During the 19th and 20th centuries, child migration was used to promote imperial, economic, racial, social and religious goals. The people behind these agendas often ignored the fact that at the heart of all these plans were young children.
The children were separated from their families, often told lies about their parents and deported from their countries of birth. Governments in Britain and Australia failed to protect them. They were often the victims of criminal neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse. They were deprived of love and the stability of a caring home. Even allowing for the harsh conditions of their former lives, and the general disregard for children's welfare at the time, this treatment was inexcusable.
Some children managed to create fulfilling lives for themselves, but many more have had a lifetime of physical and emotional trauma. Their families in Britain have also suffered greatly. Apologies from the Australian and British governments in 2009 and 2010 and funds to assist family reunion have helped redress the injustices of the past, but for many it has been too late.
Here are the stories of three child migrants: Hugh McGowan, Sandra Anker and Michael Harvey.
Hugh McGowan at Britian's Child Migration exhibition launch at Immigration Museum, October 12th, 2011
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Hugh McGowan: There was never, ever, anybody on my side.
Hugh McGowan never knew who his father was. Without financial or family support, his mother placed him with the Quarriers Home near Glasgow, Scotland, just before his second birthday.
At the age of 13, Hugh was one of five boys sent in 1961 to Dhurringile, the Presbyterian Church's training farm for migrant boys near Tatura, Victoria. A former pastoral property and then prisoner-of-war camp, the house was large and cold, the farm rundown. Hugh was unhappy and bullied at school, and he was soon removed and set to work as a farmhand. He worked 7 days a week, received no wages, and was sexually abused.
Hugh left 'care' when he was 17 to make his own way; he found himself unprepared for the real world. Isolation, lack of education, abuse and a loveless upbringing made it hard to build normal relationships. He made few friends, had difficulties throughout his working life and turned to alcohol.
In 2000, Hugh asked the Child Migrants Trust to find his family. His mother had died, but the Trust introduced him to a half-sister who had no idea of his existence. They have met several times, but it is still a fragile relationship.
Now 63, Hugh has retired from work, stopped drinking, and made a happy life. He credits this entirely to his own determination and the love of his wife and sons. For a man who never knew his parents and was deported from his country of birth, his home and his family are the most important things in the world.
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Sandra Anker at the Britian's Child Migration exhibition launch at Immigration Museum, October 12th, 2011
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Sandra Anker: I thought there had been a terrible mistake.
Six-year-old Sandra Hill believed she was going to South Africa to live with relatives. Instead, she left the SS Asturias in Melbourne with four other children to live at Northcote Farm School in western Victoria. There had been no mistake; she was the only child of a marriage that ended before her birth, and in 1950 her guardian sent her to Australia.
Sandra lived in a group cottage with an 'auntie' and 11 other children. Even the youngest children had a heavy load of chores before and after school. Discipline was always strict, and occasionally brutal; Sandra believes her partial hearing loss was caused in 1950 when Northcote's principal hit her. Nevertheless, she settled into orphanage life, attended high school and formed friendships that continue today.
Sandra left Northcote at the age of 16 to work in Melbourne. Her inexperience and social isolation led to an early and disastrous marriage. Now re-married, she still struggles with the legacy of her upbringing, making it difficult for her to understand relationships and family life. She wonders what her life might have been if she had stayed in England.
In 1983 Sandra was contacted by her mother's relatives and in 2000 the Child Migrants Trust found her father's family, although both of her parents were deceased. For Sandra, the initial joy of finding family has developed into a complicated but hopeful relationship. Reunion has not meant the end of her story, but the start of a new one.
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Michael Harvey speaking of his experience.
Source: Museum Victoria
Michael Harvey: My mother said, 'I want my boys home.'
Michael Harvey and his twin brother Terry left St. Joseph's Orphanage in 1952, bound for Glenorchy, Tasmania. They grew up believing that their parents had been killed in the Blitz.
They went to live at St. John Bosco Boys' Town, run by the Salesian Order. It was a harsh place; discipline was dispensed with the Black Doctor, a length of rubber with a metal truncheon embedded in it. In such an abusive environment, the boys relied on each other for support and formed friendships that have lasted through the years.
Michael left Boys' Town when he was 14 to work as a farmhand. He speaks of this earlier life as a time of great pain, and anger that could not always be controlled. He learned to find comfort in solitude and the clean open spaces of Tasmania.
In 1994 the Child Migrants Trust found Michael and Terry's mother. She had not died in the war, but had placed the boys in the orphanage when their father deserted her. After more than 50 years, they were re-united.
It has been, in Michael's words, both a joy and a burden. He is aware of the difficulties the reunion has raised for other family members, but finding his family has given him a sense of identity and a feeling of closure. Michael's mother died in 2006; in his entire life, he spent only seven weeks with his mother, but they were the most important weeks of his life.
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