Oranges and Sunshine

This programme contains some strong language and scenes some viewers may find upsetting.

DISTANT CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER

DISTANT SIREN WAILS

HORN BEEPS

Sue, right now, your baby needs to be safe

and you need a bit of support, don't you?

I know you love her. Of course you do.

But this will give you a chance to sort yourself out.

I couldn't get on top of it, with everything...

Don't, Margaret. Don't take her.

Do you want to put her down, Sue?

Just put her in the carrycot.

You all right, love?

Yeah?

Put her down.

BABY CRIES

There you go.

You'll be able to see her tomorrow.

I'll take you to her and you'll be able to see that she's fine.

Whoa, darling.

Don't!

Don't! Please! Margaret, please!

I'll do better, I will!

SUZIE SOBS

The thing I love about this group

is that you don't have to explain yourself here.

We've all been adopted as kids

and OK, we've all had different experiences after that,

but it's a big bottom line, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm glad to be here tonight. I don't mind telling you.

I've been getting a lot of grief at work.

Things have been getting me down, really.

Been feeling a bit low, a bit lonely.

You know, when you always think

is it because of what happened when I was a kid?

You know, maybe I'll never be right.

But you can't always know that, can you?

You just... you just always wonder.

Is this where the Triangle Group is?

Yes, that's right, but we've finished for the night.

Charlotte. Charlotte Cooper.

Can I have a quick word? It won't take a minute.

Well, what you're looking for isn't really what this group does.

This is a local support group, really.

I might be able to refer you to somebody who'd be able to offer you counselling.

I don't want counselling. I want to find out who I am.

Well, this isn't really the way to...

I don't even know if my name and birth date are right.

I remember leaving England. I was four-years-old.

I was in a children's home because my parents were dead.

Then they sent me in a boat to Australia.

All I know for certain is I was born in Nottingham.

What do you mean they put you on a boat?

They put us all on a boat for Oz. Hundreds of us.

Your adoptive parents were emigrating?

No. No parents, no guardians.

Just a couple of hundred kids, they sent us away.

-That can't be right.

-What do you mean?

It's simply not legal. There's no way a group of

unaccompanied children would be shipped off like that.

-You calling me a liar?

-No, of course not.

That is the one thing I know...

I know about who I am.

Don't you tell me that's not true.

OK, look. I can see you're upset.

Why don't you come to my office on another day?

Take this. That's my name,

that's all I've got to tell anyone where I've come from.

It is 10:30 at night...

I can't find anything else. I've tried everything.

I've been everywhere.

Now, my time's running out. I'm flying back.

So you have a look and you write and tell me how wrong I am.

You come 10,000 miles to find home, they call you a liar.

Wait.

You're not a bloody saint. You were tired.

Yeah, I know, but I should have seen it coming.

You can't always see it coming.

-Why's Ben out of bed?

-Oh, hello, miss. Ben spilled his juice.

-It wasn't my fault.

-What are you doing out of bed?

I can't sleep. Can I read?

No. Go on, go back up to bed and I'll come tuck you up in a minute.

It's not fair, I'm older than him.

-Happens all the time.

-Come on, up you go.

I just hope I did the right thing.

Margaret, we're social workers. There's no right thing.

There's social-work practice, court decisions...

My professional judgement.

Which means that sometimes you're doing the right thing,

and sometimes you're oppressing the poor

with the middle-class values of a reactionary government.

Don't make that face at me. Kiss from Mummy.

Sometimes, you're just tired.

Ooh, you're heavy. Now, then...

RAIN PATTERS

-BEN:

-Mum?

Mum?

It's OK. I'll go.

Had bad dream.

Oh, sweetie. You OK?

What happened?

It was a long, long tunnel thing and I couldn't...

You couldn't what?

Couldn't get out and I couldn't find you.

Darling, I'm here.

I lost you.

Oh, sweetie. I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere, OK?

All right?

You going to go back to sleep?

All right.

-I think you have to talk about it.

-Exactly.

I only told my husband just this last year.

Good for you.

What do you think, Nicky?

Um, well, I know what you mean,

but sometimes I think it sounds stupid

if I told everyone what was bothering me.

What is it?

Um...

It's my brother, my brother Jack.

Uh...

I don't really see him, you see.

Do you want to tell everyone who Jack is, Nicky?

Mmm...

Uh, yeah.

PUTS CUP DOWN

-That's my brother, Jack.

-That's lovely.

He found me a few years ago.

Um...

Just got a letter out of the blue.

"Dear Nicky, I think I may be your brother Jack."

And he was.

Well, soon as I saw him, I knew.

I mean...

I remembered. That's right.

Once upon a time, I used to have a brother.

So where is he?

Australia.

Can you believe it?

It was the Sally Army who found me for him.

They'd taken us both in and put me in my first foster home

and shipped Jack off to Australia.

So, uh...

I mean, I know I have family, I suppose,

but he's so far away, and sometimes it's hard to feel...

-SIGHS

-Anyway.

So was he adopted by an Australian family?

Uh, no. No.

It was just kids, Jack said.

A big ship full of kids from 5 to 13,

all being sent off to Australia.

You never told me that bit, Nicky.

Didn't I? Well, that's what happened.

Could still all be just coincidence.

Do you think so?

Well, if children did emigrate to Australia in any numbers,

there must be some record of them.

I was just wondering if you had any records

of any unaccompanied children

sent to Australia in the 1940s and '50s.

