UK apology for Dunedin man

John McGrory
John McGrory
John McGrory considers himself one of the lucky ones.

Dispatched to New Zealand aged 13 as part of a notorious post-war British child migrant scheme, he enjoyed a happy life with the Dunedin foster parents who took him in.

But he knows others were not as fortunate.

"Others went to homes where they were misused, sexually interfered with or just treated as servants expected to work for no pay."

Mr McGrory (now 73) is one of three New Zealanders flying to London tomorrow as guests of the British Government to hear Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologise to the thousands of children who were sent to Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe, South Africa and New Zealand between 1948 and 1954.

The other New Zealanders are Trish Pawsey, of Ash-burton, and Pat Brown, of Nelson.

The apology function would be an emotional time, Mr McGrory said yesterday.

"Hearing the apology in person will be good, especially for those who have been mistreated.

"But it has been a long time coming - too long coming."

Mr McGrory said he did not resent his parents for sending him to New Zealand in 1950 aboard Rangitoto.

They had separated when he was a baby and he had lived with his father for some years, then in a children's home during the war.

An older brother offered to take him in, but he said his grandmother, "a stern old lady", said he was "a bad boy" and would be better off in New Zealand.

He was fostered by Dolce and Bill Cunningham, who owned a grocery shop in Caversham.

Their son, Noel, became like a brother to him.

"They were a good family.

"That's where all the warmth and love in my life came from, not from my parents."

 

 

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