In 1986, British social worker, Margaret Humphreys, received a letter from an Australian woman who was looking for her birth certificate. The woman recalled coming to Australia on a ship with other children but without her parents; she was 4 years old and thought she was an orphan.

This was the beginning of Humphreys’ investigation into the scandal that was the British Government (with the complicity of other Commonwealth Governments) sending off impoverished white children to other countries, often without their parents’ knowledge.

In this interview, Margaret Humphreys reflects on her work since 1986, including setting up the Child Migrants Trust in 1987 and advocating for inquiries, apologies and redress.