I don't think we ever had those records in Australia House.

So there were children sent out there?

Um, do you know how many?

When? Why were they sent?

I've already told you.

We don't have any more information.

So who would know?

Why don't you ask your own government?

They're the ones who sent the kids out there.

I know, I couldn't believe it.

I mean, I was still half thinking that the story couldn't be true

and he just came out with it.

Yeah.

No, no. I think I'm going to...

I think I'm going to still get the later train

and I'm going to try St Catherine's House now.

See if I can find Charlotte's birth certificate.

If I can get her mother's name off that,

then I can probably find out when she died

and then when Charlotte was placed in an orphanage.

We can start to trace her journey.

Maybe get some clues about why Nicky's brother was sent away as well.

Charlotte's mother wasn't dead.

Lovely to see you, Merv. How was your day?

Charlotte said she was in an orphanage in 1950

because both her parents were dead.

Well, I found a record of a woman with her mother's name

who got married in Nottingham in 1956,

not dead, very much alive and eating wedding cake.

Might not be the same woman.

I've ordered up the certificate

but why would Charlotte have been sent if she wasn't an orphan?

So if her mother was alive in '56, she might still be alive.

-I know.

-So you going to follow that up?

Well, I'll find the address on the certificate and follow the trail from there.

Do you think it's her?

About the right age.

Hello, Vera. Yeah, not bad. And you?

Is that the time already?

Thanks.

Hang on, I'll finish that up.

-Excuse me, are you Vera Wilson?

-That's me. How can I help you, love?

I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private.

It's something personal.

I'll take you through. What's it about?

It's about your family.

Oh, my God.

I knew you'd come one day.

-It's you, isn't it? You're my baby.

-No, Vera, I'm a social worker.

Do you know where our baby is?

Let's go somewhere where we can talk in private.

Where is she?

Does she have a family?

Is she happy?

Charlotte's in Australia.

She grew up in a children's home in Australia.

In Australia?

What was she doing over there?

What was she doing in a children's home?

I went back to get her and they told me she'd been adopted.

I went back to get her.

They told me she was better off.

She was in a real family.

What's she doing in a children's home on the other side of the world?

SOBS

-ANNOUNCEMENT:

-This flight is now closed and will depart.

Final call for British Airways...

All right, let me take that.

-How was your flight?

-All right.

We'll go out this way to the car.

You ready for tonight?

That's, uh, my mother.

Your grandmother.

She was very strict, you know.

Well, you've got to understand how things were 40 years ago.

No-one wanted...

the shame.

It was such a scandal.

Mother wouldn't have me in the house.

They took my baby away from me at the hostel

and...I tried to visit.

And then one day they said she'd gone.

You had gone.

I kept this for you.

In case.

Well, I always kept it.

I'm up to my eyes at work.

I know.

And we can't afford it.

I know.

And the kids?

We'll be fine here.

Hey.

Oh! CHUCKLES

-Nice to see you.

-You too.

Oh, Margaret. This is my brother, Jack.

It's very nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.

Good to meet you too. How was the flight?

Uh, yeah, good.

Get these into the car.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

Still OK to come to the reunion tomorrow?

Yeah. Yeah, of course. You must be tired.

Yeah, a little bit.

So we are delighted

to see our usual wonderful turnout of former Fairbridge residents.

This is a nostalgic and happy day for all of us.

Now, just before I go, this is Mrs Humphreys,

who has come all the way from England

to join one of our old Fairbridgians at the reunion today.

She'd love to hear any stories you have about your time here,

so do take the time to talk to her, if you can.

Hello, my name's Margaret Humphreys.

I was recently contacted by a woman

who was sent here to Australia as a child

and has lost all contact with her family in England.

And I'm here today to see if any of you are in the same position.

If you want to talk to me, just come and find me later.

All right. Thank you.

So is this all there is, the bunkhouses, the farm buildings?

What about the school?

Well, you only got to go to school if you finished your farm work first.

Jack told me some stories about this place, didn't you, Jack?

Food was terrible, wasn't it?

What was it you used to have, Jack?

You could always tell the Fairbridge kids

because they were the ones nicking the other kids' lunch boxes.

Do you know if all the other children

were sent out from Britain, the same as you?

I don't know, I don't know.

Do you know who sent you?

-It's a bit hot. I'll be out by the bus.

-Yeah.

Sorry, Margaret.

This woman you were talking about.

-Did you find any family for her?

-Yes.

She was told that her mother was dead but we found her.

-You found her mother?

-Yes.

Do you think I've got a mother?

Everybody's got a mother.

What year? What year are we talking about?

ALL ASK QUESTIONS AT ONCE

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Any records of who the child migrants were

would be back in the UK or with local state authorities.

More.

Oh, there's so many of them.

These migrations - were they organised schemes?

I can't tell you, really. It's not my area, I'm afraid.

So, why have I never heard about it?

Why has no-one ever heard about it?

I don't suppose anyone was really that interested.

Stay there while I get a view of you two.

What's up, Jack?

I can't stand Mother's Day.

Get the same feeling every year,

like someone's twisting a knife inside me.

So, normally I stay inside on that day and I draw the blinds

and I let the phone ring.

I was married, you know. I've got three kids.

I never knew what was wrong with me.

You know, I'd think about my mother all the time,

but I could never talk about it.

How can you talk about someone

when you've been told they don't even exist?

I went to see this doctor.

