this? Hypocrisy, greed and exploitation, I would say. Others may say differently.

In the end, I'm just glad my dad was a bit of rebel with a little bit of awareness. He had a terrible childhood.
Thanks dad.