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Record #8554
Name :
: Lionel Peter WELSH (1936 - 2006)
  aka : Geordie


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: Q1 1936   Notes : Source: FreeBMD

Marriage (1)
: 1955   Spouse/Notes : Gladys Ethel CAMERON (Plantagenet district, reg 90)
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 8 Dec 2006   Notes : Source: MCB WA
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Cumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne

Mar qtr 1936, 10b 111, mmn HARK (FreeBMD)
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialAustralia, Western Australia
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: Dec 1947
Country
: Australia

Ship
: Asturias

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
: Nazareth House (Cumberland)

Agency
: Catholic Episcopal Migration & Welfare Assoc.
NotesA birth registration was found for Lionel P Welsh: Mother's Maiden Surname: Hark; Date of Registration: Jan Feb Mar 1936; Registration district: Newcastle T; Registration county:; Cumberland, Northumberland/Westmorland; Volume Number: 10b; Page Number: 111.

In 1947, L. Welsh, 11, arrived at Fremantle, Australia, in a group of 24 boys from Nazareth House, St. Ann's Hill, Carlisle, Cumberland, England. He arrived with a group of child migrants under the auspices of the Catholic Episcopal Migration and Welfare Association (CEMWA). In Western Australia, CEMWA was the state-based receiving agency for post-World War II child migrants who were sent to WA under the Catholic child immigration scheme.
Lionel was placed at Bindoon, Western Australia.

"Geordie," as Lionel was called, recounted in his second book that at Bindoon, the boys were expected to work in bare feet building the buildings. Reinforcing steel was old railway lines, lifted one at a time by several boys, at great risk. Concrete, mixed by hand, was taken by the boys up ramps in wheelbarrows.

Punishments included hits with the walking stick of Brother Francis Keaney, punches, and strappings on the bare backside.

On one occasion his leg was broken while he was out rabbit-shooting with "Pinky" Hayes, an adult visitor from Perth. He was forced to sit up in the kitchen for hours to instruct other boys how to prepare meals, before it was decided to take him by motor vehicle to Royal Perth Hospital to have his leg set and put in plaster.

One of the cruelest aspects was psychological. Those who ran Bindoon never told him about his mother, nor that she had put him into the orphanage because she had contracted tuberculosis (TB). He found out her existence only by breaking rules by peering into a register kept by the orphanage.

In the book, After voice from the Stars, by Tom and Laurel Scotland (1998), they told of the "Boy from Bindoon"

"Our vehicle now enabled us to visit friends on distant farms. Loving the quietness of the night and the friendliness of the stars, we travelled in darkness with Rod and his baby brother asleep in the back. On the road to Morawa, in the northern seatbelt, we were hailed from the roadside at one o'clock in the morning. A diminutive figure asked, 'Can you give me a lift to Moora, mister?'

'Where are you from?'

'Moora.' The boy, with head down, spoke the thick Geordie accent of a migrant and I did not believe him, but he looked scared as he shivered in the darkness.

'Hop in then.'

He eased himself into the back seat, pushing away the legs of Rod and Peter who slept on soundly. The boy's story came out as we travelled. Named Lionel Welsh and aged fifteen, he had actually run away from an orphanage at Bindoon. He fell asleep and we woke him at Moora, but he wanted to go on.

Daylight came and we observed his pale, pinched face and skinny body. He was dressed in an oversized army jacket ad ballooning shorts, out of which his think legs poked into big boots. Scars marked his body and our concern for him increased, for he said he had been treated cruelly and often beaten by the orphanage. He seemed proud that he could light a fire and make a billy-can of tea, while we prepared breakfast by the roadside. At Morawa, we interviewed the police and they saw no problem in us finding him a job. He didn't really appear suited to farmwork, but we had friends in Morawa who agreed to employ him.

Three months later, a smiling Lionel came to live with us in Perth. He had never known family life and loved having Rod and baby Peter around him. He became indentured to a plasterer; his emaciated body filled out and he became a strong, wiry teenager. He gradually relaxed, gaining trust in us and revealed more about the deprivation of orphanage life. He adored Georgina, a girl from church, and she seemed good for him. However, after a year, he came to tell us he would be moving into an East Perth house with a group of ex-Bindoon boys. 'I just have to hear the breathing of those lads around me at night. I miss them a lot.' [pages 16-17]

The building skills he learned at Bindoon allowed him to earn good wages, and at the age of 25 or so he went sub-contracting. He married, but after his children had been born, he began drinking alcohol to excess. His marriage broke down.

He battled with alcoholism, violence and self-destructive behaviors until he embraced sobriety and made the slow and painful journey towards self-discovery and self-respect inspired by a deep spirituality.

To document his experiences, Lionel wrote two books: "Geordie: Orphan of the Empire" and "Geordie, An Incredible Story of the Human Spirit". He told a friend that "after he finished writing "Geordie: Orphan of the Empire" he didn't read it again until quite some time after publication. He said he felt shocked, angered, betrayed on finding many many omissions had been made by his first publisher. But Geordie had survived many betrayals in his life, and so he got another publisher and wrote another book."

In his second book, Lionel's story spans his earliest years in the care of Nazareth House sisters in the UK, migration as a child to the Christian Brothers at Bindoon, Western Australia, and his life as a responsible family man. The book goes on to describe how he lost his family, job and his home through his self-destructive behavior and recounts his crawl to sobriety, spirituality, and peace.

An Obituary was published in "The Network," Issue 3, June 2007 (CBERS Consultancy):

Lionel Geordie Welsh passed away in December 2006 after a long battle with cancer. Lionel is sadly missed by his wide circle of friends and family, and is remembered by many more people through his authorship of two books. A number of fellow ex-Bindoon Boys attended Lionel's funeral last year, and which his old friend Gordon Grant delivered the eulogy.

Gordon spoke of Lionel's early life at Nazareth House in Carlisle, England, where Lionel was placed at two years of age, and remained for nine years, before being sent to Australia with the first group of post-war child migrants in 1947. Gordon described the harshness of Lionel's years at Bindoon, and the challenges Lionel faced as he made his way forward in life. Gordon spoke of Lionel's many positive achievements - the marriage that produced six beloved children; his indomitable spirit, great intellect, and kind heart.

In concluding his eulogy; Gordon said:

"Lionel Welsh was a good and decent man, who turned his life around through courage and perseverance, and with the help of trusted and reliable friends. I want to thank Br Kevin Ryan for the support he has given to Lionel in recent years, and also thank solicitor Leonard Cohen for providing counsel to Lionel in his ongoing quest for justice.

On behalf of the former Bindoon Boys and Lionel's other good friends, I offer our very sincere condolences to the family members and five surviving children of Lionel's marriage, who are present here today at his funeral service. We urge you to embrace and support each other in this period of mourning the sad loss of your father.

May the Spirit, the Soul of Geordie now rest in peace."

A song was dedicated to Geordie from Robbie Keating. Robbie is the daughter of the late Peter Keating, a fellow child migrant, and lives in Queensland. She and Lionel formed a strong friendship in the last year of Lionel's life. Although they never met in person, Lionel holds a very special place in Robbie's heart. She wrote this song in his honor:

Heart of Gold

Dear Geordie ...

You gave me the best gift one could give to a child ...
You helped me further to understand the life I led as a child growing up ...
Off spring of Bindoon is I ...
Hearts of Gold
Is the truth behind the masks of all that lived through it
Is what you showed I can be proud of ...
I am proud more than ever now
All because you showed me
How to understand and not fall into hate
Of which many have
My father you knew
I made friends with before he passed on
I was proud to be there for him and glad
you had kind hearts there for you
But you showed me how I am not alone
You gave me identity within myself
Your strength and humor
Was (and to me still us) contagious
Your courage to stand up is now
stronger than ever
Is within me
Is now with me forever
Your universal love you came to
see in yourself
Is what I now see in me
I will stay in that special place you showed me
And share it the way you shared it with me
You set a good path for every child within
If you sink
Therefore you can swim ...
You my friend, Golden child
Golden heart, right from the start
Understandably so, friend to all
Your cause will live on
We will all live on and stay tall
I take my hat off to you ...
Because you stayed true ...
I to will stay true
Many thanks to you
A pleasure to have had the privilege
To have known you ...
God bless
Shine on Geordie ...
Shine on 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-06-17 19:40:31 / From original database

Additional Contributions from : mollipops1

Last Updated : 2011-03-09 20:04:54 /

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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  11 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
16056 WELSH, James1869ENG,     Jul 1885 : Sarmatian CAN Cardinal Manning (now Nugent Care)  
22203 WELSH, James1879ENG,     Apr 1897 : Labrador CAN Barnardos  
25677 WELSH, James1898ENG,     May 1909 : Corsican CAN Catholic Emigration Society  
11588 WELSH, Jane1860ENG,     Aug 1870 : Austrian CAN Father James Nugent  
15884 WELSH, John1873ENG,     Aug 1886 : Parisian CAN Catholic Protection Society  
8554 WELSH, Lionel Peter1936ENG, CUL, Newcastle upon Tyne Dec 1947 : Asturias AUS Catholic Episcopal Migration & Welfare Assoc.  
18807 WELSH, Marie1878ENG,     Apr 1895 : Sardinian CAN Liverpool Sheltering Home  
11589 WELSH, Mary1856ENG,     Aug 1870 : Austrian CAN Father James Nugent  
6842 WELSH, Thomas1861SCT,     Jul 1875 : Waldensian CAN MacPherson Homes  
16325 WELSH, Thomas1869ENG,     Sep 1883 : Sardinian CAN Cardinal Manning (now Nugent Care)  
25547 WELSH, Winifred Catherine1915 Feb 1924 : Euripides AUS Fairbridge Homes