Ireland and the Fairbridge Society Migration Scheme – 1960–69: the forgotten families

This chapter recounts the little-known story of families from Ireland who arrived in Western Australia under the Fairbridge Society Migration Scheme. It draws on the work of Paula Magee who arrived in Australia from Belfast in 1963 with her parents and eight siblings under the Fairbridge Society’s two-parent scheme. Her family’s experience typifies that of migrants entering Western Australia from Ireland and Britain from 1960 to 1969 under this scheme. On arrival, parents were separated from each other and their children, as custody of the children belonged to the Fairbridge Society – one of many conditions of the scheme that parents were largely unaware of prior to migrating. This policy of separation gravely impacted the health and well-being of family members. Parents proactively sought to have their children returned. Fathers, in conjunction with the Irish community in Western Australia, defiantly created a housing cooperative that made it possible for parents to be released from their obligation to the Fairbridge Society and be reunited. The success of this housing cooperative ultimately led to the demise of the Fairbridge Society’s Family Migration Scheme. The origins and context in which this assisted migration scheme operated are also presented.