Britain says sorry for child migration scheme

10 year old twins on their way to Auckland, New Zealand

Prime Minister Rudd says sorry and comforts a victim

Gordon Brown will apologise tomorrow for the UK's role in the child migration scheme which sent thousands of children to Australia and Canada who suffered terrible abuse. The Prime Minister is due to express the Government's regrets about the program in a statement to the House of Commons. Sixty survivors have been flown to London to hear the statement in person.


The scheme ran from the 1920's through to the 1960's and an estimated 150,000 poor children aged from 3 to 14 were sent away to a better life but many ended up in foster homes, orphanages and religious institutions. Children were told their parents were dead and parents weren't informed where their children were, I can't imagine why they would insist on such a harsh rule.


Survivors told that on arrival, they were seperated from brothers and sisters, and had to endure physical and sexual abuse from their carers. How excited these happy children must have been, embarking on a new adventure, being told about the blue skies and sandy beaches of Australia, only to have their lives ruined by sexual predators and constant beatings. It must be a terrible thing to have no one to stand up for you, no mother or father, sisters or brothers, just a child alone in a strange country which made them so very vulnerable. Gordon Brown is expected to announce support for those affected. A black spot in our history books for both countries.

A group of children at Melrose house near Parramatta in 1953