Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1945-1956 · 11 years · show in timeline

Child migration to Australia: Catholic agencies sent children from England to institutions of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Nazareth (IICSA 2018)

After the Second World War around 4,000 children from England and Wales were sent abroad without their parents, most of them to Australia. Catholic agencies sent an estimated 958 children up to 1956, more than half of them to institutions of the Christian Brothers, which are regarded as the worst places of physical and sexual violence. The British state inquiry (IICSA) names the British Government as primarily responsible for the continuation of the programmes. It accuses the Catholic agencies of not having protected the children sufficiently from sexual abuse: children were selected according to quotas, parents were mostly not asked, and after departure hardly anyone cared what became of them.

Period
1945-1956 (11 years)
Report published
1 March 2018
Country
Australia, United Kingdom
Institutions
Catholic Child Welfare Council
Sisters of Nazareth
Christian Brothers
Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
British Government
Category
Violence, Sexual abuse
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. After the war around 4,000 children from England and Wales were taken abroad without their parents, most of them to Australia. According to the inquiry, the British Government was primarily responsible for the continuation of the programmes.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Executive Summary, S. vii (PDF-S. 9)
    „Post-war, around 4,000 children were migrated, mostly to Australia.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Executive Summary, S. vii (PDF-S. 9). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Executive Summary, PDF-S. 10
    „it is the overwhelming conclusion of the Inquiry that the institution primarily to blame for the continued existence of the child migration programmes after the Second World War was Her Majesty’s Government (HMG)“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Executive Summary, PDF-S. 10. Original · Archive copy
  2. Before the war Catholic agencies had taken over 10,000 children to Canada. After the war they sent an estimated 958 children to Australia; 63.1 percent of them were at least nominally in the care of the Sisters of Nazareth. More than half went to institutions of the Christian Brothers.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146)
    „Pre-War, Catholic agencies migrated over 10,000 children to Canada“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146)
    „It then migrated an estimate of 958 children to Australia with 946 under the auspices of the Australian Catholic Immigration Committee“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.9.1 (PDF-S. 136)
    „63.1% of the 958 children migrated by the Catholic Church were said to have been ‘nominally in the care of the Sisters of Nazareth organisation’“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.9.1 (PDF-S. 136). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 147)
    „Over half the children migrated post-War went to Christian Brothers’ institutions.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 147). Original · Archive copy

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. The selection of the children was not careful: the Sisters of Nazareth followed the "quotas" requested from Australia; in 1952 their Superior General wrote that twenty girls were required at once for Nazareth House in Geraldton and that she was consenting. Parental consent could be shown for only 19 percent of the children sent by Catholic agencies.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.9.3 (PDF-S. 138)
    „The priority seems to have been to meet the ‘quotas’ requested by Australia, and not whether each individual child would benefit from migration.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.9.3 (PDF-S. 138). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.9.3 (PDF-S. 138)
    „[t]wenty girls are required at once for Nazareth House, Geraldton, WA, and I am consenting to the girls going“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.9.3 (PDF-S. 138). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 152)
    „it could only find evidence of consent by parents in 19% of cases of children migrated“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 152). Original · Archive copy

What happened to those affected?

  1. As early as 2001 the Australian Senate considered the four institutions of the Christian Brothers in Western Australia the most culpable with regard to the physical and sexual violence committed there. According to the Australian Royal Commission, the leadership of the Christian Brothers from 1947 to 1968 failed to prevent sexual abuse in its institutions. An internal report by Brother Barry Coldrey described "sex rings" in three of these institutions, in which brothers covered for each other and may have shared the same boys.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148)
    „the four Christian Brothers institutions in Western Australia stand out as the most culpable in their duty of care in relation to the physical and sexual violence that occurred within them“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148)
    „It concluded that the leadership of the Christian Brothers from 1947-1968 had failed to manage the institutions so as to prevent child sexual abuse.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148)
    „Brothers collaborated with one another in their activities, assisted and covered for each other, and may have shared the same boys“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148). Original · Archive copy
  2. Many children were lied to about their family, even about whether their parents were still alive. At Clontarf, an institution of the Christian Brothers, 15 children were forced on a "Special Punishment Day", as a collective punishment, to watch the sadistic killing of a horse they loved.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9)
    „For some children, one of the most devastating aspects of their experience was being lied to about their family background, and even about whether their parents were alive or dead.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9)
    „the sadistic killing of a pet horse loved by the children, which a group of 15 children were forced to watch as a form of collective punishment“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9)
    „This incident took place during what was known as a ‘Special Punishment Day’ at Clontarf“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Executive Summary (PDF-S. 9). Original · Archive copy

Witness accounts and records

Witness Michael O'Donoghue, taken from a Nazareth House to Clontarf in 1953, on a Christian Brother who abused him

I was so scared of him I used to close my eyes and try to disappear.

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Opferbericht Michael O’Donoghue (PDF-S. 5). Original · Archive copy
Witness Michael O'Donoghue on redress and accountability

Redress payments can make life easier, but until the governments who set up the child deportation scheme and the Catholic Church, in whose care I was abused, are held accountable, I will never feel able to let the matter rest or have a chance for proper recovery

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Opferbericht Michael O’Donoghue (PDF-S. 5). Original · Archive copy

Background

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

  1. As reasons of the Catholic agencies, the inquiry names besides the welfare of the children the safeguarding of their Catholic faith, the growth of the Catholic Church in Australia, financial considerations and the imperial aim of populating the Empire with white British stock.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146)
    „the safeguarding of their religious faith, the growth of the Catholic faith within Australia itself, financial considerations and the social imperial motivation of populating the Empire with white British stock“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 146). Original · Archive copy

Who received the assets, who profited?

  1. Catholic organisations in England and Wales have not set up any compensation scheme; payments were made only in Australia, for example after a class action against the Christian Brothers.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.6 (PDF-S. 162)
    „There has been no compensatory scheme established by Catholic organisations in England and Wales.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.6 (PDF-S. 162). Original · Archive copy

Response of the Church

  1. In 1993 Coldrey had published a book on the Christian Brothers in Western Australia. In his later internal report to the order's leadership he wrote that the chapter on sexual abuse had been crafted to make the minimum admissions necessary to get out of the problem. A letter from a brother in 1941, quoted by Coldrey, is reported to have said: as long as outsiders do not become aware of these things, one may hope for better times after the war.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148)
    „crafted to make the minimum admissions necessary to get out of the problem“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.1 (PDF-S. 148). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.2, Fußnote 677 (PDF-S. 149)
    „As long as outsiders do not become aware of these things, we may hope for better times after the war“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.2, Fußnote 677 (PDF-S. 149). Original · Archive copy
  2. At Castledare four Christian Brothers cared for about 120 children, a staff ratio of around 1 to 29. Reports on individual children mostly did not reach the English Catholic agencies; according to the inquiry, the lack of a reporting system effectively guaranteed that concerns about sexual abuse would not be raised. Its overall judgment: the Catholic agencies did not protect the children sufficiently from the risk of sexual abuse.
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 153)
    „they found about 120 children being cared for by four Christian Brothers, a staff ratio of around 1:29“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 153). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 156)
    „the failure to have any clear reporting system effectively guaranteed that any concerns about sexual abuse would not be raised“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 156). Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 156)
    „it is clear to us that the Catholic migration agencies did not take sufficient care to protect those children they migrated from the risk of sexual abuse.“
    Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), Teil C, 2.11.4 (PDF-S. 156). Original · Archive copy

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Government report
    Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report (HC 954-II), 1 March 2018. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 22 Oct 2026)
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