‘Forgotten Australians’ Demand More Than Apologies

‘Forgotten Australians’ Demand More Than Apologies
By Neena Bhandari
Credit:Neena Bhandari/IPS

SYDNEY, Jul 19, 2011 (IPS) - Laurie Humphreys was on the first ship after World War II that brought 150 British boys and girls, aged five to 14 years, to Australia in 1947. At 13, he was promised oranges and sunshine and an adventurous holiday, but reality was different.

Tens of thousands of children suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect, exploitative work practices and deprivation of food, clothing and proper education while in government institutions, church organisations, orphanages, homes or foster care.

British film director Jim Loach’s latest ‘Oranges and Sunshine’, has brought those painful memories flashing back for Laurie and many of the nearly 500,000 'Forgotten Australians’, comprising over 7,000 former British child migrants, and White Australian and aboriginal children, who were removed from their families until the 1970s with the aim of giving them a better life.

Children were placed in care for reasons such as being orphaned, born to single mothers, parents separated or divorced, poverty, and domestic violence. Many were wrongly told their parents were dead.

The film tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a British social worker who in 1987 investigated and brought to public attention a government programme of forcibly relocating poor children to Australia and other Commonwealth nations.

Now 77, Laurie has spent decades searching for his family. He was able to reconnect with his brothers, sisters and extended family, but his father died before he could afford to return to England in1982.

"Time is of the essence in finding and connecting families. Last year, the British government paid for a trip to enable me to visit my remaining family and my father’s grave. My mother had died when I was four years old and my father placed me in an orphanage in Southampton," Laurie told IPS.

The Australian government is providing 3,180,000 US dollars for the first phase of the national 'Find and Connect Service’.

"Providing services to help them reconnect with their identity and with their families is one way the government can help heal the legacy of the trauma and loneliness of lost childhoods," Jenny Macklin, minister for families and community services said, last month.

On Nov. 16, 2009, a formal apology was made by the then prime minister Kevin Rudd.

"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," Rudd had said.

In February 2010, then British prime minister, Gordon Brown, apologised for the official Child Migrants Programme.

But, the fight for reparation continues. The Australian central government says compensation is the responsibility of state and territory governments. Three states have provided compensation, but the other three have not.

Caroline Carroll, records and reunion coordinator at Open Place, a service for ‘Forgotten Australians’ in Victoria, was placed in Sydney’s Bidura Children’s Home at 14 months. She was moved to different sets of foster parents, making it impossible to have any sense of belonging.

"One foster mother would hold my head down in the bath until I couldn’t breathe, she cut my long plaits and sold my hair. Back at Bidura, before being sent to the next foster home, at nine years I was given the standard vaginal tests - legs tied in stirrups. Those years were full of fear and terror," says Carroll, recounting the dehumanising treatment meted out to her and other children.

"The Christian Brothers-run Bindoon Boys Town, 80 km north of Perth, was also more a slave camp than an orphanage. Children worked on construction sites from dawn until dusk with daily beatings being the norm," adds Laurie, a former transport workers union vice-president.

The plight of the ‘Forgotten Australians’ has been documented in three Senate committee inquiries, where some spoke out for the first time about sustained brutality, solitary confinement, harsh and cruel punishments like cold showers and being paraded naked, names being changed to erase identity, siblings being separated and contact with family restricted or denied.

"As the 'Forgotten Australians' age, one of their fears is of being institutionalised again. Authorities need to involve them in the decision making and work with them and their families to address their needs," Eris Harrison from the Alliance for Forgotten Australians (AFA), a national advocacy group, told IPS.

Years in different institutions left many 'Forgotten Australians’ insecure and unable to trust or form stable relationships.

Caroline, who married at 20 and had two children says, "The marriage didn't last. Without doubt my background would have contributed to this. That fear of rejection never leaves. I understood love when my kids were born and now my grandkids are the love of my life."

For Laurie too, expressing love has been difficult. "There is a distinct void. I married twice and my wives said that I lacked affection."

"On arrival at the Fremantle Port in Western Australia all those years ago, we were told that we were brought here to fill the empty cradles as Australia needed good White stock," Laurie said.

"The motto was ‘Populate or Perish’. I have literally lived up to it and today have over 70 descendants."



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Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices

Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption


AUSTRALIAN SENATE

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS REFERENCES COMMITTEE


** CLOSING DATE EXTENDED UNTIL 21 NOVEMBER 2011 **

On 15 November 2010 the Senate referred the following matter to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2011:

The Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices, and in particular:

a) the role, if any, of the Commonwealth Government, its policies and practices in contributing to forced adoptions; and

b) the potential role of the Commonwealth in developing a national framework to assist states and territories to address the consequences for the mothers, their families and children who were subject to forced adoption policies.

The Committee invites you to provide a submission addressing the terms of reference above. Submissions should be lodged to the Committee secretariat by COB 28 February 2011. The Committee prefers to receive submissions in the electronic form online or sent by email to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au. For administrative purposes, all submissions must contain full contact and postal details.

Please be advised that submissions are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Publication of submissions includes loading them onto the internet (with contact details removed) and their being available to other interested parties including the media. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not protected. Information relating to Senate Committee inquiries, including notes to assist in the preparation of submissions for a Committee, can be located on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/Committee/wit_sub/index.htm

If you would prefer that your submission remain confidential whereby copies are only given to Committee members please clearly indicate this preference on your submission. Alternatively, if you wish for your information to be made public with your name and identifying information removed please also clearly indicate this preference on your submission.

Enquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Secretariat.

The Committee is due to report by the 21 November 2011. The report will be loaded onto the Internet and may be accessed at www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca. Should you prefer to receive a hard copy of the report, please advise the Secretariat by email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or phone 02 6277 3515.

Should you require further information please contact the Committee Secretariat on 02 6277 3515.

A PhD candidate from Bond University wishes to contact people who had any connections to the Institution for Boys Tamworth from 1948 to 1976. If this is YOU, please go to the website: http://www.institutionforboystamworth.com for relevant information.

I am a PhD candidate at Bond University/


My proposed research will examine the conditions of teenage males during their incarceration at the Institution for Boys (also called Home for Boys) Tamworth (IBT), who had not committed criminal offences before being institutionalised. They were sent to the institution by the Department of Children’s Services (DoCS), not the courts. The question is did the treatment during their institutionalisation have any foundation or links to their adult criminological behaviour? It is also envisaged that this case study will fill a void in Australian history connected to the “Forgotten Australians” and the “Stolen Generation”.


While exploring the major research objective, some issues that relate to it will also be pursued. These include:

1) Why did the Department of Children’s Services (DoCS) send the 16-18 year old males to IBT?

2) How long were the males there and how often?

3) What were IBT’s normal routine, values and culture?

4) What was the nature of the punishment regime at IBT?

5) Was this punishment at IBT a deterrent to future misbehaviour?

6) What effect did the incarceration at IBT have on the inmates, both at the time they were at IBT and when they left IBT?

In order to direct people to my website so they can complete the questionnaires or agree to be interviewed, I am seeking help and advice from relevant organisations.
I would be grateful if you could publish the following information in the Forgotten Australians section of the Families Australia website.


A PhD candidate from Bond University wishes to contact people who had any connections to the Institution for Boys Tamworth from 1948 to 1976. If this is YOU, please go to the website: http://www.institutionforboystamworth.com/ for relevant information.


For any further information, please email me or phone me on 07 55 200101.


Thank you

Dianne McInnes

55 Cassowary Drive

Burleigh Waters Qld 4220

Petition for a Royal Commission

The Forgotten Australians Action Group has organised a petition for a Royal Commission for Forgotten Australians.
Specifically, the petition states:

We the people call on the various State and the Federal governments for a royal commission into the care of 500,000 children who were institutionalised, placed in orphanages and also in foster care during the period of the 1920’s to the 1990’s.

