On 15 April 1912,
Kingsley Fairbridge and his wife, Ruby Fairbridge, arrived in Albany, Western Australia, from England and made their way to Pinjarra, arriving on 16 July that same year to establish the world's first Fairbridge Farm School. The school opened on 19 October 1912. Fairbridge wanted to see "little children shedding the bondage of unfortunate circumstances and stretching their legs and minds amid the thousand interests of the farm."
Child migration From 1913 to 1982, Fairbridge Farm School was home to a total of 3,580 children who came to Fairbridge under various
child migration schemes. The school provided education in task-learning, husbandry, metal work and wood work. During
World War II, Dutch refugee children evacuated from Indonesia were based at Fairbridge while they were waiting to be reunited with their families. The site was also used as a training ground for the
Women's Land Army, and
Guildford Grammar School partially relocated there while the school was being used as a hospital. An airfield was constructed near the school during
World War II, which operated until the 1950s. When announcing the listing of Fairbridge on the Interim List of the
Register of the National Estate in December 1997, the
Australian Heritage Commission commented that, "Fairbridge is a striking example of Australia’s early philanthropic movement to resettle and educate migrant children." The Chair of the Heritage Commission at the time,
Wendy McCarthy stated:
Forgotten Australians Many of the child migrants were falsely told that they were
orphans and consequently never saw their families again. In 1986, the first Australian child migrant approached the British government to seek reparation. The approach eventually led to the establishment of the
Child Migrant Trust in 1987. The
Australian Government apologised for its involvement in the scheme, and in 1998 the
Western Australian Government apologised to the former child migrants: "The Western Australian Government apologises to former child migrants who suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse in the state's institutions". The following year the
Christian Brothers, Sisters of Mercy and
Poor Sisters of Nazareth launched a computerised personal history index to the records of former child migrants. On 24 February 2010, British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown made a formal apology to the families of children who suffered. On 31 January 2019, the UK Government announced that following the
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which handed down its report in May 2018, the UK Government would make an
ex-gratia payment of to any former British child migrant who was alive on 1 March 2018, or if alive as at that date and since deceased, the payment would be made to the deceased's beneficiaries. In July 2020, it was reported that the Australian Government had named Fairbridge Restored Limited as one of six institutions that had failed to sign up for the
National Redress Scheme by the June 30 deadline. In November 2020,
The Guardian reported that Fairbridge Restored Limited was dormant and
under administration, and that the administrator, Chris Laverty, had claimed that insolvency law in the UK meant Fairbridge was unable to comply with the redress scheme criteria.
Fairbridge Chapel The chapel is the only building in Australia designed, and with construction overseen by noted British architect
Herbert Baker. Described as "the architectural jewel in the crown" of Fairbridge Village, the chapel was built in 1930–31 by the Western Australian Government with construction funded by British interests. == Current use ==