HOME      FORUM      HELP      SEARCH      
News : The Surname Interests Table (SIT), the Database for Special Interests Groups (DBSIG) and Ancestral Anniversaries
are now "mobile friendlier" more here ...
The RootsChat Reference Library

RootsChat.Com »  RootsChat Reference Library »   Database for Special Interest Groups (DBSIG) »   British Home Children : Quick Search

Record #5919
Name :
: Bernard MURPHY (1940 - )


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 1940 (approx.)

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 10 Jun 1952
Country
: Australia

Ship
: Ormonde

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Fairbridge Homes
NotesIn 1952, B. Murphy, 12 (along with brothers, J. Murphy, 10; and R. Murphy, 8), arrived at Fremantle, Australia, in a group of children c/o Fr. Nichol, 16A St. Stephens House, Westminter, England and en route to Fremantle and Melbourne, Australia.

The West Australian reported on July 4, 1992:

"Paternal quest links brothers to new family

On May 1, 1952, three excited young boys gathered with their father at St Pancras Station in London.

It was a very special day for Bernard, John and Raymond Murphy (12, 10 and 8 respectively) who had spent most of the preceding six or seven years in child-care institutions, with only occasional visits from their dad.

But, now, at his suggestions, they were off to Australia.

His last words 'see you in three years, sons' provided all the comfort and promise the boys needed as the train moved off toward Tilbury Dock and the waiting passenger ship, Ormonde.

Tragically, the boys would never see or hear from their father again.

They would disappear among the thousands of child migrants sent to Australia after World War II under government-sponsored programs now considered to be of very dubious legal or moral basis.

For 40 years they would not know why their father failed to keep that promise and left them feeling abandoned in a harsh and miserable new environment.

In fact, they would know very little about him, except for the uniform worn when visiting them in the institutions.

And they would know nothing about their mother and her three daughters (their half-sisters) while they were in the institutions and unaware of their parents' separation.

After reaching Fremantle, the boys went first to Clontarf and then Bindoon, the controversial boys' home founded by the Christian Brothers.

During the next four decades, they tried in vain to trace their father through organisations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

But now the mystery of their past appears to be [en] solved though, sadly, too late for Raymond, who died aged 16 in a collision between his bicycle and a milk truck in central Perth.

Last week, the found and director of the charity-based Child Migrants Trust (London), Margaret Humphreys, visited John, now 50, and Bernard, 52, in Perth to tell them her organisation had pieced together the puzzle.

Ms. Humphreys had been asked by both men, about five years ago, to help trace their roots.

The trust found:

Their RAF drill instructor father, James, separated from their mother, Eileen, in the early 1940's.

When their mother was apparently unable to cope with them after the separation, the boys were place (by their father) [in the institutions].

When their father remarried in 1949, with the boys in institutions, he concealed his sonns' existence from his new wife.

In 1954, two years after the boys left for Australia, their father died of cancer.

Their mother died just five years ago of a heart condition. On her death bed, she told her grandson's girlfriend that she had three sons but did not know where they were.

By that time, one of her three daughters had died.

The other two, the youngest of whom is 42, were left to wonder about their half-brothers until Margaret Humphreys also gave them some answers.

Bernard, a self-employed paint, is married and has adult twins, aged 24. He said yesterday: 'I have no ill-will against either of my parents. I think I misjudged my father, who might have known he had cancer when he sent us out here and thought it was for the best.'

John, an invalid pensioner, has three children aged 25, 23, and 20. Two of them are adopted for very good reason.

'After the years I spent in homes I didn't want any other kids to go through the same thing, if possible. I have no bitterness about the past. What's done is done.

'Our next step is to get to the UK...'" 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-28 17:19:58 / From original database

Last Updated :

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Bernard MURPHY:



 
Readers Comments

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  23 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
23788 MURPHY, Abraham George1898ENG, DUR, Gateshead May 1914 : Victorian CAN Childrens Aid Society  
17984 MURPHY, Andy1888ENG,     Jun 1899 : Siberian CAN Middlemore  
2778 MURPHY, Ann1871ENG,     Sep 1882 : Circassian CAN Liverpool Catholic Childrens Protective Society (now Nugent Care)  
11582 MURPHY, Ann1860ENG,     Aug 1870 : Austrian CAN Father James Nugent  
14249 MURPHY, Arthur1887ENG,     May 1899 : Gallia CAN MacPherson Homes  
5919 MURPHY, Bernard1940ENG,     Jun 1952 : Ormonde AUS Fairbridge Homes  
20156 MURPHY, Edith ENG,     May 1911 : Corsican CAN Louisa Birt  
14009 MURPHY, Edward1887ENG,     Jun 1901 : Corinthian CAN Unknown Catholic Group  
15050 MURPHY, Edward1884ENG,     Sep 1897 : Numidian CAN Unknown Catholic Group  
4781 MURPHY, Frederick1911ENG, ESX, Walthamstow May 1925 : Montclare CAN Catholic Emigration Association  
22441 MURPHY, James1886ENG,     Jun 1895 : Laurentian CAN Salford Catholic Protection and Rescue Society  
5920 MURPHY, John1942ENG,     Jun 1952 : Ormonde AUS Fairbridge Homes  
21981 MURPHY, John ENG,     Apr 1925 : Athenia CAN Quarriers  
15393 MURPHY, Letitia1884ENG,     Sep 1894 : Numidian CAN Liverpool Catholic Childrens Protective Society (now Nugent Care)  
8041 MURPHY, Mary1852ENG,     Jun 1869 : Austrian CAN Maria Rye  
24327 MURPHY, Mary A1885 Oct 1900 : Numidian CAN Canadian Catholic Emigration Society  
16100 MURPHY, Patrick1870ENG,     Sep 1883 : Sardinian CAN Cardinal Manning (now Nugent Care)  
21908 MURPHY, Patrick John1911SCT,     Apr 1925 : Athenia CAN Quarriers  
5921 MURPHY, Raymond1944ENG,     Jun 1952 : Ormonde AUS Fairbridge Homes  
20416 MURPHY, Robert1896ENG,     May 1907 : Victorian CAN Liverpool Sheltering Home  
20417 MURPHY, Robert1900ENG,     Mar 1913 : Scotian CAN Quarriers  
13019 MURPHY, Thomas1883ENG,     Jul 1896 : Parisian CAN Catholic Emigration Society  
15859 MURPHY, Thomas1872ENG,     Aug 1886 : Parisian CAN Catholic Protection Society