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In the early years of the last century concerned patriotic citizens, seeing threats to the nation through lack of population growth, decided to “prod” the federal and state governments by forming immigration movements geared specifically to young people. The concept was simple and somewhat bold. To turn British school leavers – average age 15 – into learner farmers in rural Australia. The Dreadnought Scheme, started in 1911 with money originally intended to buy a battleship, was followed in 1920s by the Big Brother Movement, which operated on the basis of a settled, adult Australia taking on a guardian role for unaccompanied migrant youths.
Ridiculed by satirists – one group of new arrivals were taught milking on an artificial cow – the public held the newcomers in esteem. In addition to “farm lads”, as they were officially called, there were schemes for teenage girls to migrate as domestic servants. Both groups – unlike the “orphan” child migrants with whom they are often confused – were genuine volunteers and came with the blessing of parents and guardians. Though spared the indignities of institutional life, youth migrants – particularly in the early years – suffered a degree of trauma. Loneliness was acute. Many were sent to work on remote rural properties, deprived of proper accommodation and even of food by taskmasters who considered them cheap labour.
After World War II the insistence upon rural employment was gradually relaxed. One Little Brother became a snake handler, another a deep sea diver. Former youth migrants have been represented in Parliament, the trade unions, media and the upper echelons of the public service and armed forces. All in all, some 50,000 young people were brought to Australia under the youth migration schemes. This book tells, for the first time, their collective story. |
