Being taken to a strange, foreign place and not knowing when you will ever see your parents again is hard to comprehend for anyone.
For child migrants at the Fairbridge Farm School and local Aboriginal youths swept up in the stolen generation, that tough situation was their reality.
First-hand accounts of the people caught in the grip of state-care were told to a group of Mandurah students on June 11.
The year 5-6 Greenfields Primary School students were exposed to some tough tales as part of a Fairbridge excursion, devised by teacher Lee-Anne Walley.
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Ms Walley said students had been studying Australian history throughout the term and in particular the impact of settlement.
As part of that study, she said students had been following the decisions and policies that affected the children – especially migrants and local Aboriginals.
Ms Walley coordinated the excursion that included speeches from former Fairbridge Farm School students Graham Bennett and Derick Smith, and Noongar elder Harry Nannup.
She said teaming the two complex histories into one excursion was a first of its kind at the school and throughout the Peel region.
The students were toured around the farm and, at various points, told about past events in the area.
While students sat on logs around a fire pit, Mr Nannup told the children about his distressing childhood experiences.
Mr Nannup was part of the stolen generation twice.
He was taken from his parents and placed in the New Norcia and the Wandering mission on separate occasions.
He said his mother “cried wicked” when her children were taken.
The second youngest of 12, Mr Nannup said it was a hard time for his family – especially for his mother.
“She had to put up with all that rubbish and it really was rubbish,” he said.
“Mission life is one of the things that really got to me. It hurt me for a long time. It left me pretty scared.”
Mr Bennett and Mr Smith painted a picture of their time at the Fairbridge Farm School.
The farm instigated by Kingsley Fairbridge for British orphaned children but during the 1960s, expanded to house boys and girls under a single and two parent scheme.
Between 1913 to 1983, about 3500 children were taken to farm schools housing child migrants.
Shipped to the other-side of the world, the closest thing the children had to a family was their fellow students, teachers and boarding supervisors known as “cottage mothers”.
Mr Bennett and Mr Smith are now part of the Old Fairbridgians Association, which strives to pass on the place’s history and help obtain historical records and information for family connections.
Ms Walley said the children had learned important lessons while interweaving the history of British and Aboriginal removal of children.
Mission life is one of the things that really got to me. It hurt me for a long time. It left me pretty scared.
- Noongar elder Harry Nannup
“We have been studying the Aboriginal stolen generation along with the movement of the Fairbridge orphans, both groups involving the removal of children from their homes and families,” she said.
“Students have researched and empathised with these children as they learned more.
“As part of this learning, it has been a goal for students to listen to the stories provided by the affected children, now the elders within our community.
“This immersion allows students to recognise how the culture of this great land has been formed.”