Empty Cradles (Oranges and Sunshine)

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Margaret Humphreys (born 1944) is a British Social Worker who exposed the scandal of Britain's child migration schemes. Of course, it did take me a bit longer than normal to get through it because there were quite a few times that I had to walk away from it and get a breather. Many were told that their parents were dead, and parents often believed that their children had been adopted in Britain. After church we would look for pennies on the ground, and I remember a priest that would try to talk us into following him if we wanted to get a quarter each.

Despite the sadness and anger at its centre, hope remains the principle message of this remarkable book.Their organisation (in this case the Christian Brothers but elsewhere other religious groups) closed up like a giant clam full of vile secrets.

There is possibly still a lot of work going on to help the children who are now men and women coming into their twighlight years of life. They have incredible hope and determination matched only by the truly remarkable Margaret Humphreys. Many were told that their parents were dead, and parents were told that their children had been adopted. Yes, there were some children who actively made the choice to relocate and their parents were aware of the process and consenting. Part of me wishes that I had such strength to bring to light the stories I have heard and would wish to correct, but part of me is also glad that I have not pushed to the extent she has when I consider I have not had a partner to help share such a burden with me, nor the clarity of a simple story told by many.

This is just another sad example that powerful governments and powerful institutions think they can do what they like to whom they like, when they like and they can lie about it (and similar things continue to happen today), all the while it inflicts unnecessary suffering on people who deserved better. Once these children reached adulthood, they were turfed out into society to find their way as best they could, with no idea of who they were and where they’d come from. I am one of three children but even we could not fill the gaping wound of having her first and newborn baby son taken from her. And then suddenly there is a programme on the television and he somehow finds the courage or the anger, or whatever it takes, to come and say, ‘I’m giving you this, I’ve carried it for long enough. They were promised sunshine all day and riding on kangaroos to school while picking oranges of the trees.