UK Child Abuse Inquiry to Hear from 61 Australians

NEWS.com.au
January 13, 2014

http://www.news.com.au/world/uk-child-abuse-inquiry-to-hear-from-61-australians/story-fndir2ev-1226801094130

The opening session of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is pictured in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. Source: AFP

THE biggest public inquiry into child abuse ever held in the UK has opened with at least 60 Australians listed as witnesses.

Such has been the outpouring of complaints from former child migrants sent to Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, an investigative team from Northern Ireland will be dispatched to interview them personally later this year as the inquiry proceeds.

The $35 million Northern Ireland government-backed Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry is looking at systemic failings in duty of care to children in institutional care in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995.

In his opening remarks, inquiry chairman retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart told Banbridge Courthouse in County Down in Northern Ireland, the inquiry would be conducted "without fear or favour" and would be hearing from 434 people in person or in writing many with harrowing claims of abuse.

"Not only will their evidence be vital to the Inquiry, but it is our hope that every applicant who gives evidence to the public hearings, or only speaks to the private and confidential part of the Inquiry, will have the satisfaction of knowing that their experiences are at last being listened to and investigated," he said.

"I say 'at last being listened to' because one of the things that we have heard again and again is that when complaints about abuse were made to people in authority, all too often their response was to ignore, or not to believe, what they were being told."

He said of the 434, 61 people from Australia would be giving evidence largely in written form already taken by an investigative team dispatched to Australia in the middle of last year. He said the high number may be a surprise to some but most were among the 120 children from Ireland and Northern Ireland sent to Australia as part of a migration program after World War II. Many of these were from 13 religious or state institutions currently being investigated.

"They were known as child migrants," Sir Anthony said.

"We are investigating how they were treated in institutions before they left Northern Ireland, and why and how they were sent to Australia. Last autumn we sent a team to Australia which spent some weeks interviewing applicants there. It was not possible to see every applicant in Australia during that visit, and I want to take this opportunity to reassure those applicants in Australia we have not yet seen that later this year we will be sending another team out to Australia to see the remaining applicants."

The majority of the Australian victims are from Western Australia.

One Australian victim has privately detailed in writing about how her abuse at the hands of nuns came on the voyage to Australia under the Catholic Episcopal Migrant Welfare program to be housed at Christian Brothers and Nazareth Sisters led homes.

Others were told they were orphans when they were not and had suffered years of identity loss before in later adult life finding out they did have family.

Among the Australian evidence are cases of sexual assault of the then children at the hands of their Australian foster families. The inquiry will hand evidence of criminal cases to relevant police.

Many of the Australian victims are aged in their 70s and 80s. Sir Anthony has revealed some of those wanting to given evidence have died since the inquiry was called in 2012.

Australian victims are likely to be among the first to give evidence with the hearings opening on historical activities of Nazareth House Children’s Home in Londonderry.

The investigation comes after a long-running public inquiry in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland uncovered endemic abuse in church-run children's homes dating back to the 1930s.

It also comes as Australia’s Royal Commission to investigate Institutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse marked its first anniversary this week after hearing from 1000 victims of child sex abuse since hearings began in April 2013.

That is inquiry is expected to report in 2015.