Empty Cradles (Oranges and Sunshine)

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As always, I feel that the book does hold so much more than the film, but either is good – we need to know about these events and the suffering. Despite a lack of resources, much official resistance and at times even death threats, Humphreys and her colleagues persisted in bringing to light the awful history of 'The Lost Children Of The Empire', as it became known. Margaret and her team reunited thousands of families before it was too late, brought authorities to account, and worldwide attention to an outrageous miscarriage of justice.

except by anguished relatives back in Britain who had been told that the children had died, just as the children themselves had been told that their parents had died or no longer wanted them. The deceit and cruelty ring out from the pages not only for what Britain did, but also for how Australia treated the "lost innocents", many of whom suffered appalling abuse.And of course, the authorities, the Christian charities, the governments who organised this, all thought they were doing a good thing, providing a lovely life for the kids away from the English slums they were born in, in sunny Australia or Canada! I am one of three children but even we could not fill the gaping wound of having her first and newborn baby son taken from her. If there is anything to be learnt it is that orphanages have to be very carefully monitored and a child under 10 years of age should never be allowed to be alone with either a Nun or a Priest of the Catholic faith. In the mid 1980s Margaret Humphreys was your average social worker living about three miles away from where I’m typing this review, in West Bridgford, Nottingham.

For many of them that is the reason they became priest, to hide behind doors and abuse the weak and the vulnerable. Many were told that their parents were dead and parents were told that their children had been adopted. I was absolutely shocked to read that this could have taken place, that the UK could have been involved in something so appalling. The work Margaret Humphreys has done is amazing, the sacrifices she has made to try and make things a little bit better for these (now grown) child migrants are incredible. Infact, I had no idea about a lot of this forced child migration and the large part that Perth had to play.The secrets of the lost children of Britain may never have been revealed if it had not been for [the actions of] Margaret Humphreys. we never did follow him because my mother always warned us about priests, nuns, and policemen and to never ever go to a public washroom by ourselves, and to always hold hands no matter where we go. This is due to the belated apology from Gordon Brown in 2009 and the film "Oranges and Sunshine" (which I have yet to see) which is apparently based on this book. Despite the sadness and anger at its centre, hope remains the principal message of this remarkable book.