Throughout its history, varying philanthropic, socioeconomic, and imperial and societal factors and contexts have influenced the motives behind child migration from Britain to Australia during the twentieth century (Coldrey, The Scheme p124-8, Sherington and Jeffrey, Fairbridge pxi-xii and Lost Innocents Report 2.26). Though founded on a humanitarian desire to provide underprivileged British children with new opportunities in the Empire’s colonies and dominions, there is an underlying imperial current that ran throughout the schemes, as both Britain and the receiving countries believed that the presence of ‘British stock’ would consolidate the empire. In relation to Australia’s ‘White Australia’ Immigration policy, British children were regarded …show more content…
Within his works, Coldrey explores the history of orphanages and child migration and investigates the charges of abuse and neglect within institutional care. ‘Child migration’, he describes, is the ‘dispatch of poor, abandoned and often illegitimate children from orphanages throughout the United Kingdom to overseas colonies and dominions‘ (Coldrey, BM, The Scheme: The Christian Brothers and Childcare in Western Australia, Argyle-Pacific Publishing, 1993, p.124 quoted in Lost Innocents, p12). Alan Gill extends this definition to that of minors travelling unaccompanied and without the intent of joining family overseas (Gill, A, Orphans of the Empire: the Shocking Story of Child Migration to Australia , Random House, Sydney, 1998, pp.4-5. Cited in ibid). Although child migration from Britain to overseas countries began in 1618, The Lost Innocents: Righting the Record-Report on child migration uses the term in reference to the schemes in operation throughout the twentieth century and particularly during the post-war period (ibid p12).
Coldrey, in The Child Migration Controversy notes that child migration was a complex mix of private schemes, government initiatives, priorities and agendas rather than just a single, ongoing policy. As a form of ‘social engineering, the child migration schemes were subject to change by different economic, political and social pressures of different times (Coldrey, The Child Migration Controversy
Over the five years following the war, about 171,000 immigrants came to Australia. The government introduced the assisted passage scheme which gave immigrants temporary accommodation in Australia in exchange for two years of labour. Most immigrants came from places such as Poland, Yugoslavia and the Baltic States and then later Germany, Grease, Italy and Malta. The immigrant families were placed in old army barracks in severely poor conditions, and exposed to racial discrimination. They were often referred to with names such as ‘wogs’, ‘bolt’ and’ reffo’. Families were separated. Men were sent off to work on things such as t...
Parbury (1999:64) states that Aboriginal education “cannot be separated” from the non-Aboriginal attitudes (racially based ethnocentricity that were especially British ie. white and Christian) towards Aborigines, their culture and their very existence. The Mission Schools are an early example of the connection between official education policies and key events in Aboriginal history. Aboriginal children were separated from their parents and placed into these schools which according to McGrath (as cited by Parbury, 1999:66) it was recommended that these establishments be located ‘as far as possible’ from non Aboriginal residents so as to minimize any heathen influence that Aboriginal children might be subject to from their parents. Mission Schools not only prepared Aboriginal youth for the manual labour market but also, adds Parbury (1999:67) their aim was‘to destroy Aboriginal culture and replace it with an Anglo-European work and faith ethic.’ Despite the NSW Public Instruction Act (1880) which made education free, secular and compulsory for all children Aboriginal children could be excluded from public schools based on prevailing dominant group attitudes. Consequently, the NSW Aborigines Protection Act (1909) was introduced as a result of a perceived public education crisis and Laws had already been passed, similar to protectionist type policies. This Act gave the State the power to remove Aboriginal children from their families whereby this period of time has become known as ‘Stolen Generations.’ It was during this time that Aboriginal children were segregated from mainstream schools. (Parbury, 1999; Lippman, 1994).
English literature have been used to express the experiences and history of Australia. In Dorothy Mackellar’s “My Australia” poem, signifies the beauties and the terrors of the luck country. However, Migrants experience a different terror, as conveyed by Ania Walwicz as the “big, ugly” side of Australians - facing the cruel racism of the White Australian Policy. In Australia’s history, Migrants have been treated with alienation and physical discrimination which distant them from Australia’s community. Migrants not only faces the terrors of the land but also the racism enforced by Australia’s laws.