He put me on antidepressants.

That didn't really help, so I saved them up,

I saved them all up and then...

I mean, it wasn't my wife's fault, you know.

There's a...

..there's an emptiness in me.

There always has been and I think... I thought...

I think that the only thing that could fill it is her, you know?

-Is my mother.

-Jack! Jack!

There's a very strong memory.

I was in the children's home in the UK, I was only ten.

This man in a suit, he came to see me and he says,

"How'd you like to go to Australia? The sun shines every day.

"You'd live in a white house, ride a horse to school

"and you'd pick oranges off the trees for your breakfast."

When I didn't say anything, he says,

"Well, your mother's dead, you know, so you might as well."

So...

Now you're telling me that she might not have been dead, after all.

No, I can't say that, Jack.

We just don't know.

What we can do is we can search for her records

and see what we can find.

I don't know. Of course, of course. I don't know.

You found your sister.

She was so happy to see you, you know.

Nicky trusts you.

And I reckon I... I think I should too.

There she is.

Hello, sweetie.

Hello, darling.

Good to see you. How was the plane?

It was all right, actually. Come on, guys.

-Did you get any sleep?

-Little bit, yeah.

You all right?

Oh, yeah. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. But I'm very happy to be home.

That's what I found first. By then I was desperate.

I've been searching court records, children's panel, minutes, you name it.

No trace of the children anywhere.

I was just looking through newspapers round about our date

and that leapt out at me.

Now you have the name of the organisation.

-Fairbridge.

-It wasn't just Fairbridge.

All sorts of different charities ran these schemes.

Churches, Barnardos.

Children from deprived backgrounds,

shipped off for a better life in the colonies.

This is it. This is all fitting together.

The scheme was run from the 19th century

till - you won't believe this - 1970.

But there was a wave of migrations to Australia

between the mid-'50s and the mid-'60s.

How big? How many kids?

I don't know exactly but it must've been organised.

I mean, organised at the level of government.

These children were in care. Local authorities were their guardians.

For so many of them to be systematically deported,

it must have been government policy. The Home Secretary would have had

to give consent for them to leave the country.

The Australian Government must've wanted to receive them.

White Australia, I suppose.

You're talking about the organised deportation of children in care.

I don't have any concrete proof yet

but the evidence doesn't leave much room for doubt.

So, who's taking responsibility for what happened to these children

once they reached Australia?

Oh, Merv.

I've got the names of hundreds of people in my suitcase,

who all want to know who they are.

I know.

Who do I ask? Where do I start?

Are you going to look at all that stuff now?

Jet lag.

I thought you said you were working in the morning.

I've got to. I've been summoned.

Merv?

I'm going to have to get back to Australia.

Well, catch your breath first, eh?

We can see you now.

-WOMAN:

-..and sent it to the other department.

-Shut the door, please.

-For the other department?

OK. Take a seat.

Two weeks?

OK.

Well, as you know, Rita's filled me in with what you've been up to.

I've read your report.

Look, I just want to say that I have kept on top of my case load

and I went to Australia in my own time, that was my annual leave.

-Well, I think that's appalling.

-What? What is?

That you had to use your own holiday to pursue this.

Oh.

I'm taking this to the social services committee.

Tell me. What is it you want to do?

Well, uh, the people that I've met,

they want to find a record of who they are.

They just want to know where they came from.

-What do you need?

-Time.

Time to find their families.

How long?

Well...a year?

How about two?

Yes, that would be...

I'll make a recommendation to the committee.

So, are you talking about me working on this full-time?

That is what you want, isn't it?

Yes. Yes, it is.

Now, how are we going to fund you properly?

We're going to have raise your profile to try and get

some public funding and we need donations.

Have you thought about going to the press?

Merv?

It's being printed in the papers in Sydney and Melbourne too.

-They're all the same.

-I know.

"Dear Mrs Humphreys, I read the article in the paper.

"Please could you help me find my mother?

"I was sent to Australia in 1957. I have no birth certificate."

I'm in trouble, aren't I?

Have I helped you understand all that, Bob? It's a lot to take in.

They gave me the wrong name.

They'd given you the wrong name.

That's why it's taking so long to find your birth certificate.

So, which name do I use?

Who am I?

You're the same person.

But I've got the wrong name.

You're using a different name from the name on your birth certificate.

-Do you want to stop for a minute?

-No. No, I'm good.

So, what next?

Well, what would you like me to do next?

Thank you all very much for your patience,

and I'll be with you as soon as I can.

-I'm very sorry to keep you waiting.

-Not a problem. I'm Dan.

Dan, please come in.

Oh, I'm Len Connelly. I'm with Dan.

Oh, nice to meet you.

Well, I usually see people on their own, but uh...

I'm moral support.

Right, well, Dan, you'll be fine on your own

but if that's what you want...

-It's all right.

-It's what he wants, yeah.

Well, nice to meet you, Mr Connelly.

-Uh... right. Shall we?

-Yeah.

So, I reckon if I do have any family, they might be around Doncaster.

OK, right. Doncaster.

Well, from what you've told me,

I will be able to start to trace your mother's birth certificate.

Oh, I've tried all of that. I've had the best in the business working on it.

-Len.

-Nothing.

Can't be done. Cost me a few bob too.

Not that I'm short of a few bob...

Excuse me. I am trying to listen to Dan.

Well, I reckon you need to see me, as well.

-Were you a child migrant too?

-I've just told you that.

Well, I'm sure that tracing your family is very important to you.

But right now, this is Dan's time.

OK, so there are three possibilities.

We might be able to find your mother's birth certificate,

and obviously that is what we want and what we're hoping for.

We might find her and then discover that she's already passed away.

We might... we might not have any luck.

I'm really sorry. Excuse me?

What are you doing?

Could you put that down, please?

I was checking what you're up to.

I'm sorry, but if you interrupt again, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

When are you going to see me? I've got documents the detectives found me.

They never found my mother.

Well, if the world's best private detectives weren't able to trace her,

I'm not really sure what you expect me to do.

Well, I thought you could give it a go.

I'm afraid I have a backlog of people to see on this trip

and I won't be able to fit you in.

But if you want to send me your documents,

then I'll see what I can do.

Right, now, Dan.

What I'm going to need from you is any recollections that you have

obviously from your early childhood in Doncaster - names, faces...

Well, you've certainly caused quite a stir, Mrs Humphreys.

There's been a lot of comments

since you broke this story in the newspapers.

Well, I didn't exactly break the story.

People are saying what happened to some of these children

-is an outrage.

-Would you care to comment on that?

-Well, I'd say it was, yes.

-That's rather a strong word, though.

I met a woman recently who was sent to Australia at five years of age

and she wanted me to tell you

that she lived with 15 other girls in an unheated, unventilated hut

for ten years, and during that time,

her only possessions were one dress and one pair of shoes.

And then at age 15, she was told

that she had to repay her debt of board and lodging

and she was sent to work as unpaid slave labour

on a farm that was 50 miles from the nearest road.

-So what this...

-And in all that time, she never knew

that she had a mother still living in England

who had no idea where she was or what had happened to her.

I'd like to know what word you would use

to describe what that mother and daughter suffered.

-Mrs Humphreys!

-Come on, mate, leave it.

I've got to talk to you.

I'd like to take you to dinner. My treat. My treat.

-I can buy my own dinner, thanks.

-Come on, what are you?

-One of those lesbian socialists?

-Shut up, Len.

He's all right. Doesn't know what he's saying.

-She's turned crimson.

-He's all right.

Hey, Mrs Humphreys! Mrs Humphreys, I want an appointment.

So, how long have you been doing this work?

You know what?

I've been cleaning floors for 40 years.

First thing they did at Fairbridge when I came off the boat,

put a mop in my hands.

"Stop your crying and clean that floor."

How old were you?

I was eight.

I was crying too.

Didn't need to put a bucket of water on the floor.

I was dropping enough water on it.

That was it.

Scrubbing for 40 years.

Sometimes...

..when I was shining up those floors, I'd think,

"I wonder what my old mum would think if she could see me now."

So you remember your mum?

Of course.

Course I do. Can't ever forget your mum, can you?

Just don't know where she is.

He's been in and out of the hospital for years now,

but we've never seen him the way he was the other night.

When your program went out on radio,

he just... he just broke down, he just howled.

And then all he wanted to do was get a hold of you.

-I'm glad I could be here.

-He's just over here.

I was only three.

Someone told me my parents were dead.

Then I was on a boat coming here.

I grew up in the orphanage.

You don't want to hear this, Margaret.

Yes, I do.

That's why I'm here.

'It was Christmas. I was really excited.

-'I...was about seven...

-SHE SOBS

..by then.

I had this wonderful singing voice, you see.

Used to give concerts at the orphanage

and this...dentist and his wife

asked if I'd come to their home for Christmas Eve

and you know, sing for them.

TELEPHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-'Hello.'

Oh, Merv.

'Thought I'd take a chance. Couldn't sleep.'

-What time is it there?

-'Three in the morning.

-'Just wondered if you were OK.'

-Oh, you know. Getting by.

-'What's wrong?'

-Oh.

It's just...some of the things that I'm hearing...

'Get an earlier flight.'

I'll come home just before Christmas, like I promised.

It's only a week away.

'They were going to keep me over Christmas.

'I was going to get presents, proper Christmas dinner.'

Come here.

'They had a big party.

'I sang Ave Maria.

'The woman said I was a little angel.'

And the dentist...

..dentist and two other men, they took me into the bathroom

and uh, they...

..they...

# Ave Maria... #

-What's wrong?

-We can't have that.

We can't have any of it!

-Margaret? Margaret!

-Can't have this.

-We can't have any of this.

-Margaret. Hey, stop, stop!

So, what do I tell Ben and Rachel?

"Sorry, Christmas is cancelled."

Oh, Merv, I missed you.

I missed you.

I'm sorry.

Really sorry.

Christmas back on, then?

As long as I don't have to do any bloody carol singing.

FAINT CAROL SINGING

Jack?

Oh, my God!

Well, I thought you'd never hurry up and find my mum

unless I came and helped you out.

Come in, come in.

-So you just got here?

-Yep, yep.

Wow!

OK.

Going to this address. Map-reading?

I think I can do that, yeah.

Yeah, it's 71 Lord Nelson Street. Thank you.

Yeah, no. Well, I'd be grateful if she could give me a call.

Yeah. It's Margaret Humphreys.

Yes, yes, thank you.

MUSIC OBSCURES SPEECH

She lived over there?

-So, where are we off to?

-Right.

We're picking up Nicky from work and we're driving to Tyneside.

Righto.

You're Jack?

You're little Jack?

Oh, my God. You used to sit on my lap.

-You know me?

-Yes.

-You knew me when I was a little boy?

-Yeah, yeah, I can see you now.

And you're Nicky.

-So you knew our mother?

-Yeah.

Oh, she was lovely. Where is she now?

Well, we don't know. We lost her.

We don't remember because we were in children's homes.

-Oh, wait a minute, that can't be right.

-What?

Well, the woman I knew would never have put her children in a home.

She lived for that little boy and girl.

We think that maybe her relationship went down

and she was on her own and she couldn't cope.

No, she wouldn't have ever lost touch with her babies,

not while there was breath in her body.

Well, they sent us away, so she wouldn't have been able to find us.

I see.

Oh, that would have broken her into bits.

What was she like?

What did she look like?

Let me think. She looked a bit like you, actually.

-TV:

-'And that was Margaret Humphreys from Nottingham in England.

'She's claiming thousands of kids had been deported

'without their parents' consent. Now we will be taking your calls.'

-REPORTER:

-'..today denied allegations

'surrounding their children's home in Bindoon.

'The brothers are refuting the claims...

'..the British nor the government here in Australia

'have taken any responsibility for this -

'how would you describe it - deportation?'

Yes, it's clearly the organised deportation of children

from one country to another.

And neither the charities nor the church organisations

that ran those schemes have been prepared to admit

-that any mistakes were made?

-No. No, they haven't.

TAPS ON GLASS

-MAN:

-How about a speech, Margaret?

No, no, really. All right, thank you.

Well, I want to say thank you to all of you.

This is the proper launch of the Child Migrants Trust

and it has a home now - this house.

And without all of the donations and without all of you,

none of this would have been possible.

So, thank you for giving me an office in it.

And I'm really glad I don't have to spend another day

working in that hotel room.

ALL CLAP

Do you want to grab some food?

-Cup of tea?

-Yes, thanks.

I'm heading off. You know, long drive home.

-Oh, are you sure, James?

-Yeah.

I don't really know any of these people.

I'm sorry. I don't want to spoil your party.

You don't know any of them?

Well, yeah, yeah. I know the Bindoon boys, of course.

-Right.

-See you, Margaret.

TELEPHONE RINGS

Margaret Humphreys.

'Listen, you bitch.

'You tell those whinging bastards to stop talking about Bindoon.

'If they tell one more lie about the Brothers,

'just one more, we're coming over there

'and I'll fucking finish you myself.'

PHONE CLICKS DOWN

Do you enjoy running this slanderous publicity machine of yours?

I'm afraid I don't recognise that description of my work.

I don't represent any newspaper or any television station.

But you'll happily declare your wild allegations to any of them.

I haven't made any direct allegations to the press.

Some of the boys who were sent to your children's home at Bindoon

chose to speak to the press when they were approached.

But none of those contacts were initiated by me.

Well, since you've stirred things up,

the Christian Brothers have been forced to conduct an internal inquiry

into the Boys Towns at Bindoon and elsewhere.

Now, how have you any idea

how much distress you have caused to elderly men

who only sought the best?

I'm hearing an awful lot about the distress caused to the Brothers.

No-one's talking about the distress caused to the children

who were supposed to be in their care.

You're doing all right then, aren't you?

They paying you OK, are they?

This probably isn't the best way to start this conversation, is it?

I don't think you like me very much, Mrs Humphreys.

All right, I'll be honest with you, then.

I don't know about the man sitting opposite me.

But I'm sure that there's a hurt little boy somewhere inside

that I'd like very much.

We're just going to have to take the time to find him.

And how do I know that you're qualified to do that, Mrs Humphreys?

You'll have to make your own judgement on that, Mr Connolly.

You'll just have to trust me.

It's, uh... That's Len Connolly's first step on Australia over there.

Then we were processed in here.

All these little kids quakin' and shakin'

and wondering what on earth they'd been dropped into.

Brothers were sent one way, sisters another.

They were all crying into their sleeves, thinking,

"It can't be this hot all the time, can it?"

Then we were put on the buses out here.

It was when I was shoved onto one of them,

I realised Theresa wasn't coming with us.

She was, um, one of the girls who looked after us on the way over.

She'd taken a shine to me.

Yeah, I was just a little scrap, you know?

She made a bit of a pet of me on the voyage over.

I think I charmed her.

So when I realised Theresa wasn't coming, I went crazy.

I was bloody fighting to get to the back.

I was climbing over everything, trying to get to her.

Anyway, by the end of that day, I was at the Christian Brothers.

They'd taken all my clothes.

They gave me an old shirt and a pair of shorts to wear and, uh...

I was cleaning out the rubbish pit at Bindoon.

Yeah.

Yeah, come on.

We don't need to talk about that. I just want to find my mother.

That's it. Help me with that if you can. I don't need anything else.

I'm not offering anything else. That's not my place.

All I'm asking is have you imagined what it might be like if we do find her?

Well, let's just find her first, all right?

OK, we'll try, but what do you want?

To find her, to know who she is.

You know? To know who I am.

You've got absolutely no hopes or expectations beyond that?

Look, Mrs Humphreys... Thanks, mate.

I'm sure that you see old boys and girls day in, day out,

bawling their eyes out,

telling you how much they miss their dear old mum.

Well, the truth is, our mums shot through, didn't they?

We didn't just fall out of our prams and fly off with Peter Pan, did we?

No, our mums didn't want us. That's why we're here.

