Welcome to Darcy Gresham

We are excited to introduce Darcy Gresham who recently joined the Relational Harm project as a PhD student, supervised by Dr Rebekka Friedman and Professor Juliette Pattinson.

Darcy’s research focuses on a historical instance of familial separation, in the case of British children forcibly migrated to Australia. With particular focus on the impact of the Second World War, her work will focus on the movement and labour of children from 1930s, in the build-up to global war where increasing pressure in the Pacific and subsequent fear across Australia influenced government and ‘philanthropic’ approaches to child migration. The imperial control of Britain and the framing of Australia within the Empire fuelled many of these ideals: strengthening a white English-speaking nation aligned to its motherland. The dominance of this narrative has sidelined the realities of empire-building for its victims, limiting acknowledgement. Across archival research and fieldwork, Darcy will consider the systematic separation of families, the lived experiences of children living and working within institutions, and the legacy of these schemes across generations.