Read the Catholic 'Record' newspaper's report of the arrival of young Oliver Cosgrove, one of 65 children on board the SS 'New Australia' in 1953.
Tag: Clontarf
The orphan who unorphaned himself
Patrick O'Flaherty arrived in Australia in 1947 thinking he was a war orphan and not knowing that his mother was alive in England. Read Patrick's contribution to 'Where's the fair go? The decline of equity in Australia', for more on his life in Australia, his shaky reunion with his mother and reconnecting with his family in Wales and Ireland.
Clontarf strap #2
An X-ray scan of a leather strap made by Bill Brennan, who grew up in Clontarf Boys' Town, WA, shows internal metal reinforcements inserted to give the strap more strength.
Child slave labour
Oliver Cosgrove writes in response to personal histories about child slave labour in children's homes. He refers to a photograph of children building the swimming pool at Clontarf Boys' Town, and notes that such work contravened the International Labour Organisation Convention.
Orphaning experiences #2
In a recent post on this website, Godfrey Gilmour, writes about his experience as a former Child Migrant. He remembers Father Cyril Stinson visiting his school in Malta in order to recruit boys to migrate to Australia. Oliver Cosgrove kindly contacted the National Museum with information about Father Stinson.
Orphaning experiences
"Imay not have been an orphan in the real sense of the word, and my experience at Clontarf as a state ward, however, was full of orphaning experiences”. Godfrey Gilmour, a retired Anglican priest, noticed himself as a child in a photograph, published on this website, taken by Mick O’Donoghue at Clontarf Boys Town in the 1950s. Here, he shares his experiences as a child migrant from a loving family in Malta to the humiliating conditions at Clontarf.
Report fails Christian Brothers
Below is a copy of the report on the visit, in July 1948, to Castledare Junior Orphanage, WA, by the Secretary of the Child Welfare Department, State Migration Officer and two inspectors also from the Child Welfare Department.
Built by the boys
This photograph kindly forwarded to the National Museum by Oliver Cosgrove shows the interior of the chapel at the former Clontarf Boys Town, now Clontarf Aboriginal College.
Clontarf strap
This leather strap was made by William ‘Bill’ Brennan when a man in his 50s as a copy of the ones he made as a boy in the leather workshop of Clontarf Christian Brothers Home. It was offered to the National Museum by Bill's brother, Anthony.
Come to my door tonight
Bill Brennan, a former resident of Clontarf Boys' Town, who made the leather strap in another post, wrote about his experience of being cast a 'child lover'.
