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Western Australia - Organisation

Fairbridge (c. 1909 - 2011)

From
c. 1909
To
2011
Categories
Care Provider, Non-denominational and Sending Agency
Alternative Names
  • Child Emigration Society (also known as, 1909 - ?)
  • Fairbridge (also known as, 1992 - )
  • The Fairbridge Drake Society Incorporated (also known as, 1987 - 1992)
  • The Fairbridge Society (Inc) (also known as, 1921 - 1987)

The Fairbridge Society was founded by Kingsley Fairbridge (1885-1924), the first Rhodes Scholar from South Africa to attend Oxford University. In response to what he saw as many 'poor children, grubby and exhausted from lack of fresh air and food' in English cities, Kingsley Fairbridge established the 'Child Emigration Society' in 1909.

The organisation became known as the Fairbridge Society, and went on to establish more farm schools in Canada and Australia. The Fairbridge Society ran the farm school at Pinjarra, with a local Western Australian board, from 1913 until the institution closed in 1981.

In 1998, the archives of the Fairbridge Society were 'held and administered' by the University of Liverpool. In their 1998 evidence to the Inquiry into the Welfare of Former British Child Migrants, Fairbridge stated that the Fairbridge Society ceased in 1982, that it was operating under a different constitution but that it continued to own the records of the Fairbridge Society.

In 2011 in Britain, Fairbridge became part of The Prince's Trust.

Details

According to the Fairbridge Society's website, Fairbridge had been shocked to see 'workhouses filled with children, orphanages bursting at the seams, and the overall waste of young lives not able to reach their potential'. The Child Emigration Society was to pursue Fairbridge's 'vision splendid' of

little children shedding the bondage of bitter circumstances and stretching their legs and minds amid the thousand interests of the farm. The aim was to provide children with a sense of self worth, and the training and skills necessary for their future in the sparsely populated rural areas of the British Empire.

Kingsley and his wife, Ruby, travelled to Western Australia in 1912, and soon established the world's first Fairbridge Farm School at Pinjarra. Kingsley Fairbridge died in 1924 in Perth.

Publications

Books

  • Lane, John, Fairbridge Kid, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, 1990. Details
  • Sherington, Geoffrey and Jeffery, Chris, Fairbridge : Empire and child migration, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1998. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Enquiry by Mr. John Moss. Points on which information is needed as to provision for the welfare of children emigrating from the United Kingdom to Australia
Title
Enquiry by Mr. John Moss. Points on which information is needed as to provision for the welfare of children emigrating from the United Kingdom to Australia
Type
Document
Date
10 May 1951
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

Minutes of conference of representatives of institutions accommodating migrant children
Title
Minutes of conference of representatives of institutions accommodating migrant children
Type
Document
Date
25 May 1951
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

Fairbridge Response to Moss Questionnaire
Title
Fairbridge Response to Moss Questionnaire
Type
Document
Date
29 May 1951
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

Moss Report Implementation [Exerpt] - Fairbridge
Title
Moss Report Implementation [Exerpt] - Fairbridge
Type
Document
Date
22 January 1954 - 12 July 1954
Source
National Archives of Australia,

Details

Moss Report [Excerpt] - Pocket Money
Title
Moss Report [Excerpt] - Pocket Money
Type
Document
Date
23 February 1955
Source
National Archives of Australia,

Details

Moss Report Implementation [Excerpt] - Case Histories
Title
Moss Report Implementation [Excerpt] - Case Histories
Type
Document
Date
18 March 1955
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

Moss Report Implementation [Excerpt] - Health Examinations
Title
Moss Report Implementation [Excerpt] - Health Examinations
Type
Document
Date
21 April 1955
Source
National Archives of Australia,

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Companies House, Company Details, Fairbridge, Government of the United Kingdom, 2003, https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00176613; Fairbridge Village, Fairbridge Western Australia Inc, http://www.fairbridge.asn.au/home/; Fairbridge, 'Memorandum by Fairbridge', in Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Health Committee on 11 June 1998, Parliament of the United Kingdom, 11 June 1998, https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmhealth/755/8061114.htm.

Prepared by: Cate O'Neill and Debra Rosser