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Title: Australia Apologizes for Mistreatment of Child Migrants View count: 1291 Rating: 5.0 (7 ratings) Description: LONDON - As many as 150,000 poor British children were shipped off to the colonies over three and a half centuries, often taken from struggling families under programs intended to provide them with a new start — and the Empire with a supply of sturdy white workers. Forty years after the program stopped, Britain and Australia are saying sorry to the child migrants, who were promised a better life only to suffer abuse and neglect thousands of miles from home. The British government said Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would apologize for child migrant programs that sent boys and girls as young as 3 to Australia, Canada and other former colonies. Many ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused, or were sent to work as farm laborers. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will offer his own apology Monday to the child migrants, as well as to the "forgotten Australians," children who suffered in state care during the last century. Sandra Anker, who was 6 when she was sent to Australia in 1950, said the British government has "a lot to answer for." "We've suffered all our lives," she told the BBC. "For the government of England to say sorry to us, it makes it right — even if it's late, it's better than not at all." The British government has estimated that a total of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad between 1618 — when a group was sent to the Virginia Colony — and 1967, most of them from the late 19th century onwards. After 1920, most of the children went to Australia through programs run by the government, religious groups and children's charities. Great evil has been done. Protection of our children is our sacred duty. Tags: orphans, schools, shipped, institutions, sorry, abuse, Author: kretinkooper |
