PM to unveil child migrant monument

The plight faced by Maltese child migrants, who suffered abuse and exploitation after being shipped to Australia half a century ago, will be marked today with the unveiling of a commemorative moment at the Valletta Waterfront.

The former migrants have been campaigning for a commemorative symbol to mark the abuse they suffered after being shipped to Australia as children in the 1950s and 1960s.

Today their demands will be satisfied as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is expected to unveil the monument - a paper boat that draws a relation between children and sea travel. The monument was designed by architects Rune Jacobson and David Drago.

The Maltese Child Migrant Memorial monument will be located at the Valletta Waterfront's Laguna area close to Customs House from where the children had embarked on their life-altering voyage. Dr Gonzi had visited the child migrants monument in Fremantle during his visit to Australia last July.

Archbishop Paul Cremona will be making a brief address and say a prayer, a spokesman for the Curia said.

Mgr Cremona's presence will be meaningful to the former child migrants who had requested the presence of the Church.

The 310 Maltese migrants had been sent to Australia through the efforts of Maltese political and ecclesiastical authorities since they believed that this was in the best interest of the children who would be given a better education and future.

However, the future of these children was not rosy as it eventually emerged that they worked at institutions with no remuneration and many received no education and remained illiterate. A number of Maltese child migrants were even sexually and physically abused. Therefore, while some of the migrants, mostly boys, were successful, others suffered immense consequences.

In April 2002, the Child Migrants of Malta (CMOM) was set up to seek recognition of the reality of Maltese child migrants. CMOM chairman Prof. David Plowman called on the Maltese authorities to start a process that would help bring "closure" sought by the migrants and requested a commemorative plaque.

In September 2005, the Government decided to erect the monument and the news was welcomed by the migrants who had requested an apology from the Church.

Contacted yesterday, the Curia spokesman told The Sunday Times: "We obviously regret and condemn any abuses that might have happened abroad to any of these children. But we know that the members of the Church in Malta who helped in this project worked not only in good faith, but also in the interest of the children concerned, as was understood at that time."