Dimensions
155 x 234 x 27mm
In 1959 David Hill's mother was visited at her home in England by two ladies from the Fairbridge Society. They told her wonderful stories about Australia, and explained how the Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales could benefit her sons. The Hills were poor and life was tough; David's mother, like so many other parents, felt that in sending David and his brothers to Australia she would be giving them an exceptional opportunity, a good education and a better life.
The reality was vastly - and shockingly - different. During the 38 years the school in Molong was open, thousands of parents were persuaded to sign over legal guardianship of their children to Fairbridge to solve the problem of child poverty in the poor regions of Britain while populating the colony. Now many of those children have decided to speak out about the years of misery they experienced there. 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 life as a Fairbridge child, 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. Part memoir, part investigation, this meticulously researched, moving book is both a tribute to the children who were betrayed by an ideal that went terribly awry and a compelling account of an extraordinary episode in Australian-British history.
