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Orient Line SS ORMONDE 15,000 Tons
Orient Line SS ORMONDE 15,000 Tons

Orient Line SS ORMONDE 15,000 Tons

Maker (1878 - 1966)
Date1917-1952
Object number00003143
NamePostcard
MediumPhotographic print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 88 x 136 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis black and white printed postcard features a photographic image of the Orient Line passenger ship SS ORMONDE underway from starboard broadside view. The Orient Line - along with the Aberdeen and Sitmar Lines - transported thousands of child migrants from the UK to Australia until the child migration schemes ended in the 1960s.HistoryFrom the 1860s, more than 100,000 children were sent from Britain to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries through child migration schemes. They were sent by charitable and religious organisations, with government support, in the belief that their lives would improve, and that they would provide much-needed labour and increase the population. Few were orphans; many came from families who were unable to care for them. The lives of these children changed dramatically and fortunes varied. Some succeeded in creating new futures. Others suffered lonely, brutal childhoods. All experienced disruption and separation from family and homeland. Child migration schemes received criticism from the outset, yet continued until the 1960s. Until the early 1960s most child migrants to Australia travelled by sea, sailing on vessels of the Aberdeen, Orient and Sitmar Lines. Names such as STRATHNAVER, ORMONDE, ORONSAY and FAIRSKY still evoke powerful memories for many former child migrants. SS ORMONDE was built at Clydebank, Scotland, by John Brown and Co and embarked on its maiden voyage from London to Australia in 1919. In 1933 ORMONDE was converted to a Tourist Class only ship and was requisitioned as a troopship, taking part in evacuations from Norway and France. ORMONDE returned to commercial service in 1947 as a single class emigrant ship between London to Australia, and was broken up in Dalmuir, Scotland in 1952.SignificanceThis postcard relates to a significant period in Australia's migration history, when thousands of children and youths emigrated from the UK through various church and philanthropic schemes as labour for rural Australia - all while bolstering the population with 'good British stock'.