Canada was not the only place considered for child emigration, but in the end it appeared to be the most favourable. Not only did the passage to Canada cost less than the passage to Australia, another place where child emigrants had been sent, (Parr, 1994) but it also “promised a supply of temperate moral and pious rural homes”. (Parr, 1994) The child savers literally believed themselves to be “child savers” that offered the children salvation from the evil ways to which they were exposed in the city. Canada also needed young workers and hoped that by accepting young children form Britain and exposing them to farming, it would bring them up to be a new generation of farmers as adults.
A foster parent, as defined by the Health reference series second edition, is an individual who is licensed to provide a home for an orphaned, abused, neglected, delinquent or disabled child (Matthews, 2004). A permanent placement is one that is intended, but not guaranteed, to last forever (Barth & Berry 1988). Foster care is not for delinquents but somewhere for children go when their parents can no longer care for them. A form of foster care has always been around in early Christian churches where “worthy widows” would board children in need and were paid by church collections. Foster care started in 1562 during the time of the English poor laws, which stated the poor children were allowed to be placed in legal services until they reached of aged (nfpaonline.org). In the 1970’s, foster care increased in popularity but foster parents were seen as unfit to adopt children permanently (Barth and Berry, 1988). In 1980 the Adoption Assistance of Child Welfare Act (public law 96-272) made it clear that the most desirable permanent placement for children is with their own family. The law...
There have been three main waves of asylum seekers in Australia’s history with the first wave being motivated by the Indochinese crisis and the second comprising of asylum seekers mainly from South China and Cambodia (McK...
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...
The rights of Indigenous Australians were restricted by the Government policy of protection and assimilation. The Aboriginal Protection Act was passed in 1869, which gave power over the lives of Aboriginal people to the government, such as where they could live or work. They removed mixed decent Aboriginal children from their families in an attempt to assimilate them into white society. The Child Welfare Act 1939 abandoned this policy and gave Indigenous parents the right to take their children back. But the children were moved far away, and even if they were found and returned, many of them were mistreated and didn’t return the same to their families. This had devastating effects on Indigenous parents, and many white Australians didn’t understand this impact at the time.
In the late eighteenth century prior to the arrival of the first European settlers, Australia was once believed to be a terra nullius, an uninhabited “nothing land.” The European colonizers of Australia sought to make something of this land they believed they had discovered. Operating under this false notion, colonizers systematically invaded and conquered Australia, imposing their own ways onto the land and its original custodians, the Aboriginal people. The introduction of western settlements disrupted much of Aboriginal life. In a publication titled, Is it in the Blood? Australian Aboriginal Identity, author Myrna Ewart Tonkinson discusses Western imperialism and its implications on Aboriginal identity.
Some schools of thought insisted that keeping children in detention was senseless and cruel and that they should be settled into local communities. Others viewed this train of thought as being reminiscent of the 'stolen generation ' and further theorized that it was wrong to separate the children from their parents and therefore the mother and children should be settled into the community with regular visits to the father who should remain in detention. There was still further argument that cultural matters had not been considered in that further or other yet foreseen problems may result by isolating the father from the family unit. Each discourse here is based only on theory but it encourages discourse that seeks resolutions. A good thing. Not all theory is good and nor is it all bad, it is simply a helpful step towards finding resolutions where none has previously existed to address issues and problems in society be they real or perceived.
Voight, Kevin. “international adoption: saving orphans or child trafficking”. Cnn news. 18 September 2013. Web. 24 march 2014. www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/international-adoption-saving-orphans-trafficking/.
The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' Children’s Work and Welfare, 1780-1880’s. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, London: MacMillion Press. Hopkins, E. (1994). The 'Path Childhood is transformed by the. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Web. 10 Feb 2014 Radu, Roberta. “Romania’s Child Brides”. The Guardian.com. 29
In relation to social transformation I have gathered materials that focusses on programs provided for ‘refugees’ living in New Zealand. The purpose of my findings are based on the societies support for ‘refugees’ in terms of human security and directions of life before settling in their new destination. There are stories about ‘refugees’ that need to be shared and stories that need to be forgotten, because it can produce controversy within the society or the universe. But where can these ‘refugees’ go if the place they call home is unsafe or too risky for the lives of their families and for themselves. It’s hard enough to migrate into a new country, but it is devastating for refugees who have experienced the loss of homes and loved ones.