The Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm School and its Betrayal of Britain's Child Migrants to Australia

Description

In 1959 David Hill s mother a poor single parent living in England reluctantly decided to send her sons to Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales where, she was led to believe, they would have a good education and a better life. David was lucky his mother was able to follow him out to Australia but for most children, the reality was shockingly different. From 1938 to 1974 thousands of parents were persuaded to sign over legal guardianship of their children to Fairbridge to solve the problem of child poverty in Britain while populating the colony. Now many of those children have decided to speak out. Physical and sexual abuse was not uncommon. Loneliness was rife. Food was often inedible. The standard of education was appalling. Here, for the first time, is the story of the lives of the Fairbridge children, from the bizarre luxury of the voyage out to Australia to the harsh reality of the first days there; from the crushing daily routine to stolen moments of freedom and the struggle that defined life after leaving the school. This remarkable book is both a tribute to the children who were betrayed by an ideal that went terribly awry and a compelling account of an extrao

During his remarkable career, DAVID HILL has been Chairman, then Managing Director of the ABC, Chairman of the Australian Football Association, Chief Executive and Director of the State Rail Authority NSW and Chairman of Sydney Water Corporation and Chairman of CREATE - a national organisation responsible for representing the interests of young people and children in institutional care. He is the author of one previous book, the bestselling THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN (Random House, 2007). He lives in Sydney.