Ken Pound interviewed by Gwenda Davey in the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants oral history project (2010 - 2010)

From

2010

To

2010

Location

Western Australia

[From the National Library of Australia's Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants oral history project] Ken Pound born in Devon talks about: memories of the war; being in care (6 months to 5 years) in Dunbevenes Babies' Home, Exeter; his mother; an absent father, his grandparents; relationship with step-father; St Budoc's Boys' Home in Falmouth, Cornwall (5 to 14 years old); corporal punishment and depersonalisation in St Budoc's; looking for answers to the unfairness of his situation; enjoying nature; mistrust of people; happy memories of Dorothy and Freda Doughty in Falmouth and Charlie Rowe, gardener in Fox Hill Gardens; fear; feeling unsafe; daily routine in the home; maladjustment; his schooling; sadism; lack of privacy; being asked who wanted to go to Australia; fantasies about Australia; mother notified two days before Ken departed Southhampton aboard the Esperance Bay; abuse by the sailors; his ignorance; scrounging food; letters from Freda Doughty; appreciation of Charles Rowe, Boys' Brigade Head; first impressions of Perth; Swan Homes; Padbury Boys Farm School, Stoneville; the staff; cruelty and abuse; work practices; Baptists; enjoying dances in Stoneville Hall; Rev. Jack Watts; left Padbury at 17 years for a sheep farm, Bendering near Corrigin. Pound then discusses working at nurseries including Wilson & John's nursery in Cannington; mustering at Giralia Station; first experience of Aboriginal people; Withnell House; qualifying as a Salvation Army officer; half-brother John Baker; marriage and children; his wife Leonie; Mission of St James and St John; work at St Agnes' Girls' Home in Glenroy, then St Paul's Boys' Home, Newhaven; nature park on Phillip Island; Kookaburra Magazine; involvement in conservation; Phillip Island Council; his children in Allambie Reception Centre and Black Rock Children's Home; working at the Brotherhood of St Laurence; boys from Scotch College; collecting children's books; Marcie Muir; Kerry White; collection acquired by the State Library of Victoria; retired to Kinglake; bushfires; his health; living in Hurstbridge; search for family in England; Child Migrants Trust; dislike of traditions; living standards in England; institutionalisation; anger for the Forgotten Children.

Contact

Please contact a Librarian at Reader Services, National Library of Australia:
Address: National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: (02) 6262 1266
Fax: (02) 6273 5081
Website: http://www.nla.gov.au/askalibrarian/