The term child migrant refers to children who were sent from Britain to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries through various child migration schemes. More than 100,000 children were impacted by the schemes beginning in the 1860s. It is estimated that more than 7,000 children were sent to Australia unaccompanied by parents and under the guardianship of the Federal Minister for Immigration (in 1946) and the relevant State Department (after 1947).
These children had no family ties or contacts in Australia. Child migration schemes were run by charitable and religious organisations who held the belief that the lives of the children sent overseas would improve. They were supported by governments for which these schemes supplied much needed population and labour.While the outcomes for children varied, all experienced separation and displacement from family and homeland. The Australian Parliament delivered a formal apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants at a remembrance event in Canberra on Monday 16 November 2009.
Sources used to compile this entry: Australian National Maritime Museum, On their own - Britain's child migrants (exhibition background), Commonwealth of Australia, 2010, http://www.britainschildmigrants.com/.
Prepared by: Lydia Connell
Created: 25 October 2012, Last modified: 5 May 2015
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/act/biogs/AE00126b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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