Isn't that the truth?

No. The truth is actually much more complicated in most cases.

No, she didn't want me. She put me in a children's home.

Well, that's all right.

Let's just put a face to the old dear.

I can sit here all day if you like

and bleat on about what a hard life I had at Bindoon.

All right, let's talk about Bindoon.

Look, Mrs Humphreys, I've paid my debts.

I've sourced the Brothers' farm tools through my company.

I've made donations to the Christian Brothers.

I've paid my debts.

-Your debts? What do you owe them?

-Oh, I don't.

Look, they raised me, fed me, clothed me, whatever,

and I've paid it all back.

I don't see how an eight-year-old boy,

who's working to grow his own food,

who has one pair of shorts, one shirt and no shoes,

can be said to be running up much of a debt.

Well, no-one can say I owe them anything.

No, I don't think you do.

But maybe that's the monster living in your head.

I don't like the idea of you walking around

with a monster like that in your head.

-CHILD:

-Mummy!

I'm afraid this won't do.

I'm here to give somebody some really important news.

They'll remember this day for the rest of their lives.

Can you show me something else?

KNOCK AT DOOR

Jack. Come in.

Take a seat.

That's... that's beautiful.

Yes.

So...Merv telephoned me last night.

And we've had the results of our latest search.

Have you found my mother?

Yes.

We were too late. She's dead, isn't she?

-Yes, she is.

-Yeah.

Uh...

When did she die?

Last year.

Oh.

So we were just too late, then?

-MAN:

-Mrs Humphreys, no-one is suggesting for a minute

that the people you represent have not suffered.

But this has to be placed in its historical context.

What was done, was done with the very best intentions.

These children were placed in children's homes.

Without casting any blame,

their family situations were far from ideal.

A more modern sensibility might suggest

greater effort should have been made to keep families together.

But at the time, it was genuinely believed

to be in the children's interests to give them a fresh start.

Ultimately, these children were in the care of the British Government.

And it was the Government of Australia and Britain

who were responsible for authorising the migration schemes

and if we're talking about historical context,

I'll remind you the last migrants were only shipped out 17 years ago.

But we're not here for recriminations.

There's no need for that.

Now the Child Migrants Trust has been created,

we can offer you an opportunity to redress some of the damage

for which your organisations WERE responsible.

These people were deported as children, young children.

They've been deprived of their family, their identity.

They need to find the families they lost.

I know that you'll want to help them do that.

I think my organisation would be prepared to make a contribution

if some trustee arrangement...

BOTH: You can't be a trustee.

We have to be able to say to these children - well, adults now -

that they're safe.

It has to be a neutral service.

What we are offering you, the Government,

is an opportunity to take responsibility

for what happened to these children.

If you could at least tell us whether you have any records

of the child migrants to which you could give us access.

..over 100 years and I can assure you that we're doing everything...

Look, they just want to know who they are!

Well, we said it, didn't we?

Oh, yes.

Excuse me, Mrs Humphreys.

Can I just have a minute of your time?

You say you're speaking as a mother.

But please, take consolation in your own family

rather than meddling with all this.

I mean, how could you possibly understand

the real circumstances of these unfortunate children?

They were living in slums.

They were children of drunks and degenerates.

Come away, Margaret.

-RADIO:

-'So you don't accept the British Government has a case to answer?'

'We have every sympathy with the feelings of child migrants.'

'But you take no responsibility?'

'We have no actual responsibility.

'Whatever Margaret Humphreys alleges, the fact is...'

'They were the responsibility of the British Government.'

'The fact is this may have been a distressing episode in history.

'But there's no profit in playing the blame game.'

'Right, well, thank you very much...'

We've got them rattled now.

Legally, they're responsible. They know it, we know it.

We find the paperwork that nails them. They know we will.

-They know the paperwork's out there.

-Yeah.

I'm going to find it, Margaret. You know I am.

Yeah.

You all right?

Just tired. I've got an early start.

Len's flight gets in at six.

Here, let me do that.

No, never let it be said I didn't take care of my own family

before I started meddling with others.

Hey, hey. Hey.

So it's just us now.

No help coming.

We keep putting them on the spot.

But right now, it is just us.

8,000 miles and I finally get a return trip.

Well, as long as she accepts me, that's all, isn't it?

As long as she doesn't turn me away.

Got a good memory, though.

I remember walking up a green hill with grass under my bare feet.

There was someone pulling me by the hand

because I couldn't walk very well yet.

I was angry

cos I'd been promised a penny or a sweetie or something

and I didn't get it.

It would have been her, wouldn't it, holding my hand?

What's that?

It's a cheque. You can fill in what you like.

You can decide.

You can have that or you can have my loyalty. I don't mind which.

As long as we're square.

All right, then.

Oh, you see that? See that? She's in there.

-Len?

-Yeah?

You want me to go in with you?

No, no, no. You'll be right.

No, get yourself a cab back.

-Or there's a cafe up there that...

-Len, I'm going to be fine.

Thank you, Margaret.

Thank you.

You're very welcome, Len.

Right.

Here we go, then.

-RADIO:

-'The boys' home at Bindoon was closed some time ago.'

'I understand that.'

'The Christian Brothers are being victimised...'

-'Come back to the question.'

-'We're considering legal action

'to prevent journalists trespassing on church property.'

I heard you.

Don't think you can come to Perth and tell any lies.

-Excuse me?

-Good brothers and sisters

ran decent loving homes for those poor children.

