There have been reports from the Western Australian Legislative Assembly appointed Select Committee into Child Migration (1996), the UK House of Commons Health Committee (1997-8) the Queensland Forde Commission (2000) and the most recent Australian Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee report Lost Innocents: Righting the Record (2001).

Publications include Lost Children of the Empire by Philip Bean and Joy Melville (1989), Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys (1994) and Orphans of the Empire by Alan Gill (1997).

Television documentaries such as the Lost Children of the Empire and the mini-series The Leaving of Liverpool dramatised the scandals associated with child migration schemes.

These inquiries and investigations have gone some way in satisfying the need for recognition and acknowledgment of the child migrant. Apologies to the former child migrants have come from the Government of Western Australia Government of Queensland The Catholic Church`s Joint Liason Group on Child Migration on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops` Committee for Migrants and Refugees and the National Executive of the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes The Congregation Christian Brothers of Western Australia The Sisters of Mercy in Rockhampton The Catholic diocese of Rockhampton The Catholic Church in Britain The Salesian Order in Tasmania

The Child Migrant Friendship Society (CMFS) stated the apology `was an enormous help in the healing process that is essential to the emotional health of those who were so adversely impacted by this program`. Others to support apologies include Dr Coldrey, the International Association of Former Child Migrants, UK Health Committee and the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee. South Australian and the Australian Commonwealth Government have stopped short of an apology choosing instead to formally acknowledge the suffering of the former child migrant as a result of coming to Australia. The British Government offered its` sincere regrets to those scarred by the experiences of child migration.

Memorials to child migrants have been proposed for various locations in Australia. The Salesian Order have a plaque dedicated by a group of former child migrants at the former St John Bosco Boy`s Town in Hobart. Displays of the child migration period are established in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and at the Fremantle Museum in Western Australia. A plaque to honour British child migrants who came to South Australia was recently unveiled at the South Australian migration museum.

In Canada, a number of plaques have been erected at various sites throughout the country to commemorate the memory of Canadian Home Children (child migrants). On 19 August 2001 the Canadian Government unveiled an historical plaque at a former receiving home in Ontario as a tangible reminder of the child migration period.

Oral histories collections are now viewed as important. The Child Migration Trust has initiated a Oral History Project in Australia and in the United Kingdom arguing that it `is a vital component to ensuring the experiences of former Child Migrants and their families are not lost to us now, or in the future`. In Canada, Home Children Canada has videotaped oral histories of home children to be donated to the National Archives of Canada.

More importantly the inquiries produced financial support for former child migrants needing to repair the damaged  pieces in their lives.

The UK government allocated $A3, 400,000 over three years to allow former British child migrants to return to Britain to meet close family members. They also established a central database of information in the UK to help former child migrants to trace records and establish links with the past.

The Australian Government has provided funds to the Child Migrant Trust which provides services such as counselling and family tracing for former child migrants. Funding allocation to the trust so far is $A 1,074,223. The Western Australian Government, the Western Australian Lotteries Commission, the South Australian Government, the British Government, and the Nottinghamshire County Council also support the Trust.

Missing Maltese Voices

It is encouraging to see support for the former child migrant come so strongly from many quarters but it is sad not to see a Maltese presence in all this activity.

At a time when various governments, church bodies and communities around the world explore ways of righting the past, the Maltese Government and Church seem to be sitting silently behind the kitchen door, holding their breath and hoping they will not be noticed.

Only two groups of people will question the claim that the Maltese Government and Church have an obligation to the former Maltese child migrants - the uninformed and those wishing to protect the image and funds of State and Church.

The idea of involving the Maltese in the Catholic Church Child Migration scheme probably came from Fr Raphael Pace in Western Australia. He was the only Maltese priest in Perth during the mid 1930`s when the scheme was being developed. He presented the idea to his friend Captain Curmi (Commissioner for Malta) who in turn sold it to the Government of Malta. The Government and Church were enthusiastic about the prospects of giving Maltese children, from disadvantaged background, life opportunities in Australia that they could not hope to have in Malta`s pre and post war poverty. There is little doubt that the intentions of the Maltese Government and Church were honourable. Not so honourable, however, were the methods used to persuade Maltese parents to send their children to Australia and the lack of after care for the Maltese children in Australia.

Nothing can excuse the Maltese Church for not detecting and then acting on the abuse of Maltese Child Migrants in Western Australia`s Catholic institutions. It had sent three members of the Missionary Society of St Paul ( Fr Galea, Fr Brincat and Br Pantalleresco) to accompany the first group on the "Ocean Triumph" in April 1950. Fr Galea remained in Perth for a number of years and was replaced with more priests when he was transferred to Melbourne. The Maltese priests visited the Maltese children in these institutions and it is inconceivable that they were not told of the abuse by the Maltese Children themselves. Western Australian Government Officials and police were aware of the abuse in these institutions, as were the Maltese priests, but such was the aura of the Catholic Church in those days, nobody wanted to precipitate a scandal. The child migrants became the sacrificial lambs.

Archbishop Gonzi visited the institutions in 1956 much to the delight of the Maltese children. The children were properly clothed for the occasion and given food in quantity and quality they had not seen since leaving Malta. But more importantly, they were given an opportunity to expose the true nature of their treatment to a fellow Maltese who had the power to initiate change. And they could do this behind the veil of the Maltese language.

Rather than initiate further inquiries into the allegations of abuse and mistreatment, Archbishop Gonzi informed the Brothers what the children had told him and accepted without question the assurances of the Christian Brothers. Once the Archbishop had departed the good clothes and shoes were removed from the children and they were given a major thrashing. Trust in the adult world and their self-esteem were again crushed.

The Maltese Government, also, was not without blame. It was ultimately responsible for the children`s proper care but failed in this duty. The only Maltese official that took the allegations of abuse seriously was the Minister for Immigration Dr A Cachia Zammit who visited the institutions in Western Australia during the mid sixties. The local Catholic press reported Dr Cachia Zammit was impressed with the progress the Maltese children were making. Dr Cachia Zammit, however,was very concerned about what the Maltese children were telling him in confidence. The Maltese role in the scheme was scaled down after his return to Malta and eventually closed in 1967.

But all this is now water under the bridge and no one today is looking for scalps. The mood today is to move forward positively by improving support and assistance for former child migrants who may need or want such services.

There are a number of things the Government of Malta and Church can do to help the healing process for the former Maltese Child Migrant. They could provide a memorial for the former child migrants at the Lower Barracca.

They could bring back the former child migrants to Malta for the unveiling of the memorial.

They could organise an official function to welcome back the former child migrants and use the occasion to offer and apology (or at lease an expression of sympathy and regret) on behalf of the State and Church for errors made by their representatives in the past that brought pain and lost opportunities to the former child migrants.

They could conduct an Oral History program to give all former child migrants an opportunity to have their story preserved in Malta`s National Archives.

They could conduct a thorough research of the child migration chapter of history from the Maltese perspective and have the results published as a book. Fr Lawrence Attard of the Emigrants Commission and/or Dr Barry York of the Australian National Library could be commissioned to conduct the research and writing of the book. Sales of the book and perhaps corporate sponsorship would greatly offset the cost of such a project.

They could include displays of the child migrant experience in Maltese Museums and the Migrant Web Site.

No doubt there are other things that can be done. The important thing is, is that something is done and that, ultimately depends on how much we all want to do it. The ball, in reality, is in the court of the Maltese communities because the Maltese Government and Church will probably adopt to wait and see policy. They will be waiting to see if we are interested enough to act. I hope we are.