pre/adolescent boys sent to Australia from the UK around 1920

[chrislb]

Hi folks,

Wondering if anyone can help with this question. My grandfather (born 1910 in Trealaw, Wales, lived in Coleford, Gloucestershire) was sent to Australia at the age of about 10/11, around 1920-22 where he lived for up to 2 years, I think in NSW, with possibly a farming family, after which he returned to the family home in Coleford. Apparently this was part of a scheme for children from troubled homes (or trouble-making kids) whereby the child would be sent to help farmers or whatever for a year or 2.

Does anyone know where I can get records for this? It possibly was administered by a church group or may have been a government scheme, we are not entirely sure.

My grandad returned to Australia in 1927, at 16 yrs old, and settled in Queensland.

Cheers for any help

[Ruskie]

Possibly something like this:

http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/fieldsofmemories/trainingfarm.html

http://guides.naa.gov.au/good-british-stock/chapter3/index.aspx (with links to more information)

[chrislb]

Thanks Ruskie, I will check them out for sure.  Cheers

[Ruskie]

Are you hoping to find records about what he did while in Australia?

I am not sure if there are surviving records on each of the boys but that might depend on which scheme brought him out. The information on the links should at least give you some idea. 

Good luck.

[chrislb]

Short answer, yes 

Would really love to get dates, names, places

Cheers

[Jackiemh]

Hello
My father-in-law was also sent out, although a bit later in 1932 and he was 12 at the time, through Dr Barnardo's scheme. He also spent time on farms, mentioned Parramatta and Raymond Terrace as places where he had been before returning to England in 1937.
He was not an orphan; I did hear various reasons why he went and he didn't like to talk about it.

I know that Barnardo's has more information on him but I have not yet been able to afford their fee.

Jackie

[chrislb]

Hi Jackie,

That's interesting indeed. My grandad wasn't an orphan, but he did have a rather harsh, strict uncompromising step-mother. His birth mother died when he was about 8 months old and his dad remarried about 3 years later.

My mother recalls him mentioning it when she was a child but she and her siblings never really believed it until one of her aunts (they remained in Wales/England) confirmed it after her dad had died.

Cheers!

[Nifty1]

I wrote off to see about joining the Big Brother Movement in the late 1960s. I wonder what would have happened had I done so. I suppose it is the luck of the draw, some fared better than they could have ever dreamt of in Europe, others did not.

[rosball]

Hi chrisb,
   You can search passenger lists on naa.gov.au and find which ship he was on.   Then search same site for this ship’s log and it should say which group he was in.  Or tell us his name and we will search for you.

    There are some records at Nsw archives. https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/child-youth-migration-the-20th-century

    I found card indexes there for Dreadnought boys with dates and addresses (for another rootschatter).  I’m happy to look for your grandfather’s records when I’m there.

Ros