Summary

Letter from Kay Hemp [?], 6 Crossways, Middleton on Sea, Bognor Regis, Sussex, England to Shelagh (formerly Sheila) Philpott, 29 Pelham Road, West Kensington, London, 3 October 1965. Sheila had written to Kay recently and in this letter Kay replied giving news of her own situation and also asking after Sheila's husband and sons in Australia. Kay wishes Sheila could go home to her family and also suggests they could meet up if Sheila came from London by train to Bognor Regis.

Part of a collection of documents, photographs and an oral history inteview relating to Shelagh (formerly Sheila) Philpott (nee Bannister), an unaccompanied British child migrant. The material documents her time in care in the National Children's Home and Orphanage in England at Bramhope, near Leeds; her migration to Australia in 1950 and her efforts to trace her family later in life. The research file includes photocopied material.

Physical Description

Three sheets of blue paper with handwritten text in blue ink on both sides of two and on one side of the third sheet. This item includes a small blue paper envelope with a British 4d postage stamp affixed, and black ink stamped insignia on one side with handrwritten text in blue ink on both sides.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection documents the experience of an unaccompanied British child migrant who was relocated to Australia under the UK child migration programmes of the post War period, and to whom an apology was formally made in 2010 and reparations made under the UK Child Migrants Fund in 2019.

The documents are enriched by an oral history interview of the former child migrant, now in her eighties. The material covers the period before her migration as well as the lengthy period in Australia when she suffered from the ongoing impact of that migration programme. It documents her later return as an adult to England to find her family and her mental struggle with her identity. The material includes items showing the part played by local Australian social welfare organisations and their relationship to the after-care efforts of the UK National Children's Home.

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