On the Trail to Track our Families

Following on from the announcement in our last newsletter that the Catholic Child Welfare Council in the UK had established a special “Australian Child Migrant Project” to support the efforts of former child migrants to trace their families, Project Manager Joan Kerry recently spent nearly seven weeks in Perth on a fact finding and information sharing mission.

During her time here, Joan met with nearly 70 former Child Migrants reviewing with them the ways in which their families may be found.

As well as Perth, Joan visited Geraldton, Tardun, Bindoon and Clontarf keen to learn how these institutions looked and operated in the 1940s and 1950s quite apart from their appearance today.

She also met with former Child Migrants at the AGM of the Child Migrant Friendship Society and at the Tardun Old Boys reunion.

Joan’s project brief includes all former child migrants sent to Catholic child care institutions (not just those who were sent to Christian Brother’s institutions). Her WA visit included meetings with Br. Tony Shanahan, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Nazareth.

Many of those she met had been involved with C-BERS for some time. Others made contact with Joan direct. For some, it was their first approach to anyone many of whom were anxious about what might lie ahead.

Now back in the UK, Joan will be concentrating searching for the families of those she has met during her time in Perth.

While very little information has been kept of the family origins of former Child Migrants, where there is a mention in a ledger or admissions book, this information will be sought.

Otherwise, most families are found through the time-consuming and costly process of searching through the records of births, marriages and deaths. A team of project volunteers in the UK is supporting this process.

To speed up the search, one of the volunteers, Sue Bailey, has set about raising £10,000 to purchase the index of births, marriages and deaths which is available on microfiche. A number of donations have already been promised in the UK. If any of our readers also want to make a contribution, Sue would be very pleased to hear from you. Please phone C-BERS for contact details.

We look forward to welcoming Joan back to Perth towards the end of the year.

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