A one-off special edition of Long Lost Family looks at children who were banished from the UK to Australia in the middle of the 20th century and the horrific abuse they faced. And the ITV special on Monday, April 25, also shows what happened when two of them were reunited with their UK relatives decades on.
The children who were promised a ‘better life’ include Dorian Thomas Reece and Rex and Kevin Wilton. Dorian, now a retired soldier, was sent to Australia from a care home home near Birmingham. As a child, Dorian had no sense of a mother or father – he’d assumed they’d either given him away or died.
He fearfully documents his memories of a home run by Christian brothers. Dorian, a victim of emotional and sexual abuse, said he had "horrible memories" of the beatings and paints a picture of a "man with a limp" who terrified the children.
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Dorian recalls that at first the home seemed wonderful. He said: “It was Huckleberry Finn’s heaven. A great camp full of boys”. But in reports from the time, shocking living conditions (“floors stained under the beds with liquid, that was undoubtedly urine, which had dropped there through the continually saturated mattresses”) neglect and absence of female staff highlighted how inappropriate a place it was for the care of young children
At the age 11, Dorian moved to Clontarf, a home for boys aged 11 to 16. Dorian talks about how, eventually, he discovered his mother’s name and set off for England. It was here that Dorian finally met his birth-mother and over the years, he built a relationship with her. From then on, Dorian uncovered his father’s name.
Nicky Campbell and the Long Lost Family team made contact with Dorian’s father’s family and in Monday's episode, we see his emotional meeting for the first time with his niece and great nephew - Anne and Pete. They are horrified to hear from Nicky that Dorian grew up with so little care and are keen to be able to tell him as much as they can about his father.
Anne told Nicky that it was a "shock" to find out what happened to Dorian and said "there are no words" to be able to explain Dorian's treatment. She stressed that she "hoped he found love". When Dorian flew back from Australia to the UK for the emotional reunion, Anne and Pete welcomed Dorian with open arms. "I was apprehensive but when I got that hug [from Anne], I felt at ease," a tearful Dorian said.
Dorian was also shocked to discover the military similarities between himself and his father and is "flabbergasted" to find out that his father had received an OBE.
Meanwhile, Rex and Kevin Wilton were sent to Tasmania as children and in an emotional discussion, their brother Bruce who remained in the UK, describes how he remembers waving the two off at the train station.
“I wrote and wrote and wrote and got nothing back,” said Bruce, who believed that his brothers wanted nothing to do with him when they left. In fact, letters that had been sent were interjected.
Throughout the tear-jerking episode, it is revealed that Rex passed away last year. Talking to Davina McCall, Bruce, who was reunited with Rex in 1992 for one-time only, said his brother had told him he'd had a troubled life and talked of an incident when he had been whacked over the head by a fire shovel by one of the carers. Rex’s troubled upbringing led to a rebel, ultimately setting him on a path to alcoholism and pain.
“I believe now, hand-on-heart, that if Rex hadn’t gone to Australia, he’d be alive right now,” said Bruce.
But Bruce is reunited with his other brother Kevin in time to mark the anniversary of Rex’s death. Kevin flies back from Australia, and he and Bruce return to the UK foster home of their early childhood - a place of happy memories for all three of them.
We know our time is precious and short and we need to make the most of," said Bruce, as he meets his brother for the first time in 20 years. Following their emotional reunion, the pair plant a magnolia tree to commemorate Rex.
Long Lost Family: Shipped to Australia airs on ITV on Monday, April 25 at 9pm
