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The Leaving of Liverpool (1992)

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A new life education content clip 1

Original classification rating: M. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

An official visiting the orphanage in Liverpool invites the children to do their bit for the British Empire by putting themselves forward to begin a new life in Rhodesia, Australia or Canada.

Curator’s notes

by Janet Bell

Most of the children had no idea what this bureaucrat was asking of them. Like Bert (Kevin Jones) they would have seen the scramble to join one of the lines as just a game. The audience is forced to watch the 'fun’ with growing horror knowing the children will be shipped off to the far flung reaches of the Commonwealth, not to be educated and adopted into loving homes, but as hard labour in institutions where they will be abused both physically and sexually.

A well-staged scene, capturing the pomposity and duplicity of the bureaucrat, the ambivalence of the priest and the total incomprehension of the children in a few shots. Michael Jenkins is one of Australia’s best television directors, and his skill is clearly shown in this excerpt.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This clip, set in Liverpool, England, in the 1950s, shows an official at an orphanage addressing a group of children. He asks the children if they would like to keep the ‘British flag flying’ in distant lands and if they are ‘ready for an adventure’. The children are instructed to form into three groups, depending on whether they want to go to Rhodesia, Australia or Canada. Some of the children think it is a game and Bert (Kevin Jones) joins the line destined for Australia but Lily (Christine Tremarco) is apprehensive. The scene has an orchestral music soundtrack.

Educational value points

  • The Leaving of Liverpool highlighted the treatment received by children involved in the post-Second World War child migration schemes. According to the 2001 Australian senate report into child migration, children sent to Australia were often subjected to sexual, psychological and physical abuse; 38 victims recounted experiences of sexual assault, with 24 from people who were placed at Christian Brothers institutions in Western Australia.
  • It is estimated that during the 1950s under the child migration schemes, up to 130,000 children, similar to those seen in the clip, were sent to live in Australia, Canada or Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The children were sent by church organisations (note the priests in this clip) and charities, and it is estimated that from 1947 to 1967 between 7,000 and 10,000 children were sent to Australia as part of these schemes.
  • In Australia, two Roman Catholic institutions (the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy) have been singled out because of the child abuse that occurred while children were in their care under the child migration schemes. In 1993, the Christian Brothers in Australia made an apology for the child abuse and in 1996 a class action against the Roman Catholic order resulted in an out-of-court settlement of $5.1 million.
  • In 1987, the Child’s Migrant Trust was established in the UK and Australia to provide support to and recognition of victims of the child migration schemes, similar to the children shown in the clip. The Child’s Migrant Trust is a charity that strives to trace families and to assist victims of the child migration schemes.
  • In 2001, an Australian Senate inquiry report called Lost Innocents: Righting the Record – Report on Child Migration documented the stories told by former child migrants. The Senate report prologue states that ‘The report notes the two dominant concerns of child migrant witnesses were their loss of identity and their need to have the opportunity to tell their story, be heard and believed’ (http://www.aph.gov.au).
  • The music used in the clip succeeds by working in opposition to the action. The light atmosphere created by the sounds and vision of increasingly excited children taking part in what might have appeared to them to be an, albeit confusing, game is dramatically contradicted by the melancholy trumpet and sombre drum beat, which emphasises the much more serious nature of the activity as it is understood by the audience.
  • The clip is taken from the two-part television miniseries, The Leaving of Liverpool, which was directed by Michael Jenkins for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series was based on the child migration schemes of the 1950s and was first aired on Australian television in 1992. The program received a number of awards, including two Australian Film Industry (AFI) awards, a TV Week Logie Award and the Australian Humanitarian Award.

An official addresses a crowd of young children at an orphanage in Liverpool, England, in the 1950s.
Official Who here would like to help us keep the British flag flying in these far-off places? Well, then. Who of you is ready for an adventure? A really grand adventure.
Bert and many of the other kids raise their hands excitedly.
Official Splendid, splendid. Now, I want you to form into three groups – those of you who wish to go to Rhodesia, to Australia and Canada. (Pointing) There, there and there.
The children remain seated. One of the adults taps a stick and they get up, chattering amongst themselves.
Bert Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a nigger by the toe, when he screams, let him go, eeny meeny miney mo! Australia!
All chatter excitedly. Bert helps some of the younger kids join a queue.
Bert Here, c’mon mate. Now, you just stand there, alright? Come on.
Bert grabs Lily to drag her to a line.
Lily I’m not going nowhere. I’m to stay here and wait for me mum.
Bert You don’t think they’d really send us away, do ya? Come on, it’s only a game, get in. Get in. It’s only a game, look.
The kids have now formed three lines.