Children 'treated as baby convicts'

CHILDREN in institutions in Northern Ireland were exported to Australia like "baby convicts", a witness has told a public inquiry into historical abuse.

THE Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns was responsible for the removal of 111 child migrants aged as young as five before and after World War II, some of whom faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival.

Another 20 were sent by other institutions.In some cases parental consent was not sought, migrants were separated from siblings and some deprived of their real identities by withholding of birth certificates, a lawyer for the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry said on Monday.Reasons for transport included boosting "Catholicisation" in Australia, propping up the number of white inhabitants of the Empire or saving money and emptying overcrowded workhouses, the investigation heard.A statement from one witness said: "We were exported to Australia like little baby convicts."The inquiry was established by ministers in Northern Ireland following a campaign by alleged victims.Survivors have given graphic details of their ordeals, according to inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart.Approximately 130 young children, in the care of religious voluntary institutions or state bodies after being orphaned or taken away from unmarried mothers, became child migrants, most in the decade after the war.The experiences of around 50 of them will be examined in person or via video-link and their statements furnished to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia.The Sisters of Nazareth, based in Londonderry and Belfast, sent 111 children between 1938 and 1956.Many were Queensland-bound in eastern Australia because it was seen as a very Catholic state and considered best for the girls. Others went to Fremantle near Perth or other parts of Western Australia.A witness, who has since died, submitted a statement to the inquiry.He said: "My life in institutions has had a profound impact on me. I have always wondered what it would have been like to have had a family, a mother and father and brothers and sisters."I never got the chance to find out because I was sent to Australia."I was treated like an object, taken from one place to another. I found it very hard to show affection to my children when they were young."I have a nightmare every night of my life; I relive my past."The inquiry panel, sitting in Banbridge in County Down, is limited to what happened to children in institutions in Northern Ireland and does not have the power to investigate what befell migrants in Australian institutions.Sir Anthony said: "That does not mean that their accounts of their experiences in Australia will be swept under the carpet. I want to assure them that will not be the case."The inquiry is probing claims that the process for sending young people was abusive.Christine Smith QC, barrister representing the inquiry, said the migrants allege they were seriously abused in institutions and many lost all contact with their parents and siblings.Ms Smith said the inquiry needed to consider what efforts the sisters made to keep informed about children's progress in Australia."It is a common complaint by migrants that they received no letters from home, that letters were kept from them if they were sent and that their parents in many instances were unaware that the children were sent to Australia.."

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