Australian PM says sorry to forgotten australians
At a ceremony organised in Canberra, on November 16, Monday, the Prime minister Kevin Rudd's apology triggered tears in the eyes of some of the former child migrants who had come for the function.
THE AUSTRALIAN Prime minister Kevin Rudd has formally apologised to thousands of British 'orphaned' children, who were shipped to the nation, since 1618, a majority of them after the 19th century and were made to work hard, while living in deplorable conditions. Many of these children were neglected and abused.
At a ceremony organised in Canberra, on November 16, Monday, the Prime minister's apology triggered tears in the eyes of some of the former child migrants who had come for the function.
Rudd has made this apology and condoled the loss of childhood and family to about 7000 survivors of those days, who are still living in Australia. He said, “We are sorry. Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy - the absolute tragedy - of childhoods lost."
Estimates say that over a 150,000 British children were shipped to the country in total. After 1920, the process of bringing the children here was institutionalised with programmes run by the government, religious groups and charitable organisations.
The programmes were run with the hope of giving these children from impoverished backgrpunds, a second chance at having a comfortable lives – as settlers and workers in the nation. However, these children, more often than not, ended up on massive farms or institution, where they had to work hard as labourers and some were even physically and sexually abused. These children were as young as three year olds and were sent not only to the southern nation, but also to Cannada.
John Hennessey, 72, one of these child migrants, was born in Bristol, England and sent down under, said he was beaten and sexually abused at a Christian boys home in the Western Australia state. He cannot forget the day when he came here. "We were used as white fodder," he said. "The Archbishop met us at Fremantle and I can still remember his words. He said, 'Welcome to Australia. We want white stock because we're terrified of the yellow peril.'"
Many a times, these children were not even orphans, but those who were taken from their parents and indoctrinated with the fact that they had no one else. If a report released in 2001 in Australia is to be believed then, between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century.
Siblings were commonly split up, once they arrived in Australia.
The governments had believed that they were acting in favour of the children, but another hushed up reason for this forced migration was that these children do not become a burden on England, apart from being given to the country's colonies as labour.
Even the British parliament has acknowledged this. In a 1998 inquiry, it had noted that "a further motive was racist: the importation of 'good white stock' was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British colonies."
In Britain, Prime minister Gordon Brown has also announced that he would deliver a similar apology soon. However, these child migrants, scores of whom have been advocating their conditions under the title “Forgotten Australians” feel that the British apology should have come first. Hennessey believes that the British are only announcing their intention for an apology because Australia has done it and that the former is being shamed into doing it.
This apology has a symbolic value in a country which has been turning a blind eye to these migrations for a long time. Journalists are speculating that this apology has proved that Australia to recall its dark past and attempt to make a move past it, collectively.
Last year, Rudd had apologised to the "stolen generations" of aboriginal children, who as part of a racist “ assimilation” programme had been taken forcibly from their people. The process of making these children “civilised” continued till 1970. They were taken from their families and made to attend Christian schools. They were not accepted socially and were literally left in a no man's land – separate from the Australian populace and their people.
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