The Child Endowment Act 1941 was Commonwealth legislation which introduced the payment of weekly sums to mothers with more than one child, foster mothers, and the managers of privately run children’s institutions, for children under the age of 16. When child endowment began in 1941, children in State or Commonwealth institutions were excluded. From July…
The Empire Settlement Act 1922 was an Imperial Act, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and applicable in Australia and other Commonwealth nations such as New Zealand and Canada. It was a landmark in the history of Australian immigration, especially for its encouragement of child and youth migration. According to the Lost Innocents…
The Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946 was a Commonwealth law. It defined an “immigrant child” as any person under the age of 21 years who came to Australia as an immigrant otherwise than in the charge of, or for the purpose of living in Australia under the care of, any parent or relative of…
Truancy means intentional absences from schooling. Truancy became an offence when education became compulsory (under state education laws). This meant children charged with truancy could be arrested by police or truancy officers and committed to institutions such as industrial schools and reformatories. Magistrates could also fine parents for allowing a child to truant, and order…
Youth Migration to Australia comprised young people (post-primary school age, usually ranging from 14 to 20 years old), who had made their own decision to migrate to Australia, often to work in rural areas. They commonly came to Australia as assisted migrants, subsidised by colonial, state or Commonwealth governments. Non-government organisations were also involved in…
Child Migration to Australia refers to children who were sent to Australia unaccompanied by their parents, and who had no family ties or contacts in Australia. Child migrants were generally aged between 7 and 14, although some were younger, and were sent to Australia from Britain and Malta under formal child immigration schemes. Although some…
On 16 November 2009, the Australian Parliament issued an apology to Forgotten Australians and former child migrants. The Apology in November 2009 was an endorsement of Recommendation 1 from the ‘Forgotten Australians’ report of 2004, which read: That the Commonwealth Government issue a formal statement acknowledging, on behalf of the nation, the hurt and distress…
The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families was established by the Federal Attorney-General in 1995. It was conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). In April 1997, the Commission handed down the report, Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the…
The Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care was referred to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee on 4 March 2003. This inquiry was directed primarily to those affected children who were not covered by the 2001 report Lost Innocents: Righting the Record, inquiring into child migrants, and the 1997 report, Bringing them Home, inquiring into…
Voluntary placement is a term to describe the practice of parents or relatives putting a child into a Home, outside of child welfare legislation. These children (sometimes referred to as ‘voluntary wards’, ‘non wards’, or ‘private children’) came into ‘care’ under informal arrangements, often due to economic difficulties or a family crisis that made it…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
