The carefully composed images show Fairbridge Farm in Molong as it was supposed to be: a model rehabilitation centre for waifs and orphans escaping drab, war-weary Britain for a new life of possibility in Australia.
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But Ian Bayliff, 64, who arrived at Fairbridge in 1955 aged eight, says the reality was quite different. Take that heart-warming picture of two boys squirting milk from a cow.
''Lenny and John,'' he says, identifying them instantly. ''But milking was the worst job at Fairbridge.
''We used to start milking at 3am, finish at 7.30am, have an hour for breakfast, then go back up to the dairy again until lunch. If we had milking at 3pm, we would still be working at 7pm depending on the speed of the others working with you. And that was seven days a week.''
He will be at the Australian National Maritime Museum today to hear his half-brother Stewart Lee - the longest-serving Fairbridge child - launch On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants. A joint exhibition with National Museums Liverpool, it tells the story of the 100,000 children who travelled alone to Australia from the 1860s to 1967.
Some were orphans, others from broken homes. Still more, among them Bayliff, Lee and their siblings Sidney and Graham, were sent by parents who believed the official propaganda that Australia offered their children a carefree future.
Yet many were abused by the Fairbridge Society, Dr Barnardo's and the Christian Brothers, institutions entrusted with their care. The Australian and British parliaments have issued official apologies to the so-called ''Forgotten generations''.
For Bayliff, who ran away from Fairbridge Farm when he was 16, one tormentor will never be forgiven. ''Lilias Da Freitas,'' says the Vietnam veteran. ''The cruellest person I have ever met. She used to beat us on the bare arse with a riding crop. And if you're wondering how much that hurts, watch the Melbourne Cup and see how fast those horses run when they are whipped. She destroyed a lot of children.''
Years after he had escaped, Bayliff was sent a cheque for the eight years of work he had done on the farm. It was for just over a dollar. He never cashed it - and it is now one of the exhibits.
In 1997, his wife persuaded him to return to Manchester to see the mother he thought had deserted him. With two sisters, Bayliff read his file in the Fairbridge Society records.
To his astonishment, he found his mother, Dora, had repeatedly begged the society to return her children. But her letters were never delivered to her boys in Molong.
''I said, 'Mum, why did you never tell us?''' says Bayliff, who now lives near Campbelltown. ''And she said, 'Son, you would never have believed me.' And I probably wouldn't have.''
On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants, Australian National Maritime Museum until April 3.
