THERE is a ghastly familiarity to the stories of the “forgotten Australians”, the half a million children, many from abroad, condemned to live in state and church-run orphanages, foster homes and institutions between 1930 and 1970. As in Ireland’s residential institutions, neglect, brutality, humiliation, and, for many, sexual abuse, were routine.
Many children were wrongly told their parents were dead and siblings were separated when they arrived in Australia. To its shame, like Ireland, Australia ignored or repressed the terrible truth for several generations.
Since 1997, six reports to government have called for an apology, culminating in a 2004 senate inquiry. It unearthed hundreds of stories of abuse of children placed in care because of family breakdown, because their mothers were unmarried, or because they were considered uncontrollable. And yesterday prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised in the presence of 900 of the victims for the “absolute tragedy of childhoods lost”, echoing his historic 2008 statement to Australias Aborigines. It was a moving and clearly heartfelt speech, well-received, and an important healing step for victims.
Now British prime minister Gordon Brown is also to offer a welcome formal apology to up to 150,000 children aged between three and 14 sent during the last century from Britain – some thousands of them certainly Irish – to Commonwealth countries, mainly Australia and Canada, and many of whom faced abuse. A key subtext to the programme, particularly in relation to Australia, was the aim of supplying Commonwealth countries with sufficient “white stock”.
Mr Rudd spoke of individual cases including that of Gus from Queensland who had arrived from Ireland at the age of four or five in the 1950s, “apparently born out of wedlock, having earlier spent time in a Catholic institution in Ireland . . . His was a tale of physical and sexual abuse over more than a decade. In Gus’s words, ‘that did me terrible mental damage’.” By the time he rediscovered his mother in the US 10 years ago she had died.
But, apology notwithstanding, the government has said it will not pay compensation to victims, Mr Rudd promising instead they will receive more counselling and special care in old age. He also pledged the establishment of a national find-and-connect service, providing Australia-wide co-ordinated family tracing to locate family history files and help reunite survivors with their families. It is an important and welcome first step, but the issue of redress should also be addressed.