Oranges and Sunshine Page #5

---

and wondering what on earth

they'd been dropped into.

Brothers were sent one way,

sisters another.

They were all crying into

their sleeves, thinking,

'God. It can't be this hot

all the time, can it?'

Then we were put on the buses out here.

It was when I was

shoved onto one of them,

I realised Theresa wasn't coming with us.

She was, um, one of the girls

who looked after us on the way over.

She'd taken a shine to me.

Yeah, I was just a little scrap,

you know?

She made a bit of a pet of me

on the voyage over.

I think I charmed her.

So when I realised Theresa

wasn't coming, I went crazy.

I was bloody fighting to get to the back.

I was climbing over everything,

trying to get to her.

Anyway, by the end of that day,

I was with the Christian Brothers.

They'd taken all my clothes.

They gave me an old shirt

and a pair of shorts to wear and, uh...

I was cleaning out

the rubbish pit at Bindoon.

Yeah.

Yeah, come on.

We don't need to talk about that.

I just want to find my mother. That's it.

Help me with that if you can.

I don't need anything else.

I'm not offering anything else.

That's not my place.

All I'm asking is have you imagined

what it might be like if we do find her?

Well, let's just find her first,

all right?

OK, we'll try,

but what do you want?

To find her, to know who she is.

You know? To know who I am.

You've got absolutely no hopes

or expectations beyond that?

Look, Mrs Humphreys... Thanks, mate.

I'm sure that you see old

boys and girls day in, day out,

bawling their eyes out, telling you how

much they miss their dear old mum.

Well, the truth is,

our mums shot through, didn't they?

We didn't just fall out of our prams

and fly off with Peter Pan, did we?

No, our mums didn't want us.

That's why we're here.

Isn't that the truth?

No. The truth is actually

much more complicated in most cases.

No, she didn't want me.

She put me in a children's home.

Well, that's all right.

Let's just put a face to the old dear.

I can sit here all day if you like

and plead on about

what a hard life I had at Bindoon.

All right, let's talk about Bindoon.

Look, Mrs Humphreys,

I've paid my debts.

I've sourced the Brothers' farm tools

through my company.

I've made donations

to the Christian Brothers.

I've paid my debts.

Your debts?

What do you owe them?

Oh, I don't.

Look, they raised me, fed me,

clothed me, whatever,

and I've paid it all back.

I don't see how an eight-year-old boy,

who's working to grow his own food,

who has one pair of shorts,

one shirt and no shoes,

can be said to be running up

much of a debt.

Well, no-one can say

I owe them anything.

No, I don't think you do.

But maybe that's the monster

living in your head.

I don't like the idea of you walking around

with a monster like that in your head.

Mummy!

I'm afraid this won't do.

I'm here to give somebody

some really important news.

They'll remember this day

for the rest of their lives.

Can you show me something else?

Jack. Come in.

Take a seat.

That's... that's beautiful.

Yes.

So Merv telephoned me last night.

And we've had the results

of our latest search.

Have you found my mother?

Yes.

We were too late.

She's dead, isn't she?

- Yes, she is.

- Yeah.

Uh...

When did she die?

Last year.

Oh.

So we were just too late, then?

Mrs Humphreys,

no-one is suggesting for a minute

that the people you represent

have not suffered.

But this has to be placed

in its historical context.

What was done was done

with the very best intentions.

These children were placed

in children's homes.

Without casting any blame, their

family situations were far from ideal.

A more modern sensibility might suggest

greater effort should have been made

to keep families together.

But at the time, it was genuinely believed

to be in the children's interests

to give them a fresh start.

Ultimately, these children were in

the care of the British Government.

And it was the Government

of Australia and Britain

who were responsible for

authorising the migration schemes

and if we're talking

about historical context,

I'll remind you the last migrants

were only shipped out 17 years ago.

But we're not here for recriminations.

There's no need for that.

Now the Child Migrants Trust

has been created,

we can offer you an opportunity

to redress some of the damage

for which your organisations

were responsible.

These people were deported

as children, young children.

They've been deprived of their family,

their identity.

They need to find the families they lost.

I know that you're

all going to help them do that.

I think my organisation would be prepared

to make a contribution

if some trustee arrangement...

You can't be a trustee.

We have to be able to say

to these children... well, adults now...

that they're safe.

It has to be a neutral service.

What we are offering you,

the Government,

is an opportunity to take responsibility

for what happened to these children.

If you could at least tell us whether you have

any records of the child migrants

to which you could give us access.

...over 100 years and I can assure

you that we're doing everything...

Look, they just want

to know who they are!

Well, we said it, didn't we?

Oh, yes.

Excuse me, Mrs Humphreys.

Can I just have a minute of your time?

You say you're speaking as a mother.

But please,

take consolation in your own family

rather than meddling with all this.

I mean, how could you

possibly understand

the real circumstances

of these unfortunate children?

They were living in slums.

They were children of drunks

and degenerates.

Come away, Margaret.

So you don't accept the British

Government has a case to answer?

We have every sympathy

with the feelings of child migrants.

But you take no responsibility?

We have no

actual responsibility.

Whatever Margaret Humphreys alleges,

the fact is...

They were the responsibility

of the British Government.

The fact is this may have been

a distressing episode in history.

But there's no profit

in playing the blame game.

Right, well, thank you very much...

We've got them rattled now.

Legally, they're responsible.

They know it, we know it.

We find the paperwork that nails them.

They know we will.

- They know the paperwork's out there.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna find it, Margaret.

You know I am.

Yeah.

You all right?

Just tired. I've got an early start.

Len's flight gets in at 6.

Here, let me do that.

No, never let it be said

I didn't take care of my own family

before I started meddling with others.

Hey, hey.

Hey.

So it's just us now.

No help coming.

We keep putting them on the spot.

But right now, it is just us.

Well, as long as she accepts me,

that's all, isn't it?

As long as she doesn't turn me away.

Got a good memory, though.

I remember walking up a green hill

with grass under my bare feet.

There was someone

pulling me by the hand

because I couldn't walk very well yet.

I was angry

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes