Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has apologised to the thousands of British migrants who were abused or neglected in state care as children.
The Child Migrants Programme sent poor children from the UK to a 'better life' in Australia and elsewhere, but many were abused and ended up in institutions or as labourers on farms.
The programme ended 40 years ago.
Mr Rudd's apology comes after it emerged British Prime Minister Gordon Brown would issue an apology for the UK's role.
Speaking to a gathering of 1,000 victims known as the 'Forgotten Australians' at Parliament House in Canberra, Mr Rudd said: 'We are sorry.
'Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care.
'Sorry for the tragedy - the absolute tragedy - of childhoods lost.'
Mr Rudd said the Australian government wanted the national apology to become 'a turning point in our nation's story'.
'A turning point for governments... to do all in our power to never allow this to happen again,' he said.
He recognised the mistreatment and continued suffering of some 500,000 people held in orphanages or children's homes between 1930 and 1970.
He also apologised to the 7,000 child migrants from Britain who live still in Australia.
As they were shipped out of Britain, the children were separated from their families and many were wrongly told they were orphans, while the parents were told that they had gone to a better life.
But most were brought up in institutions, or by farmers, and many were treated as child slave labour.
Mr Rudd added it was important to acknowledge the past to be able to move forward as a nation.
'The truth is, this is an ugly story. The truth is, great evil has been done.'
He said he hoped that the victims would be known as the 'remembered Australians' from today.
In the UK, Mr Brown has written to the chairman of the health select committee to confirm he will issue an apology in the New Year.
