Survivors of child abuse at a farm school in regional New South Wales have launched a second class action in a bid to receive further compensation for traumatic experiences inflicted on them.

Former students of the Fairbridge Farm School in Molong received a $24 million settlement through a class action in 2015.

A year later, New South Wales removed a time limit on civil claims for child abuse, in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

About 1,000 British orphans and underprivileged children were sent to the school in the New South Wales central west between the 1930s and 1970s to be educated and trained in farm and domestic work.

Many experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse during their time there.

Arnold Thomas & Becker recently filed proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court against the Commonwealth and the state of New South Wales.

The company said it could not sue the Fairbridge Foundation because it was deregistered.

The law firm said the 2015 class action “short-changed” the former students and may have “robbed” them of hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

“The survivors who were part of the original class action are distressed about the pathetic compensation they have received for what are devastating life-long injuries,” lawyer Georgia Sneddon said.

The company said some claimants on the lower end of the spectrum received $50,000 from the original compensation fund.

More than 40 former students between the ages of 60 and 80 have registered for the class action.

“We believe the existing group has strong chances of reopening the old settlement,” said Ms Sneddon.

Read the full story at the ABC.

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