The term child migrant refers to children between the ages of 8 and 13, although some were younger, who were sent to Australia as part of various British Child migrant schemes. They arrived in Queensland in the 1950s, unaccompanied by parents and under the guardianship of the Federal Minister for Immigration (in 1946) and the relevant State Department (after 1947). These children had no family ties or contacts in Australia. Prior to the enactment of Commonwealth legislation in 1946, State Child Welfare legislation and the general law covered custody and guardianship arrangements.
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 9 November 2011, Last modified: 26 February 2015
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00310b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License