Fairbridge : Empire and Child Migration

In the half-century after 1913 approximately 5,000 children were sent from Britain to Australia, Canada and Rhodesia under the auspices of the Child Emigration Society, established by the South African-born Kingsley Fairbridge in 1909.

The Fairbridge Society's 'child emigration' scheme became the best known and most celebrated of the twentieth-century juvenile migration schemes from Britain to the Imperial Dominions.

This study investigates the motives for the establishment of the Fairbridge child migration scheme, examines its history in Australia and Canada, and outlines the experiences of many of the former child migrants.

The book is based upon extensive research in the PRO and government archives in Australia and Canada as well as archives of the Fairbridge Society in England, Western Australia and New South Wales, plus surviving records of the Society in British Columbia and on interviews with former Fairbridge children.

This detailed and scholarly examination places such a significant scheme as Fairbridge's clearly in its historical context. Oral history, interviews and photographs complement the documentary research.