Orphans Of The Empire

 AUD $20.00 + Postage

The first in what eventually became a trilogy, the book, considered a classic of its kind, tells the shocking yet compelling true story of the several thousand men and women who came to Australia as supposed “orphan” child migrants. From the convict era to recent times it traces the decades of misery in the child migration schemes which seemed “right” at the time, but which came back to haunt the Australian and British Governments and the mainly religious charities charged with their welfare.

Drawing on years of painstaking research and many hours of interviews, Alan Gill has written of the horrific abuse of destitute children in the “care” of their guardians. He also reveals the deliberate destruction of documents which was to increase the difficulty already faced by the grown “orphans” in trying to find their true identities. Here, too, are accounts of heartwarming acts of great kindness.