By Jessica Sutton
Manawatu Standard
November 18, 2009
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/3073951/Coming-to-NZ-changed-my-life-British-child-immigrant
Lice, scabies, starving and a mother in prison.
England was no paradise for British child immigrant Veronica "Roni" Fitzmaurice, a Palmerston North community identity and local body politician.
Her life began when she arrived in New Zealand as an 18-year-old, and she does not need an apology from the New Zealand Government.
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| AN UNIMAGINABLE LIFE: For some of the British children deported to New Zealand, Australia and Canada life was incredibly tough, but for Roni Fitzmaurice it was a breath of fresh air. Photo by Ben Curran |
This week, post-World War II British child immigrants received an apology from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for their mistreatment, which included physical, sexual and mental abuse at state institutions, church facilities and in family homes.
"I think it's very timely," Ms Fitzmaurice said. "They did suffer a terrible ordeal."
However, children sent to New Zealand had a different experience. "I am aware that New Zealand's case was very different as they [children] were placed in foster care or lived with relatives."
With a sole mother who made her living as a prostitute, Ms Fitzmaurice was abandoned on numerous occasions while they were living in air raid shelters in the UK during World War II.
"She abandoned us on and off and I had to take care of my younger brother and sister.
"We essentially became streets kids," she said.
One night after her mother had found a house to live in, away from the shelters, police arrived and she, along with her brother and sister, was taken to hospital.
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| THE JOURNEY TO NEW ZEALAND: Roni Fitzmaurice on the S.S Atlantis. The voyage to New Zealand took six weeks, and housed 1000 people. > |
That night, her mother was arrested for prostitution and neglect.
Suffering malnutrition, scabies and lice, Ms Fitzmaurice spent a few months in hospital.
"We were all very run down and extremely unwell," she said. It was the last time she would see her brother for 16 years.
From the hospital, the girls was taken to the Holy Family Children's Home, where they spent the next seven years.
Under the poor law, she lived as a child of the Liverpool local authority until she was 17, at which time children from Britain were being sent to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The children were examined before leaving, and she was found to have tuberculosis in her glands and according to the birth registry, had never been born.
She was eventually sent on her way when she was 18, with a bag of clothes but without any identity documents.
The trip on the SS Atlantis took six weeks, and housed 1000 people.
Ms Fitzmaurice said the boat was crowded, quite hot and at one stage ran out of water. Two months after she arrived in New Zealand she received a birth certificate that indicated she was born in 1951 – the year she emigrated to New Zealand.
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Without a real sense of identity and a need for answers, she began researching her past.
In 1959 she found her sister and sponsored her to come to New Zealand.
She returned to Liverpool for the first time since she had left in 1989 and said it was a horrible experience.
"When I was trying to find my family, I was finding they weren't as excited to see me," said Ms Fitzmaurice.
She found her brother 46 years after they had been separated and he had never attempted to make contact with her.
After the hospital, he had been taken to a boys' home and had married and made a life for himself. She also found that her mother, who she had not seen or spoken to since she was taken away by police, had died shortly after she was released from prison.
Ms Fitzmaurice moved to Palmerston North in 1982 as a single mother. Before her move to the city, Fitzmaurice had lived in the Wairarapa with 11 children and a husband, and had spent time as a community worker.
She was approached to stand for the Palmerston North City Council in 1992. After over 30 years of service to Palmerston North, she has been awarded with a women's suffrage medal from the Queen and a civic award for service to the community.
In turning her life around, Ms Fitzmaurice feels she is one of the success stories from the British child immigrant scheme.
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