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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