clifford walsh, thank you for joining us from australia. you're welcome. parents were dead, but that wasn't true? no, not at all. i had a mother. my father, of course, died in the war. and i went through life thinking that i had no parents and it wasn't until margaret humphreys came on the scene that i found out i still had a mother and ifinally that i found out i still had a mother and i finally met her when that i found out i still had a mother and ifinally met her when i was 50. wow, you were nine then, when you stepped off the ship from london. that's right. what did you think was going on? well, i was basically looking forward to it because they made all these wonderful promises of how great things were in australia. i was a bit naive because someone in england said that in australia there was 100 sheep for every person so when we got to the wall at freemantle, i sort of half hoped i'd see 100 sheep waiting for me, but that didn't materialise. i didn't realise they only outnumbered us 100—1. we were sent to two days quarantine. until this point, i had

clifford walsh was nine when he arrived here at fremantle, near perth, one of thousands in care orfromunshine. he ended up at bindoon, run by the catholic christian brothers, where barefoot children built their own accommodation and were beaten and sexually abused. we were 60 miles from perth. we had no parents. we had no relatives. there was nowhere we could go. these brothers, these paedophiles, must have felt they were in hog heaven. australia, britain, the christian brothers, have all apologised. but from tomorrow, the uk's public inquiry will begin examining the scale of the abuse, which has brought david hill back to britain, to tilbury docks, from where he left 58 years ago. he's a successful public figure in australia, who grew up at the fairbridge farm school, and interviewed its former children, who've only relatively recently disclosed sexual abuse. i've put the figure at over 60% of the kids that went to fairbridge were sexually abused. 60%? 60%. and i think if you look at the conditions that prevail in the other child migrant institutions, i'd be staggered if the figure is

clifford walsh was nine when he arrived here at fremantle, near perth, one of thousands in care orfromshine. he ended up at bindoon, run by the catholic christian brothers, where barefoot children built their own accommodation and were beaten and sexually abused. we were 60 miles from perth. we had no parents. we had no relatives. there was nowhere we could go. these brothers, these paedophiles, must have felt they were in hog heaven. australia, britain, the christian brothers, have all apologised. but from tomorrow, the uk's public inquiry will begin examining the scale of the abuse, which has brought david hill back to britain, to tilbury docks, from where he left 58 years ago. he's a successful public figure in australia, who grew up at the fairbridge farm school, and interviewed its former children, who've only relatively recently disclosed sexual abuse. i've put the figure at over 60% of the kids that went to fairbridge were sexually abused. 60%? 60%. and i think if you look at the conditions that prevail in the other child migrant institutions, i'd be staggered if the figure isn'

clifford walsh was nine when he arrived here at fremantle, near perth, in australia.n accommodation and were beaten and sexually abused. we were 60 miles from perth. we had no parents. we had no relatives. there was nowhere we could go. these brothers, these paedophiles, must have thought they were in hog heaven. the public enquiry will hold new hearings, into claims that children we re hearings, into claims that children were picked by paedophiles to go abroad, and allegations of a cover—up. david hill left tilbury docks, near london, for australia 58 yea rs docks, near london, for australia 58 years ago, and grew up at the fairbridge farm school north of sydney. he has written a book on what went on, and estimates 60% of the children were sexually abused. he will be a key witness at what has been a much criticised enquiry. what can best achieve? from my point of view, only good can come of it. because the truth will be known. it seems to me that the greater the evil, the stronger the conspiracy to keep it a secret and keep it covered up. so, if this inquiry is capab

but 70 years on some, like clifford walsh, are still affected by the beatings and sexual abuse they sufferediry will consider new evidence about the extent of the abuse, claims that children were picked by paedophiles to travel aboard and allegations of a cover—up. we want to know what happened, we want to know who did it and we want to know who covered it up for so long. of course we need to know about it. there are consequences for children today. we also need to look at why it has taken 30 years to bring about this enquiry into the horrific abuse of hundreds, if not thousands of young children. the enquiry rejects suggestions that it is reaching too far back in history. many of the migrants are still alive. getting to the bottom of what happened to them and why, it says, is still relevant. tom looking at what will be the focus here of the enquiry perhaps for the next couple of weeks. there are many, many other issues to be covered beyond that, of course. that is the focus here specifically today and probably for the whole of this week and next week. i'll be back with you at half—past, we'

clifford walsh was nine when he arrived here at fremantle, near perth, one of thousands in care orfromoon, run by the catholic christian brothers, where barefoot children built their own accommodation and were beaten and sexually abused. we were 60 miles from perth. we had no parents. the scat-set thgebgseg to britain, to tilbury docks, from where he left 58 years ago. he's a successful public figure in australia, who grew up at the fairbridge farm school, and interviewed its former children, who've only relatively recently disclosed sexual abuse. i've put the figure at over 60% of the kids that went to fairbridge were sexually abused. 60%? 60%. and i think if you look at the conditions that prevail in the other child migrant institutions, i'd be staggered if the figure isn't equally high, or even higher, in some of the catholic boys' homes in western australia. files in the national archives show that in 1956, british inspectors visited all of the homes. there were no mentions of sexual abuse, but there were serious concerns about standards of childcare. officials drew up this blackli