Friday, July 8, 2011

quicko: sunshine and oranges

I've been hearing about this movie a bit from a couple different people recently and it's really, really shocking.  It's a documentary (i.e., TRUE!) about thousands (millions?) of children from England who were shipped off to Australia around the 1930s-1940s mostly, but as recently as the 1970s or 1980s.  The children usually came from poorer backgrounds and were told that they were orphans and promised "sunshine and oranges," while their parents, most of whom were still alive, were told that their children would be restored to them once they got back on their feet.  Names were changed, the children lost their identities and grew up in Australia -- only learning much later that their parents might still be alive in England.  Some have been reunited, but many, many others weren't.

3 comments:

Georgina said...

Saw it yesterday. Heart-wrenching.

130,000 children.

130,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Georgina said...

Hi Kim, I saw this yesterday. Heart-wrenching.

They said there were 130,000 children.

130,000!!!

Mom said...

Who did they live with in Australia? Foster families? or were they adopted or institutionalized or just left to roam, like Lord of the Flies children?