I do not tell lies.

Do you know how much you'll hurt the holy fathers with your lies?

I do not tell lies ever.

It's Margaret Humphreys from the Child Migrants Trust in Australia.

Yes, he'll know what it's regarding.

We've had extensive correspondence on the subject.

Yes.

Well, I would like him to return my call.

Um... Yeah.

And if he doesn't, I will call you back tomorrow. Thank you.

You bitch! You fuckin' evil whore!

Fuckin' open this window! Come on!

Come on!

I'm gonna rip you apart! Fuck, you'll get it!

I can get in any time I like!

BANGING

HE GRUNTS Ahh!

Get out! Get out!

Get out!

Arggh! Bitch!

I can get you any time I like, you bitch!

You tell lies about the Brothers and you see what you get.

You fucking whore!

I'll get you!

CAR ENGINE STARTS

ENGINE NOISE RECEDES

Get home.

'No, I can't.'

Call the police. Get out of that house.

People are depending on me, Merv. CAR HORN TOOTS

I've got a load of appointments. I've got to go.

I'll call you back later.

I heard Bob went out to Bindoon with a camera crew.

Yeah.

That'll stir things up a bit.

Theo said you didn't want to go along.

No, I didn't.

Yeah. Here, stop!

I'll wait for you here.

No, you don't need to wait for me. I'll get a taxi.

I really should get a car.

You don't need a taxi, you don't need a car. I'll wait for you.

Thank you.

Where are we? Where are we? Where are we?

Ah, here we go.

CLEARS THROAT

-GRINDS GEARS

-Oops!

Um, it's right.

Right! The other right.

CAR HORN HONKS

-Wanker!

-Yeah, sorry, mate.

-Want a bit of classical on?

-No.

MUSIC: "Wild World" by Cat Stevens

You can turn that up though.

# Say you want to start something new

# And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'

# Baby, I'm grievin'

# And if you wanna leave

# Take good care LEN HUMS ALONG

# Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear

# Then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

BOTH SING ALONG # Ooh, baby, baby, it's a wild world

# It's hard to get by just upon a smile

# Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world

# I'll always remember you like a child, girl

# You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do... #

Right? Have a good night.

Jack, what are you doing here?

Well, Merv rang and asked me to come over.

-He thought you might need a bit of company.

-What did he say?

He said you needed me here.

GASPS

Sorry, Margaret. Just bringing your tea.

Sorry.

-You got everything you need?

-Yeah.

I thought I might sleep out on the veranda.

Don't much like sleeping under a roof.

All right. Whatever you want.

CAR APPROACHES

ENGINE REVS

-MAN:

-Fuck you, bitch!

Stay away from Bindoon!

ENGINE REVS

TYRES SCREECH CAR RECEDES

You all right in there, Margaret?

Yeah.

PANTING

I...

I... I can't breathe.

I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

PANTING It's my heart. It's my heart.

-Calm down, darling.

-MARGARET PANTING

-DISTANT:

-Sit down and eat your cereal.

Rachel, come and get your breakfast.

Rachel!

Mum?

Tell them you have to stay here.

Tell them you belong to us.

Rachel.

Rachel.

No, my darling, it's just...

I'm taking you to the doctor.

-I don't need to go.

-I'm taking you.

Oh, for God's sake, I can get myself to the doctor.

Look, I only came because my husband insisted.

I just wanted to set his mind at rest.

I know there's nothing wrong with me.

I think you have post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'm sorry but that is rubbish.

Nothing happened to me, it all happened to them.

Absorbing other people's pain is a stress of its own.

I can't stop.

There's no-one else.

If I...

MUFFLED LAUGHTER AND VOICES

-WOMAN:

-And she hasn't stopped.

Oh, Margaret. Lovely to see you.

Hello.

Margaret, hi.

Hope you don't mind us dropping in on you.

I was just telling them, Margaret, we had such a good day.

I really wanted to invite you but we know you're so busy.

30 years I was working at that pub.

And they never knew I had a daughter.

She was really keen for me to come over for the retirement party

but we didn't know what we were going to tell people.

-Then Bill says...

-Bill's one of the regulars.

"Who's this lovely young lady, Vera?"

He's ancient, see, so...

And I said, "This is my daughter, Bill.

"My daughter Charlotte."

-And he says...

-Never even blinked.

"She looks just like you."

-He could tell.

-Anyone could tell.

And there we were in front of them all, together.

Mother and daughter.

-I tell you, Margaret...

-It was the happiest moment...

-BOTH: Of my life.

-Both of us.

We just... We just felt... whole.

At last.

Nothing missing.

I said, "We have to come and tell Margaret."

But we didn't even know if you'd be here, you're so busy.

So when are you back off to Australia?

Well, as soon as this lot can spare me.

There's a chilled Chardonnay on the table there for you.

Margaret River. Bit young but hitting its stride, I reckon.

I didn't come here to drink, Len.

I thought you wanted to talk.

I do. I've got some soup too. It's home-cooked.

-I can cook, you know.

-I'm sure you can.

-You look hungry enough.

-I've already eaten.

What was it you wanted to say?

You're a difficult woman to entertain, Mrs Humphreys.

All right.

Look, um, all this TV coverage, it's stirred everything up, Margaret.

It's got the boys talking.

And, um, I've been watching how the boys are around you,

and, uh, not speaking out of turn, you know what I'm talking about.

You're like a sister to them.

