AUSTRALIA: APOLOGY FOR FORGOTTEN VICTIMS

AUSTRALIAN AND BRITISH GOVERMENT APOLOGISED TO SURVIVING BRITISH CHILDREN TREATED LIKE SALVES

CAMBERRA (ABC News) - PM Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull yesterday offered a historic apology to "forgotten Australians" and former child migrants who suffered abuse, exploitation and neglect in institutions and foster homes. Thousands of child immigrants were shipped from Britain to Australia up until the 1960s in the belief they were off to a better life, but when they arrived many found themselves the subject of sexual abuse and treated like slaves. Children were cut off from families and some falsely told they were orphans.

Parents were told the children had gone to a better life, but many of them ended up in institutions or were sent to work unpaid on farms, with many facing abuse. The child migrants programme ended 40 years ago and it sent 150,000 abroad between 1920 and 1967 . Rudd's statement came after the British government announced that Gordon Brown would offer an apology to the displaced children. A Downing Street spokeswoman said Brown would apologise in the new year, following consultation with charities representing former child migrants and their families. Mr Rudd apologised for an "ugly chapter" in the nation's history: "Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the tragedy, the absolute tragedy, of childhoods lost. We look back with shame that many of these little ones who were entrusted to institutions and foster homes instead were abused physically, humiliated cruelly, violated sexually. And we look back with shame at how those with power were allowed to abuse those who had none", said Mr. Rudd.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In the tenth chapter of the Madhya-khanda, Vrindavan Das Thakur writes that while Hari Das was being cruelly beaten, Mahaprabhu descended with his discus, intending to destroy the demons, but was unable to do so on account of Hari Das’s prayers. So he shielded Hari Das’s body with his own. Then he revealed to Hari Das the cane marks on his back. The main reason for the Lord’s appearance is his devotee. When such an outrage was being perpetrated on his devotee Hari Das, he immediately appeared to protect him. When Hari Das heard the Lord recount this story, he immediately fainted. The Lord then showed him his divine form. He glorified Hari Das himself: “Anyone who even sees Hari Das becomes free from all bondage. Even great gods like Brahma and Shiva desire Hari Das’s company. Even the Ganges desires his touch.”

Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja :“Srila Namacharya Hari Das Thakur”Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math - (Sreecgmath - 19.Sep.2002)