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Kōrero: English

Child migrants, 1949

Child migrants, 1949

After the Second World War many thousands of children, predominantly English, were taken from institutions and foster homes and sent out to the white commonwealth. Most went to Australia but between 1949 and 1953, 593 were sent to New Zealand. In the 1990s moves began to assist the former child migrants to rediscover their English families. Here we see some of the first arrivals learning of the arrangements made for them by the Child Welfare Department.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, National Publicity Studios Collection

Reference: 1/2-030012; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Terry Hearn, English – Special groups, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/1931/child-migrants-1949 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Terry Hearn, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2024.

Comments

Anthony Chambers
05 May 2016
To know more about the above social historic British child migrants see: www.britainschildmigrants.com Called 'On their Own'. An online exhibition. This has been set up by the: 'Australian Maritime Museums'via Sydney. The actual onsite exhibition has been shown around Australian maritime museums. Plus UK Liverpool maritime museum & the: V&A museum of childhood London.
Anthony Chambers
27 December 2010
I am a former child migrant sent to New Zealand in the early fifties.... My story is told in a 20 minute film documentary: The Boy in the Lifebuoy. This film is now part of an Australian & international maritime museum exhibition. Also on a Canadian home child website. has been screened on two local NZ TV channels. Is told in a British magazine. www.britainschildmigrants.com I am now retired and living back in my birth town & country in England. My life in NZ was a good one being adopted into a kind & loving family. However i still needed as a young man to return to search for my lost birth roots.It took me a lifetime to come to terms that my original country sent me away. I may be contacted on my e-mail by other former child migrants or genuine interested persons for research.