Further information about the petition may be found here.

NSW Support Service for Forgotten Australians

The Minister for Community Services Linda Burney recently opened the statewide Forgotten Australians service to assist those people who were placed in institutions, Children’s Homes and orphanages up to the 1990s. Relationships Australia NSW will operate Wattle Place, the NSW Support Service for Forgotten Australians with $834,000 annual funding provided by the NSW Government.

“What the Forgotten Australians suffered has impacted their lives and has meant many care leavers experience difficulties with trust, relationships and functioning in society,” Anne Hollonds, CEO of Relationships Australia NSW said. “Wattle Place, located in Harris Park and close to transport links, will support the process of healing, sensitively considering their fears, needs and concerns.

The service is available to anyone who grew up in institutional care in NSW, regardless of where they now live in Australia. To contact the NSW Support Service for Forgotten Australians Freecall 1800 663 844, phone 02 8837 7000

Post Care Newsletters

The latest South Australian Post Care newsletter is now available here

Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption

AUSTRALIAN SENATE

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS REFERENCES COMMITTEE

**  CLOSING DATE EXTENDED UNTIL 21 NOVEMBER 2011  **

Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices

On 15 November 2010 the Senate referred the following matter to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2011:
The Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices, and in particular:
a) the role, if any, of the Commonwealth Government, its policies and practices in contributing to forced adoptions; and
b) the potential role of the Commonwealth in developing a national framework to assist states and territories to address the consequences for the mothers, their families and children who were subject to forced adoption policies.

The Committee invites you to provide a submission addressing the terms of reference above. Submissions should be lodged to the Committee secretariat by COB 28 February 2011. The Committee prefers to receive submissions in the electronic form online or sent by email to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au. For administrative purposes, all submissions must contain full contact and postal details.

Please be advised that submissions are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Publication of submissions includes loading them onto the internet (with contact details removed) and their being available to other interested parties including the media. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not protected. Information relating to Senate Committee inquiries, including notes to assist in the preparation of submissions for a Committee, can be located on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/Committee/wit_sub/index.htm

If you would prefer that your submission remain confidential whereby copies are only given to Committee members please clearly indicate this preference on your submission. Alternatively, if you wish for your information to be made public with your name and identifying information removed please also clearly indicate this preference on your submission.

Enquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Secretariat.

The Committee is due to report by the 30 April 2011. The report will be loaded onto the Internet and may be accessed at www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca. Should you prefer to receive a hard copy of the report, please advise the Secretariat by email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or phone 02 6277 3515.

Should you require further information please contact the Committee Secretariat on 02 6277 3515.



Social Workers win Medicare Mental Health campaign, Government backs down

The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) is tonight celebrating a campaign victory for mental health services for low income and disadvantaged people.
The Federal Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, and the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, have announced that the Government has backed down on its decision to remove social workers and occupational therapists from the Better Access to Mental Health Services program (Better Access).

The removal of social workers was part of the May Federal Budget and the AASW and its members have campaigned strongly against the move since then. The Government agreed to postpone the removal of social workers until April 2011.

“We are delighted that the Government has decided to back down from its decision, which would have removed affordable mental health services from thousand of low income and disadvantaged Australians,” said AASW National President, Professor Bob Lonne.

“The decision shows that the Government listened to the strong campaign run by the AASW and its members. These specialist clinical social workers and their clients will be delighted that they can continue to offer affordable high quality services,” said AASW Acting CEO Karl Charikar.

The removal of social workers from the Better Access program:

* Was not discussed with the AASW or it members prior to budget night in May

* Jeopardised services to tens of thousands of people, as 67% of  social workers bulk bill some or all of their clients

* Would have been particularly hard on people in rural and regional areas, where there are few alternative professionals. 37% of social workers in the program work in regional and rural areas.

* Represented a cost saving of only 4% to the Better Access program budget.

