Queen Elizabeth II coronation and visit to Australia, 1953-1954, compiled by Robert Stephens
Date1953-1954
Object number00054493
NameScrapbook
MediumPaper, magazine and newspaper clippings.
DimensionsOverall: 250 × 315 mm, 286 g
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Robert Stephens
DescriptionBritish child migrant Robert Stephens was obsessed with the British royal family. He used this sketchbook to collect newspaper and magazine clippings relating to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and her visit to Australia in 1954. He arrived in Australia with the Fairbridge child migration scheme in 1952 at the age of nine.HistoryBetween 1913 and 1967, more than 7,000 British children were sent to Australia by charities such as Fairbridge, Barnardo's, and the Salvation Army. The Fairbridge Farm School in Molong NSW (opened 1937) was one of three farm training schools established under Fairbridge principles in Australia. South African philanthropist Kingsley Fairbridge aimed to alleviate the plight of British slum children by sending them to farm schools in the colonies. The idea was to remove children from impoverishment, while simultaneously developing remote rural areas of the British empire with young white labour.
Supported by the Western Australian government, Kingsley and his wife Ruby established the first Fairbridge Farm School at Pinjarra, south east of Perth in 1913. Fairbridge died in 1924, but the scheme continued. Children lived in cottages under a cottage mother, attended local state schools until they were 14, and then spent 12-18 months training in farm work on the property.SignificanceThis scrapbook reflects Robert Stephens' enduring attachment to his family and his homeland, and the difficulties he faced in travelling to Australia as an unaccompanied child migrant after World War II.
