The abuse at Australian farm schools betrays my great uncle’s caring vision
I’M THE great-niece of Kingsley Fairbridge, whose Fairbridge Society is currently being criticised in the media. My grandmother, Helen Fairbridge, was his younger sister. I’m horrified to think what happened after his death in 1924, which has led to the current abuse inquiry, but Kingsley Fairbridge gave his life for his farm school vision, dying in his thirties, leaving behind a wife and four children. As a child, living in Rhodesia, he contracted malaria, from which he never fully recovered. He lacked a formal education but managed, through hard work and perseverance, to obtain a scholarship to Oxford. It was while visiting his grandmother in London that Kingsley encountered, for the first time, children living in poverty and starvation in overcrowded slums. He resolved to take these children to Rhodesia or Australia, where there was plenty of land, warm weather and the opportunity to work on farms and regain their health. To quote from a book published soon after his death: ‘Fresh parties of children came to live in cheery little cottages each presided over by a house mother. ‘The work was good but very, very hard for Kingsley, whose health began to fail. He lived long enough, however, to see part of his dream come true. ‘He saw 200 children from many dark and dreary back streets, brimming with happiness, enjoying the evervaried interests on the farm. He saw his boys returning, men now, some of them owning their own land. These, one and all, said: “We thank you.” ’ Kingsley Fairbridge died as a result of the hard work involved in making his farm school a success for the children in his care. He was a truly good man and I am saddened to see his name being associated with the antitheses of what he was trying to achieve for those children who were in his care. It’s important to have a balanced view of the intentions of the founder of the Fairbridge farm schools. PATRICIA WHEWAY, Kings Langley, Herts.