Through children's eyes
Of all the migrants who endured hardship during World War ll
and its aftermath, it was the children who were the
most confused and the most likely to succumb to malnutrition
and illness. War, deprivation and displacement took
their toll on children although many were too young to realise
what was happening. This led to confusion, even to the
point of not knowing to this day where exactly they spent their
childhood in the myriad of forced labour camps during
the war, and afterwards as they were moved from one displaced
persons' camp to another in Germany, Austria and
Italy. Yet children offered hope to their parents, and many
who settled in Orange performed extremely well at school,
forged impressive careers and made a success of their lives.
Once in Australia, children had quickly to come to terms with their new
country and a new language. Mostly they learnt English quickly but
often, especially in the migrant camps, they spoke among themselves a
pastiche of up to a dozen languages. Alfreda Srnec recalls the way children
communicated at the Cowra migrant camp:
"There were many nationalities in Cowra and we as children learnt
every language that was spoken. I was able to speak Polish, German,
Russian, Ukrainian. As children we just all spoke each other's language
and we knew exactly wh at the others were saying."
- Alfreda Srnec
fairbridge farm
Many child migrants learnt about Australian rural life through their
time at Fairbridge Farm School near Molong.
The movement was started in Western Australia by Kingsley Fairbridge
in 1911 and the Molong farm school was
opened in 1937. Usually orphans or the children of poor parents, they
were taken from England at a young age with
a view to giving them a healthy life and training in farm or domestic
work so they would find employment as adults.
Children continued to be sent in the 1940s and 50s but this type of
child migration gradually decreased. Some
children thrived and remember fondly their years at Fairbridge, while
many found the strict discipline and separation
from their real families hard to bear.
For a comprehensive history of the Fairbridge Farm School order
The Forgotten Children - Fairbridge Farm School And Its Betrayal
Of Australia's Child Migrants by David Hill.
order the book »