Author(s): Ronnie Sabin

Biographies & Memoirs

Out of print, advised 15/8/2007. In 1944 at the age of four, Ronnie Sabin and his two brothers were part of a kids' gang in Newcastle upon Tyne. With their father away at the war and their mother working 12-hour shifts as a bus conductor they were totally out of control. They were known as the worst kids in the neighbourhood, were cheeky and insolent, stole anything that wasn't bolted down, trashed houses and generally created mayhem. Residents of the tenement houses where they lived thought they should all have been drowned at birth. Eventually the authorities rounded them up and they were sent to Fairbridge Farm School at Molong, Australia. It was to be 33 years before they saw their mother again, and they never heard from their father. At Molong they learned many skills, and after entering the workforce at 17 Ronnie had a most interesting and rewarding life in Australia and New Zealand. He credits Fairbridge with shaping his life and turning him into a useful citizen, instead of heading for a life of crime.