A Study Guide by Marguerite O'hara
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© ATOM A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O’HARA http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-025-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au ‘The apology will acknowledge that what happened in the past was both real and wrong. It will make sure that a largely invisible part of our history is put firmly on the record. And it will remind the community of what happened to many of these children – the loss of family, the loss of identity and, in the case of child migrants, the loss of their country.’ – JENNY MACKLIN, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, October 2009 Introduction n 16 November 2009, former prime minister Kevin Rudd offered a national apology to Othe ‘forgotten Australians’, including an estimated 7000 former child migrants who were sent Synopsis to Australia from the United Kingdom between the 1920s and 1967. Oranges and Sunshine tells the Oranges and Sunshine tells the stories of some of these children. It is also the story story of Margaret of Margaret Humphreys, an English social worker Humphreys, a who uncovered the truth about these schemes. social worker from Nottingham who There are many ways of telling true stories uncovered one of such as this one – in print; through personal the most significant accounts, whether in memoirs or interviews; social scandals through photographs; through statistics; and in of recent times: documentaries and feature films where the story the deportation may be dramatised and concentrated and the of thousands of roles of the principals played by actors. This film children from the United Kingdom to is based on the stories of real people and actual Australia and other events. It dramatises several of their stories to Commonwealth create a powerful and moving account of events countries. from our past, showing how the persistence and resilience of individuals like Margaret Humphreys Above: Emily Watson as Margaret Humphreys Almost single- handedly, against brought this often hidden history to light. overwhelming odds and with little regard Curriculum guidelines for her own well- earlier times, places and attitudes are represented being, Margaret Oranges and Sunshine would be an excellent film in the film. In some ways the recent past looks like reunited thousands to show middle and senior secondary students of a foreign country, though this film is set in the late of families, brought the following subject areas: 1980s. authorities to account and drew • Australian History and Society Oranges and Sunshine explores the meaning of worldwide attention • Civics and Citizenship identity and the importance of personal history to an extraordinary • Health and Personal Development in establishing identity. Television programs such miscarriage of justice. Children as • Early Childhood and Family Studies as the Australian and overseas versions of Who young as four had • Film and Media Studies Do You Think You Are? have led to an increased been told that their interest in genealogy and in individuals exploring parents were dead. The story told in the film is moving and absorb- their family history. ‘Where do I come from and They were sent to ing for what it reveals about changing attitudes to who are my forebears?’ have become increasingly children’s homes on SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION children and their welfare, as well as for the inspira- important questions in our lives. They are the other side of the tional portrait it offers of Margaret Humphreys. The fundamental to establishing a strong identity and world; many were way this material is presented is equally interesting. secure sense of belonging. subjected to appalling Students could be encouraged to consider what a abuse. They were feature film such as this one, based on true events, While some of the background to this story is promised oranges and is able to do that is different to either a documentary shown in the film, it may be helpful to read through sunshine: they got hard labour and life or written accounts of the period and the people. At the background material presented here to gain a in institutions. the same time they could look at how convincingly more detailed context for what we see in the film. 2 Background to the story Source B At a time when empty cra- Empty Cradles is the story of English social worker dles are contributing woefully Margaret Humphreys’ campaign to bring to light to empty spaces, it is necessary the hidden truths about the child migrant program. to look for external sources of Her book, published in 1994, details her work, supply. And if we do not sup- beginning in 1986, to assist many former child mi- ply from our own stock we are grants seeking answers to the following questions: leaving ourselves all the more exposed to the menace of the ‘Who are my parents?’ teeming millions of our neigh- ‘Why was I sent away from home?’ bouring Asiatic races. ‘Who am I?’ In no part of Australia is settlement more vital than for Western Australia, which while it contributes Empty Cradles provides the principal source only one-twelfth of the total population, occupies one material for Oranges and Sunshine. third of the whole commonwealth … The policy at present adopted of bringing out Sources A, B and C offer some further background young boys and girls and training them from the information about the Child Migration Scheme and beginning in agricultural and domestic methods... the Child Migrants Trust established by Humphreys has the additional advantage of acclimatising them in 1987 to help adults who had been sent overseas from the outset to Australian conditions and imbu- as children. ing them with Australian sentiments and Australian ideals – the essential marks of true citizenship. Source A – His Grace the Archbishop of Perth, Under the Empire Settlement Act of 1922 and welcoming British boys arriving 1937, the British Government assisted private or- on the SS Strathaird, August 19382 ganisations to help people who wanted to settle in ‘His Majesty’s Overseas Dominions’. Although not Source C specifically aimed at assisting child migrants, this The Child Migrants Trust legislation allowed non-government organisations In 1987 a specialist social work agency, the to send child migrants to various parts of the British Child Migrants Trust, was established with branch- Empire. The scheme intensified after the war when es in Perth, Melbourne and the United Kingdom. child migrants were sent under the Children’s Act The Trust contributed to public awareness of 1948. the history of child migrants and the mental and Although non-government organisations had physical abuses suffered by many of the children. direct charge of most of the children at the recruit- It continues to provide counselling services to child ment stage, during their passage, or after their migrants, helps with reuniting families and acts as arrival in the receiving countries, they received a lobby group. Although not all children claim mis- encouragement and financial backing from Brit- treatment, the Trust points out that ‘little attention ish governments and governments in receiving was given to the long-term implications of separat- countries. About 150,000 children with an average ing children from their families, their friends, their age of eight years and nine months emigrated from social context and their country on a permanent the United Kingdom, the majority to Canada, until basis’. the scheme ended in 1967. A key motivation for In 1990 the Australian Government announced child migration was to maintain the racial unity of it would provide $120,000 over three years to the the Empire and populate the Dominions of Canada, Child Migrant Trust to fund a case worker and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), New Zealand and Australia, counselling services in Australia. Similar amounts with ‘good white stock’. were provided each year by the Government until The exact number of child migrants to Australia funding ceased in June 2008. is not known, but estimates suggest that from 1947 Awareness of the history of the scheme and to 1967, between 7000 and 10,000 children were its legacy also resulted from the work of Margaret sent to Australia. A feature of the scheme was the Humphreys, founder of the Child Migrants Trust. care of children in residential institutions rather than Humphreys visited Australia a number of times in by foster care or adoption. Most were placed in the 1980s and assisted in establishing the Aus- the care of Barnardo’s, the Fairbridge Society, the tralian branches. She was awarded an Order of Church of England and the Christian Brothers. The Australia in 1993 for her work with child migrants in © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION House of Commons Health Committee concluded Australia. that ‘children were placed in large, often isolated, Humphreys’ book Empty Cradles, along with institutions and were often subjected to harsh, a number of other books and television series, sometimes intentionally brutal, regimes of work notably Lost Children of the Empire, broadcast in and discipline, unmodified by any real nurturing or 1989, helped in the successful campaign to have encouragement. The institutions were inadequately the British government inquire into the scheme and supervised, monitored and inspected’.1 the welfare of former migrants.3 3 past, e.g. the Australian government’s apology to Australia’s Indigenous people, particularly to the Stolen Generations, and the apology to the ‘forgotten Australians’, which included child migrants? Should future generations and governments take responsibility for redressing harm committed in the past by governments and institutions such as religious organisations and charities? STUDENT ACTIVITY WATCHING THE FILM There are several strands in this film. It may be useful to focus your attention on a particular aspect of the film and later to share your impressions with other members of your group.