Empty Cradles (Oranges and Sunshine)

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The detective element of uncovering an almost unbelievably large, organised and hidden abuse of power is well developed and described. 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. This was a governmental policy, involving charitable and religious institutions to remove perceived burdens from Britain’s ‘care’ system and help ‘build the Empire. In 1986 Margaret Humphreys, a Nottingham social worker, investigated a woman's claim that, aged four, she had been put on a boat to Australia by the British government.

Their organisation (in this case the Christian Brothers but elsewhere other religious groups) closed up like a giant clam full of vile secrets. For me the stories have always been diverse, the needs of the people involved varied, and the journeys seemingly individual and private despite their occasional similarities. One man found his mother and was saving furiously to visit her in England, only to lose her before he could arrive. The deceit and cruelty ring out from the pages not only for what Britain did, but also for how Australia treated the "lost innocents", many of whom suffered appalling abuse. It was presented to Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown at the public apologies and reissued as 'Oranges and Sunshine' to coincide with the film in 2011.Anyone who had parents who were there through their childhood will like me possibly never fully understand the pain in more ways than one these children suffered. 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. She is an unsung hero, her devotion, courage and sheer determination to reunite these people with their family members is inspiring - it made me want to do something better with my life.

Margaret Humphreys (born 1944) is a British Social Worker who exposed the scandal of Britain's child migration schemes. The justification was to ‘populate or perish’ and ensure British colonies retained a population of ‘desirables’, fair-skinned Europeans. Empty Cradles is a harrowing memoir which details the uncovering of an appalling part of British history: Child Migration Schemes. At great cost to herself, both financial and emotional, Margaret Humphries made it her mission to try and reunite some of these child migrants with their families. The reality was anything like it, children's homes where the children were severely abused and treated like slaves.

As I mentioned in my review, Margaret Humphreys is just an incredible woman and shows us what is possible when someone decides to fight against injustice. Throughout she never judges or apportions blame, instead she focuses on what really counts, reuniting families. My father argued with them that we were supervised at night by my aunt, who sat nearby nodding earnestly, so there was no need to take us into care.

Although the writing isn't brilliant, the content is among the most compelling and moving I've ever read. So many tragic stories of young children sent from Britain to Australia and other countries and their terrible treatment at the hands of their “caregivers”. For the charities, the child migrant scheme was apparently a solution to the overflowing British orphanages and the fact that the colonies were in need of a cheap labour force. The story of a woman approached a Nottingham social worker, to tell her that as a child she had been shipped out of a British orphanage to Australia, and what Margaret Humphreys subsequently uncovered - that up to 150,000 children had been shipped out in this manner, many with still living parents who had only temporarily left them at orphanages to overcome short lived financial difficulties.For those who might be tempted to think that this is distant history and that we have moved beyond such ugliness, it's fair to note that the last children were sent in 1967. I was absolutely shocked to read that this could have taken place, that the UK could have been involved in something so appalling. Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where you were so often abused, sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation, and the cold absence of love of tenderness of care.

Once she had found out the extent of the cover up, she and a small band of workers spent 12 hour days working to reunite children (now grown up) with their parents(if they were still alive. She founded the Child Migrants Trust (CMT) in 1987 and has worked tirelessly to promote public awareness of the needs of former child migrants- to reclaim their identity and reunite with their families. The work Margaret Humphreys has done is amazing, the sacrifices she has made to try and make things a little bit better for these (now grown) child migrants are incredible. Almost all of the children, from orphanages or children’s homes, had parents who did not realise what was happening. At times a book that made hurtful reading when learning what these children suffered by the people that were supposed to love and care for them.As I read these pages, with the snippets and details of many individual stories, I was reminded of so many people I have met over my years of working in various institutions in Australia where untold stories were ever lurking just below the surface. She gradually discovered, to her horror, and the horror of the British and Australian public in general, that as many as 150,000 children had been sent (without parent or guardian) from British children’s homes, starting in the 1920s, to a “new life” in Canada, Australia, Rhodesia or New Zealand. In 1986 Margaret Humphreys, a Nottingham social worker and mother of two, investigated the case of a woman who claimed that, at the age of four, she had been put on a boat to Australia by the British government. One friend of mine who had been adopted got Margaret Humphries to trace her parents - that's a whole other story, but it did have a quasi-happy ending. Many of the children were subjected to the most inhumane and brutal treatment, such as at Bindoon where they built the building they eventually lived in, using their bare hands.