(Newser)
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The Australian government has apologized—again—this time for abusing thousands of children forced to migrate to the nation. Some 500,000 "forgotten Australians" were abused or neglected in orphanages and children's work homes from 1930 to 1970. "We are sorry," Australian Prime Minister Devin Rudd told some 1,000 of the victims, now adults, in Canberra. "Sorry for the tragedy—the absolute tragedy—of childhoods lost."
The children, mostly poor, were shipped out of Britain to a "better life" to help build Australia, Canada and other nations as part of the Child Migrants Program. Officials lied to many of the children that their parents had died, reports the BBC. But once in Australia, many were exploited as farm workers or languished in institutions where they were neglected, beaten and sexually abused. The Australian government apologized last year to Aborigine children taken from their families.
