i No. M-118 Copy No. of STUDIES OF MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT Memorandum Series I', J! Subject: Fairbridge Farm Schools in Canada and Australia \ Date: July 13, 1944 t: I Study Room 115 Library of Congress Annex Washington, D. c. Tel . Republic 5127 July 13, 1944 FAIRBRIDGE FARM SCHOOLS IN CANADA The attached Report on the Fairbridge Farm ' Schools, which were founded at Oxford University in 1909 by Kingsley Fairbridge, has been selected by the Staff of 11 M11 Project for inclusion in our Series. co E I Boys entrusted with the real job at Northcote Children's Farm, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia. FAIRBRIDGE FARM SCHOOLS Thirty-first Year · Fairbridge children who enjoyed the bounteous hospitality of the Canadian Pacific M erchant S eamen on the voyage to Australia in S eptember, 1940. To all friends of Fairbridge If it had been possible to hold the usual Annual General Meeting, when hundreds of our subscribers and friends assemble, we should have asked Major-General Victor Odlum to speak to you. He has, however, very kindly written his message and we are happy to print it. But before I give . you his words, I must set down here some remarks on our work, its present state and its prospects. CHA R LES HAM B RO, Chairman. " Dining in Hall" at the Babies' Home. T is with very great regret that this year we some new friends. We have further been sustained cannot issue the Annual Report in its usual by the signing of Deeds of Covenant by an in­ Iform. The customary edition requires much creasing number of our regular subscribers. With more paper than we should be justified in using at Income Tax at its present rate, we are able to this time. It has also been necessary to make an recover from Inland Revenue a sum equal in each economy in the printing of illustrations. In case to that subscribed under Covenant. For happier times we shall be able to show in a publica­ these acts of faith and generosity we record a very tion and in a film, I hope, the story of how the urgent gratitude. Farm Schools have fared during the period of the The knowledge that the sea routes were closed war and how they have been kept up to standard has led to the impression that the work of the in spite of the handicaps of declining funds and, Society must lapse until, the war over, it could in spite, too, of the problems of keeping open the resume the sending of children overseas. But the lines of communication between headquarters and interruption of sailings only has the effect of the respective Farm Schools. increasing the task. The Farm Schools must be The last twelve months have shown that sub­ kept up to standard : there cannot be any pause in scribers have shared the anxieties of the Chairman the care of a child. That is on the one side. On and the Committee : the raising of adequate funds the other, the Society would be falling short of its must, inevitably, be a much tougher problem when supreme purposeifitwereatanytime to refuse to take taxation reaches the figure it is to-day. Some of responsibility for the protection and maintenance our faithful supporters have now no margin of of any child who can make a claim on Fairbridge income from which to make an allocation for hospitality. This means that, although we could Fairbridge. The loss is severe, but they remain n.ot for several months send any children to staunch friends, and we know that they will lose no Australia or Canada, we still kept the door open opportunity to plead our cause with those who can and provided in this country as many as possible · still give from their present resources. Never­ of Farm School benefits for such children. Our theless, even in these hard times, we have found subscribers and all friends of Fairbridge should 4 Fairbridge is now accepting the care of very small children. Pictures from the Babies' H ome built by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cadbury at Selly Oak, near Birmingham. The nursery school stage is spent here. have in mind that not only have they kept alive Mr. Plenderleith and his staff there for such f our Farm Schools, but they have also helped to effective care of our wards. Do we look for health? provide the means of giving Fairbridge shelter to All wisdom and all vigilance is given to it. Do we a hundred children in this country. look for sweetness and joy in play and in work ? Somerset and Shropshire and Stirling have had They are there for all to see. These qualities are the care of these Fairbridgians. The Middlemore shown in a bright light in the remarks of a padre Homes of Selly Oak have fostered the greater who lately took a party of these children to Canada. number of them. We owe an incalculable debt to He writes that he and his colleagues were 5 Pasture and Orchard at Fintry Fairbridge Training Farm on Lake Okanagan, B ritish Columbia. congratulated ;by passengers and crew on the charm from the perplexities they do not deserve." We and excellent behaviour of the children. They offer you this woman's gratitude : it should reach had no fears or distresses and were well able to you because you have sponsored these children enjoy a very interesting trip in fair weather across with the funds you have given us. We, in the North Atlantic. our turn, record our debt to the Whinwell And I am anxious to record the help given to us Children's Home and to Miss Paterson who is by the Whinwell Children's Home in Stirling. the Matron. Several vacancies in the Home were offered to our This is an attempt to give you some indication children until they can set out for Australia or of how Fairbridge has braced and adapted itself to Canada. We have to confess that, for a very small the conditions imposed on it by the war. Its charge to us, the children have had genuine mission and its bounden duty must be acquitted in Scottish hospitality. Among them were three full, however severe the obstacles. We are pledged little girls of one family. The mother of these to the children : they are aware that their security children saved enough from her war earnings to go rests with us. This security must be a much and see them. She had not imagined that any larger cover than one which just shields them from woman other than herself could give to her children the immediate perils of the war : it must saturate such devoted shepherding and affection. She their lives so that they may grow to the proper writes as follows : " How well my babies looked stature and be sound elements in some community and how grateful I am to you. Believe me, I which sets out to make life a decent thing in the cannot be unhappy seeing them so well-and free years after this war. 6 Competitors : Dominion Day Sports at Fairbridge. Many Fairbridge subscribers are interested in minimum period of seven years, then they can be particular children whom they have adopted. doubled by the sum recoverable by the Society They will have the satisfaction of watching their from Inland Revenue (i.e. with Income Tax at its progress at one of the Farm Schools and their present figure). This is pleading for sustained emergence after their training into a larger world help and for new help. It is joined with gratitude of work and responsibility. We hope that other and a keen sense of stewardship. Will our old friends, who have not attached their contributions friends forgive a reiteration of the units of con­ to particular children, will still think of the help tributions for the information of those who are they give us as purchasing defined benefits for one new to the scale of expenditure for the children or more children. In sum these purchases will be who are our charges ? providing the hourly-the daily-hospitality of the £30 as an annual subscription will keep one child for Farm Schools and of our preparatory homes in a year. Such a subscriber as the " God-parent " of a Fairbridge child can keep in touch with a child, corre­ this country. And, if these gifts are made under spond with it and follow its career. £22 will meet the Deed of Covenant, binding the subscriber for a emigration expenses (transport and outfit) of one child. £12 will provide the transport expenses of a child about to leave for a Farm School in Canada or in Australia. £10 will provide the outfit of one child. Will you maintain, or help to maintain, a child at a Fairbridge Farm School ? Will you send, or help to send, a child to a Fairbridge Farm School ? The Society is deeply grateful for all subscriptions, large or small. Any subscriber to the Fairbridge Farm Schools (Inc.) who is an Income Tax payer, may become a " covenanted " subscriber, and, by observing certain simple conditions, may thereby enable the Society to claim from the Inland Revenue, a sum equal to the Income Tax that had been paid on the subscription. With Income Tax at 10s. in the £ this is tantamount to an addition of 100 per cent. to the amount subscribed. Covenanting subscribers may undertake to complete a Deed of Covenant for any sum per annum. For instance:- An Annual "Covenanted" Subscription of £r becomes £2.