Christian Peregin
Maltese child migrants to get Australian apology
A historic apology will be given by the Australian government to former child migrants from the UK and Malta who were abused during the last century while under the state's care.
Over 300 Maltese migrants, mostly boys, had been sent on their own to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s in the hope they would be educated and lead better lives. The scheme had been endorsed by the Maltese government and the Church and was done with the consent of the children's parents and guardians.
However, it eventually emerged that the children had worked like slaves, were not educated and a number of them were even physically and sexually abused.
The Australian Minister of Families and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin made the an-nouncement about the apology last Sunday when speaking on the anniversary of two reports published in 2001 and 2004 that had advised the government to make the apology.
"By the end of 2009, the Australian government will issue a formal statement of acknowledgment and apology, on behalf of the nation, to forgotten Australians and former child migrants," Ms Macklin said.
"Many former child migrants and other children who were in institutions, their families and the wider community have suffered from a system that did not adequately provide for or protect children in its care," she added.
Australian news reports said the apology might be delivered jointly by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.
Former Prime Minister John Howard had disagreed with making an apology for the mistakes of previous governments. But Mr Rudd has already formally apologised to Aborigines for injustices, where children had been "stolen" from their families to be raised as Caucasians.
In March last year, a memorial to Maltese child migrants was unveiled at Valletta Waterfront, from where the children had originally left. The large paper-boat structure was designed by architects Rune Jacobson and David Drago and was inaugurated just before the general election after years of campaigning by Maltese-Australian victims.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had said he was sorry for those who had suffered and hoped to help close some of their wounds.
During the same ceremony, Archbishop Paul Cremona had said the Church sincerely regretted "what was negative in the experience" and bound itself in solidarity.
In 2005, The Times had interviewed Joseph Azzopardi, one of the former migrants who had spoken of his physical, emotional and attempted sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers.
He said he used to be tied to the stairs with the water tap just out of reach to be ridiculed and had also seen a young boy being lifted from the ground by his ears. He was never given letters by his mother and those he wrote to her were never sent.
"But when they tried to abuse me sexually I broke a chair on one of the brothers. As a result, I nearly got killed with the beating I got. I was 14 at the time," he said.
He had accused the Maltese Church of trying to hide from the fact that it was responsible for sending the former child migrants to Australia.
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Doris Vassallo
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:37
2 boys and 1 girl (3) in all were sent to Western Australia (Perth area) under that scheme in the late 50’s by the Catholic church. From reading some of these articles , the church already knew in 1953 that there was great abuse with all migrant children to Australia and yet they kept sending more children over without anyone checking to see what was really going on. SHAME ON THE CHURCH! I recently asked the Child MigrantDepartment in Malta for copies of what was authorized by their mother as their release and have been given nothing but run around by it’s president. What are they hiding??? These children (now 58-65 years old) are still living…they are talking all about their past abuse. They do not remember a good day in their entire stay in those "child jails" in Australia. They were stripped (first of their language, their dignity, their home land & their family). They even separated all 3 of them at their arrival there, the youngest age 3 at the time. When their mother tried to have them brought back, she was told that she no longer has rights for them because of what she had signed, (release of their physical & legal rights to the church). Their mother even visited them in 1961 with the intention of bringing them back and the children were not released to her because of what she signed. I guess the "lovely" brothers and nuns who were taken care of them did not want the children to talk about their bad experiences. Yet now, all of a sudden these papers mysteriously disappeared. The church will not take responsibility for their action. I’m tired of the run around I’m getting by the Child Migrant Department’s president. The Curia tells me that the Child’s Migrant has the archive files, the Child Migrant first told me that it’s the Labour Office that has them, now last I heard it the Employment Relations Dept. They can’t even get their stories straight. Someone is hiding something**big time and I intend to find out.
marthese mussett
Sep 1st 2009, 22:09
I have four choldren,two of them are teenage boys.Reading these things make me cry and makes me want to protect my boys,and my girl, even more.This is disgusting.
Lawrence Dimech
Sep 1st 2009, 15:46
A monument to remember this dark period in our migration history? IT was hardly the intention. It was the the higher-ups who coherst the agitators to accept a monument instead of an apology just before the election. A faux pas indeed.
charmaine mangion
Sep 1st 2009, 15:13
yes a.vella very good book, read it last year. as reading is my hobby lately i read loads of stories of being abused in foster homes, their homes and more. its a pity a child has to go through this in the most important part of their lives, that is the childhood.
g. scerri
Sep 1st 2009, 13:35
@Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Aktar minn iċċarat Dott, wasal iż=żmien li l-kultura tal-ħabi tieqaf darba għal dejjem. Il-ħabi jħammeġ lill kulħadd. Tidher li hi lezzjoni iebsa b'għeruq tal-ħadid.
Doris Vassallo
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:43
My husband's family is one of those, who's 3 of 4 children were sent to Peth. The abuse went on for 15 years for one of them, the church all of a sudden lost all paper work on these children. What do you suppose the church is hiding? The Curia tells me that the Child Migrant has the archive files, the Child Migrant tells me that the Labour Dept, then they changed their minds, the latest is the Employment Relation has the files. Big Shame on the Church!!! Even after 55 years they are still hiding everything.
D Vassallo
m. schembri
Sep 1st 2009, 11:12
@A.Vella
i have read that book aswell and i was disgusted by the way the children were treated. it is awful how children are abused
A Vella
Sep 1st 2009, 10:35
Just for those who might be interested I just read a book named Trust Me by Leslie Pearse and a reference is made to those Maltese children who were sent to Australia in believing they will have a better life and education, and all the harrassments and abuses children sufferred by nuns and priests within the orphanages. Poor children and shame those priests and nuns!!
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Sep 1st 2009, 10:28
Tajjeb ikun iccarat li l-iskuza ser tkun generali u tinkludi, fost ohrajn, lill-10,000 tifel u tifla li gew itturufnati hemm mill-GB