A tale of abuse of British children in Australia

 

Rare book. Ex-library. Mint condition. PB. 194pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

“From the 1860’s to the late 1960’s over 150,000 boys and girls “volunteered” to migrate from the United Kingdom to many colonies of the then British Empire, including Australia. The abolition of the slave trade in 1803 and the eventual emancipation of individual slaves in the 1830’s had left the colonies with a shortage of labour to be partially filled by these children.

“This diaspora of children rivalled the number of convicts sent to Australia. We were the unwanted generations; many of us were bastards/illegitimate by birth and/or from the lowest echelons of society. It was all quite “normal” and accepted practice; we were surplus to requirements. Once we were put into institutions we became “fillii nullius” the children of no one, to be done with as the authorities saw fit. Each of us has a story to tell; this is my story.”