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Record #5415
Name :
: David HILL (1946 - )


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 20 Jun 1946

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: May 1959
Country
: Australia

Ship
: Strathaird

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Fairbridge Homes
NotesIn 1959 David Hill's mother, Kathleen, a poverty-stricken single mother who tried to raise four boys on a domestic servant's income, reluctantly decided to send her three sons, Malcolm, Richard and David, to Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales where, she was led to believe, they would have a good education and a better life.

Hill and his twin brother, Richard, were the last of Kathleen Hill's five boys. The twins were born in 1946. They never knew for sure the identity of their father and were living in poverty with their mum and half-brother Dudley on a council estate outside Eastbourne when two "ladies from the Fairbridge Society" came calling one day in 1959.

Kathleen decided to make the sacrifice of surrendering her boys to a better future and soon the trio was on the P&O luxury liner Strathaird bound for Pyrmont's pier 13.

"Unlike a lot of the other children, I'm not the victim," Hill says. "I'm like a kid who went to a tough boarding school. Because I came from a mum and went home to a mum. I'm not typical of Fairbridge. Fairbridge was a tough school and I did it bloody hard. ..."

David was deemed bright enough to attend Orange High School during his time in Molong; however, these few boys were refused school uniforms.

"Our grey coats stood out like sore thumbs amid the black-and-gold uniforms at Orange High," he said.

We had short pants and all the other boys had long trousers. We felt like second-class citizens.

I had great mates and great adventures at Molong but it was a nearly self-sufficient farm run on child slave-labour and we worked very hard.

There was nothing like a family structure and there was no love or affection. Some of the cottage mothers were brutally sadistic."

Getting up at 3 a.m. to milk cows or look after pigs was, he recalled, a very tough life, for the dairy work ended at 7 p.m. "and all the day you had only had two slices of bread to eat."

David's mother arrived in Australia two years later and in late 1961 her boys left Molong to join her in Sydney. "Mum was horrified by Fairbridge. She lived until the 1980s, long enough to see her boys do good. And I'm really grateful for that."

David graduated from the University of Sydney with an economics degree in 1968, one of the few Fairbridge children to achieve tertiary qualifications.

During his remarkable career, David Hill has been Chairman, then Managing Director of the ABC, Chairman of the Australian Football Association, Chief Executive and Director of the State Rail Authority NSW and Chairman of Sydney Water Coporation and Chairman of CREATE - a national organisation responsible for representing the interests of young people and children in institutional care. He is the author of two books, the bestselling THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN (Random House, 2007), and 1788, the story of the migration of convicts to Australia.

The Forgotten Children, a semi-autobiographical book, came about because Hill visited Molong in 2005 to undertake a "dig" as a skills test, having just completed a diploma of classical archeology at the University of Sydney. The place was in ruins so he and others formed the Fairbridge Heritage Association. He has recorded the oral histories of about 60 former residents. A television documentary has been produced and an exhibition is in the wings.

At 52, David Hill married his long-time girlfriend, Stergitsa Zamagias, 28. She had been his personal assistant at the ABC. Their son was born three years later. He and his family reside in Sydney, Australia. 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-02 16:12:33 / From original database

Additional Contributions from : Pinjarra1929

Last Updated : 2022-01-30 19:37:57 /

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Readers Comments30.01.22 Pinjarra1929 :
Hi would like to ask you about things please. Reading your book Forgotten children. My maternal grandad was at Pinjarra Fairbridge 1929 to 37. I need advice on research on why he was sent. His situation in uk.

Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  30 Entries        
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 1291 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
27034 ABBOTT, Franz Arnold1918ENG, DEV Oct 1928 : Beltana AUS Fairbridge Homes  
27033 ABBOTT, Harry Franz1917ENG, MDX, Hendon Oct 1928 : Beltana AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5493 ACOL, John1920ENG, LND, Hampstead Nov 1932 : Balranald AUS Fairbridge Homes  
21189 ADAMS, William1916ENG, WAR, Aston Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
27035 ALDER, John Harkis1914ENG, OXF Oct 1928 : Beltana AUS Fairbridge Homes  
20888 ALDERSON, Arthur1912ENG, DUR Jan 1924 : Baradine AUS Fairbridge Homes  
26974 ALEXANDER, Reginald Gordon1917ENG, LAN, West Derby Jan 1928 : Barrabool AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12114 ALLEN, Clifford John1914GBG,     Dec 1928 : Bendigo AUS Fairbridge Homes  
26426 ALLEN, Walter Bevis1901ENG, SRY, Kingston Jul 1913 : Belgic AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5210 ALSOP, Benjamin H.1929ENG, DUR, Darlington Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl CAN Fairbridge Homes  
5212 ALSOP, James 1927ENG, DUR, Darlington Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl CAN Fairbridge Homes  
5211 ALSOP, Norman Frederick1923ENG, DUR, Dunsdale Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl CAN Fairbridge Homes  
25270 AMOTT, James1913ENG, LND, Lambeth Feb 1924 : Euripides AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25136 ANDERSON, Muriel Helen1921ENG, ESS, West Ham Oct 1930 : Barrabool AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5494 ANDERSON, Robert1918ENG, LND, Lambeth Oct 1930 : Barrabool AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25616 ANDREWS, Gwendoline1914 Feb 1924 : Euripides AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25137 ANDREWS, Herbert George1912ENG, SSX Feb 1924 : Euripides AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25138 ANKCORN, Dennis George1925ENG, WAR, Birmingham Jan 1937 : Oronsay AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25139 ANKCORN, Emma Dorothy1922ENG, WAR, Birmingham Feb 1934 : Jervis Bay AUS Fairbridge Homes  
8780 ANNETTS, Raymond Douglas1917ENG, LND, Lambeth Mar 1928 : Benalla AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5413 ANSELL, Maurice George1926ENG, OXF, Banbury Nov 1938 : Themistocles AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5404 ANSELL, Peter Albert John1928ENG, OXF, Banbury Nov 1938 : Themistocles AUS Fairbridge Homes  
23615 APPLEFORD, Harry 1921ENG, BRK, Reading May 1933 : Otranto AUS Fairbridge Homes  
27036 APPLEGATE, Sidney Thomas1916ENG, LND, Hackney Oct 1928 : Beltana AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25954 ARMSTRONG, Benjamin John Emmerson1918ENG, HAM, Hartley Wintney Nov 1929 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes splmum , Pinjarra1929  
21149 ARMSTRONG, John Kenneth1915ENG,     Aug 1921 : Themistocles AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5496 ARNOTT, Anthony Robert1923ENG, DUR, Darlington May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5497 ARNOTT, Michael1925ENG, DUR, Darlington May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25271 ARTHUR, Frederick1913ENG, SRY, Kingston Feb 1924 : Euripides AUS Fairbridge Homes  
27391 ARTHUR, James Lafferty1940ENG,     Jan 1949 : Ormonde AUS Fairbridge Homes  
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 1291 Entries        
Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  30 Entries