Social workers play a vital role in public mental health services, and also provide high skilled clinical interventions though Better Access, ATAPS (Access to Allied Psychological Service) and other programs. The AASW is pleased that the Government has indicated that it recognizes the value of these clinical services and looks forward to continue to work with the Government to offer advice on the development of services to Australians with mental health issues.

The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing will speak tonight (Friday) at the AASW AGM in Brisbane, where he will launch the new AASW Code of Ethics.

Further information: Karl Charikar — 0435 201198 Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)

ACT to apologise to mothers forced to give up babies

The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a motion calling for an apology to women affected by forced adoptions. Greens Leader Meredith Hunter put forward the motion to recognise women who were forced to give up their babies under past Commonwealth policies between the 1940s and 1980s.
Ms Hunter told the Assembly a national inquiry should be conducted and the ACT Government should also apologise to those affected. "We have a responsibility to understand what happened and to do our best to ease that suffering," she said.

Community Services Minister Joy Burch amended the motion so the Government apologises on behalf of the Assembly and the wider community. "It's incumbent on all members to apologise as well as the Government," she said.

Western Australia made a similar apology earlier this month

Apology to child migrants by Children's Services

An apology has been given to child migrants who were sent to Australia by Cornwall's Children's Services in the 1950s and '60s.  Lead councillor for the department, Neil Burden, made the statement to apologise "for the hurt caused". It is thought that about 3,500 children were sent to Australia after the Second World War for a more prosperous future.Many of those child migrants have since told of their sexual, physical and emotional abuse in the country.
Jan Barby was sent in the 1950s to a farm near Orange, west of Sydney, when she was seven-years-old with her two brothers. She has since told of the sexual and physical abuse she suffered while working on the farm.

"It's devastating. It [the farm] will gradually fall down and everyone will forget," Ms Barby said. "I would like people to know that it wasn't a holiday farm like they all seem to think. It should never happen again.
"It's [the apology] not personally going to change my life, because they can't give back what they've taken from my life can they."
Mr Burden was prompted to write the apology after learning that Ms Barby was returning to Cornwall to visit Camborne. In the apology Mr Burden said: "Many children were living in very difficult conditions in the 1950s and 60s and being sent to an orphanage was often their only alternative to a life of poverty.

"I am in no doubt that that those in charge were doing what they thought was in the best interests of these children - Australia was seen as a land of hope, space and opportunity - a great place of adventure.

"I know that many of these are still haunted by what happened to them and I would, I am sure, be joined by many people in Cornwall in offering sincere apologies for the hurt caused."

Eddie Butler, who was sent to Perth from a Catholic orphanage in Bodmin, said: "It's nice to think that we're being thought about.

"I was sent out without my mother's permission, and I never saw my mother again. It's too late now, there's nothing they can do.

"I was brought out when I was 10 years of age. Taken to a hell hole in Western Australia abused in all manners and then 16 years of age put onto the streets of Perth."

Mr Butler said he hoped to use a fund set up by the British government so he and his wife could visit Cornwall.

In 2009 the Australian government apologised for the abuse suffered by the child migrants and this year Gordon Brown made an apology on behalf of the successive UK governments.

A fund of $6m was organised by the Child Migrant's Trust for child migrants to use to visit Cornwall or trace their family.

Rex Wade, was the last child migrant, along with his brother, to be sent to a children's home in Tasmania in 1970.

From one care home to another - but they were thousands of miles apart. He has since returned to Cornwall and lives in St Columb near Newquay.

He said: "It's very noble of him to admit that they have made errors.

"It has come a little too late, but what else can be done now. It affects me everyday, because I don't think it's been closed fully yet.

"It's just knowing that somewhere there's more family and half the time I don't know where to look."

There are no exact numbers of children sent out to Australia, but the Child Migrants Trust estimates about 3,500 made that journey after World War II.

Professor of modern British history at Lancaster University, Stephen Constantine said: "I think it's [the apology] a very important part of enabling child migrants to understand their own position and to get recognition for the hurt they suffered.

"I think the story will not be forgotten. This is now very firmly in the records."

6 September 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11200452