Apology for kids shipped from Britain to colonies

Monday 16th November, 04:30 AM JST

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.

A 2001 Australian report said that between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century. Many of the children were told that they were orphans, though most had either been abandoned or taken from their families by the state. Siblings were commonly split up once they arrived in Australia.

Authorities believed they were acting in the children’s best interests, but the migration also was intended to stop them from being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers. A 1998 British parliamentary inquiry noted that “a further motive was racist: the importation of ‘good white stock’ was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British Colonies.”

British Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was “a stain on our society.”

“The apology is symbolically very important,” he told Sky News television.

“I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame,” he said.

“It would never happen today. But I think it is right that as a society, when we look back and see things which we now know were morally wrong, that we are willing to say we’re sorry.”

Britain has been trying to make amends since the late 1990s by funding trips to reunite migrants with their families in Britain.

Brown’s office said officials would consult with representatives of the surviving children before making a formal apology next year.

Official apologies for historical wrongs have proved controversial.

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard initially resisted calls to apologize to institutionalized children and Australian Aborigines, arguing that contemporary Australians should not take responsibility for mistakes made by past generations.

Rudd reversed the policy after he was elected in 2007 and apologized to Aborigines for 200 years of injustice since European settlement.

At a ceremony Monday in Canberra that hundreds of former child migrants are expected to attend, Rudd will apologize for his country’s role in the migration and say sorry to the 7,000 survivors of the program who still live in Australia.

He also will apologize to the Australian children—more than 500,000, according to a 2004 Australian Senate report—who were placed in foster homes, orphanages and other institutions during the 20th century. Many were emotionally, physically and sexually abused in state care.

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15 Comments

numbskull at 09:06 AM JST - 16th November

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.

Or they could have lived impoverished at home and probably suffered the same abuse and neglect there too. Then there would be a demand for an apology for doing nothing. But its a lot easy to justify doing nothing than it is to justify having your name on something imperfect. Lesson: no matter how bad it is don't lift a finger unless you know you can fix it perfectly.

Its no use pretending the kids were robbed of their inheritence. They were pretty much screwed from birth by the sounds of it.
adaydream at 09:39 AM JST - 16th November

This is another example of slaves and slaver labor condoned by a government. And who owned the government in England? The ultra rich? So again the rich make a portion of their wealth off the never-do-well.

An apology is cheap, especially after the riches earned from this unconsciousable act. < :-)
suebe36d at 11:09 AM JST - 16th November

Children looked upon by cold eyes.
Yelnats at 11:32 AM JST - 16th November

Never knew about this.
GJDailleult at 12:40 PM JST - 16th November

I only know about all this because of an old guy in my brother-in-law's family. From what I was told, he had a really hard time as a child (ie. sexual and physical abuse), a hard time dealing with it all as an adult, and is still extremely bitter about it all. If the apologies help him and people like him deal with their pasts, then they should be made.
bushlover at 12:48 PM JST - 16th November

I'd say Britain has a lot of apologizing to do around the world. Not only for these child laborers. Britain was an evil country and these child laborers despite the abuse should thank their lucky stars that they were sent out of it.
Foxie at 12:57 PM JST - 16th November

I never heard about this either, it is already pretty shocking what the Brits did colonizing the world and then doing this to its own people. I am disgusted and I hope that these people will get their apology and some compensation.
SushiSake3 at 01:17 PM JST - 16th November

Australian PM Kevin Rudd has just made an emotional apology to these children.

A real man. Real strength. Real guts.

Good on Kevin Rudd.
smithinjapan at 04:05 PM JST - 16th November

Good on these people. I agree with adaydream that an apology is cheap, but also agree with one of the actual victims that the apologies should be made and are better late than never. Apologies can go a long way towards healing, and if more people made them to help people move on then we could live in a slightly better world. Again, good on people like Rudd and the British government for not letting pride and refusal get in the way of trying to make amends.

My only hope is that such apologies don't pave the way for a lot of litigation.
skipthesong at 04:23 PM JST - 16th November

Any of you Anglos on JT have such a relation?
Gombei424Canada at 04:33 PM JST - 16th November

My own ancestors were accused of being cretins before being shipped out of Britain.It still hurts.
skipthesong at 05:19 PM JST - 16th November

I always wondered why a lot that has happened to Europeans is never discussed. I hope you guys don't blame us.
Molenir at 06:40 PM JST - 16th November

My own ancestors were accused of being cretins before being shipped out of Britain.It still hurts.

Yes, England should apologize for shipping all its criminals to Australia. The US, and England should apologize for Slavery, African nations should apologize to their American brothers for selling their ancestors into slavery, Europe should apologize to the Jews for the holocaust, and to the Palestinians for foisting the Jews off on them. Jews should apologize to the Arabs, the Arabs to the Jews, Muslims to Christians, Christians to Muslims... Oh happy day!

More seriously, this is just a bunch of nonsense. People should apologize for what THEY have done, not for what people did in their country previously. Move along people, move along.
dontpanic at 08:14 PM JST - 16th November

"People should apologize for what THEY have done, not for what people did in their country previously. Move along people, move along"

Thats pretty cynical. Of course individuals are not responsible for the past actions of their governments but all nations governments carry the baggage of their past, particularly those whos political systems are long standing.

Standing up and doing the right thing is the only way to draw a line under it and move forward. Good move.
bushlover at 09:11 AM JST - 17th November

smithinjapan [Apologies can go a long way towards healing, and if more people made them to help people move on then we could live in a slightly better world. Again, good on people like Rudd and the British government for not letting pride and refusal get in the way of trying to make amends. My only hope is that such apologies don't pave the way for a lot of litigation.]

Too bad you don't sing this song when talking about a certain country you live in apologizing to your wife's country. It's been done long before you were old enough to suck your thumb Richard. Or is it just not sincere enough for you because it's Japan? Do you feel better that Britain has apologized for you and accusing you of being cretins? Or maybe they just aren't sincere enough?