The film Oranges and Sunshine, directed by Jim Loach and released in 2010, traces the fight she led on behalf of thousands of child-deportees whose lives were irreparably scarred by the trauma of separation, exile and frequently brutal imprisonment. With the screenplay by Rona Munro, based on the non-fiction novel Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys – the protagonist of the film – Oranges and Sunshine is a very moving film that does accurately portray the “victims” perspective of history but is flawed in its skewed portrayal of the governmental role in these events depicted. The central historical weakness in Loach’s film, and Munro’s screenplay, as a historical source is its failure to penetrate with sufficient depth the broader social and historical context of the child migrant programs. The viewer unfamiliar with this history is left none the wiser about what caused all this suffering, with a one sided, emotionally shaped view of the events depicted.
Britain’s child migrant scheme met a series of political, geo-strategic and economic objectives on the part of British and Australian imperialism. The export of children would boost Britain’s hold over the Empire (and later the Commonwealth). It would simultaneously defray the costs associated with child welfare. A 1953 report by the British government’s Overseas Migration Board criticized local authorities for not sending enough children, declaring that state wards “might, if they stayed in the United Kingdom eventually become, or continue to become a charge upon the rates.” All this information neglected in the making of the film, thus shaping a one sided perception of history for the viewer. In January 1945, the Australian Labor government announced a program to import some 50,000 British child migrants and “white alien children” to meet the need for post-war labour. They would be housed in converted military bases and air force camps, then in hostels. The economic and racial objectives underpinning the...