You're family after everything you've done.

You know? Only family most of us will ever have anyway.

I'm not sure that family is really the right word.

Well, that's how we feel.

No, but you're right, it's... it's not real.

Cos you haven't been there, have you?

You've heard about our childhood but you haven't touched our childhood.

Cos you haven't been there.

Where?

To Bindoon.

I'm, uh... I'm asking you to come to Bindoon with me.

No.

Well, have a think about it, Margaret.

Look, Len, what you all suffered at Bindoon, that's your history.

But it's not mine.

I have to be careful. I...

I'm not, um...

It wouldn't be appropriate for me to get too close to all of that.

It's... Well, it wouldn't be right.

No, no, you'll be right. I'll look after you.

No, Len, I don't want to.

I don't have to go there and I don't want to.

OK, OK, but look at it from the old boys' point of view.

That's like saying that you can't look at who they are.

Is that what they're saying?

Well, you have a think about it, Margaret.

Maybe that's the monster living in your head.

I don't like to think of you walking around

with a monster like that in your head.

Well, we should be there in a couple of hours.

It used to take six before they graded the road.

God. You should have seen it -

40 or 50 little nippers bouncing around in the back of an open truck,

eating dust and flies, crying for their mums.

We thought we'd been dropped off of the end of the earth.

You all right?

See it from here first.

Is it what you expected?

I didn't know it would be so big.

And I didn't know it would be so beautiful.

The boys put every stone of that building together.

I know.

The cement would burn your feet.

We'd no shoes.

The cement would burn the cuts on our feet

and the sores on our hands and knees.

All day, in blazing heat, no rest, no water.

I was nine-years-old

and I was lifting rocks the size of my upper body.

And he's yelling at us,

"You weak, weak, pitiful sons of whores."

We built stations of the cross.

But who was crucified, huh?

Tell me that.

You all right to go down?

Suppose they don't let us in.

There's a swimming pool at the back of the building.

I paid for it. They'll let us in.

He had this... he had this big knobby stick.

And he would crack you over the skull with it.

Leather belts. Fan belt from the tractor.

Anything that would give you a good wallop, you know?

They'll still be having their breakfast. Feel like a cup of tea?

Come on.

Morning, brothers.

I've brought Mrs Humphreys

to have a look around the old place if that's all right.

Come through.

There you go.

Is there any chance of a cuppa?

We can do better than a chipped cup, can't we, brother?

'We'd hear one of the brothers coming.'

Just his footsteps on the wooden floor.

You'd be lying there in the wet sheets and you're thinking,

"Oh, please, God... Please, God, don't let it be me."

He would make you strip naked

and get on the tables with everybody watching you.

Don't know where I thought I could run to,

there's nothing there for miles.

He came after me on horseback.

When he caught me...

..he tied me to a tree.

And he, uh...

He...

'You probably can't believe me.'

'Of course I believe you.'

'The fucker raped me, Margaret.'

Hey, I think you might have forgotten something, brother.

TAPS LID ON TEAPOT

I'll fix it up, shall I?

Didn't matter if he split your skull open, he'd keep whacking away.

You just thought...

"I'm nothing now.

"Nothing at all."

Who's gonna... Who's gonna look after me?

Who's gonna look after me? I'm nobody.

Have I disturbed you, brothers?

Have I frightened you?

What have you got to be frightened of?

Grown men like you.

Look at that, Margaret.

Can't see another house. Nothing but bush.

No-one would find you here.

He'd wait for me after dark, Brother Norman.

He took a shine to me. I was a favourite or something, I suppose.

I don't know.

You just think, "I'll live through this. It'll stop one day."

Bloody years.

BIRD SCREECHES

Margaret, have a look at that. Black cockatoo.

Oh, there'd be flocks of them over here sometimes.

They'd sound like trains going over your head.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

You've gone a funny colour.

I'll just get you a drink.

There you go.

-You all right?

-I'm fine. It's just the heat.

OK.

Know what your problem is, Mrs H?

You don't look after yourself properly.

You won't let anyone else do it either.

Len, it's not for anybody else to look after me.

I've been loved and looked after my entire life.

It's your turn now. But you never get it.

Everybody thinks there's going to be this big cathartic moment

when the wrongs are righted and the wounds healed,

but it's not going to happen.

I can't give you back what you've lost.

Well, there's plenty of other people in that boat.

Well, it's not enough, is it, Len? It's never enough.

Jeez, old Bindoon, it shook you up all right, didn't it?

No, I'm fine.

It should shake me up. I'm the one who should be shaking.

But even if I was lying here in the dirt bawling like a kid,

I couldn't feel it all, could I?

Isn't that what you'd tell me?

I had to stop crying when I was eight.

I don't know how to start now.

But YOU feel it.

You feel it for all of us because we can't, you do.

No, you're fighting for us, Margaret. You're in there for us.

You're on our side.

So let the rest go.

Just let the rest go.

What you're doing is enough.

It's more than anyone else has ever given me.

Happy Christmas.

-And happy Christmas.

-Oh!

Ooh!

Happy Christmas, darling.

Here you go, love.

Happy Christmas.

So, what are you going to give all of us for Christmas, Ben?

I gave you my mum.

So you did.

So you did, darling, and we love you for it.

Hear, hear.

Hey, don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't start snivelling.

Bloody hell, woman, what are you trying to do to me?

-See you in a couple of weeks.

-See you in a couple of weeks.