Invitation to a discussion session about Find & Connect – a national web resource for the Forgotten Australians

Monday 23 January 2012

Invitation to a discussion session. 

Find & Connect – a national web resource for the Forgotten Australians

Tuesday 14 February 2012, 1:00pm – 3.30pm

National Museum of Australia

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing on behalf of the National Find & Connect web resource project team working out of the University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University. This project has been funded by the Commonwealth Government to create a national Find & Connect web resource through which Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants will be able to search for information about children’s Homes, guides to records of Homes, information about government policies and relevant legislation and other information related to their time in care.  

The Find & Connect web resource can be viewed at www.findandconnect.gov.au. Find & Connect comprises eight state/territory websites and an overarching national website. Please note: this web resource is in its first phase; more information will be added over the next three years.

You’ve been identified as a key person whose knowledge and experience would be of value to the development of the Find & Connect web resource.

Members of the Find & Connect project team including Rachel Tropea, Sarah Green and I, will be coming to Canberra on Tuesday 14 February and would like to meet with you – the attached agenda will give you a sense of the matters to be discussed on the day. The meeting will be held at the National Museum of Australia, the exact room location will be posted at the front desk of the Museum.

This is a keystone project that will have a significant impact on building our national identity, and we really welcome your interest and involvement.  Please email me at sorpin@unimelb.edu.au to rsvp, or call on 03 9035 4760 to discuss. 

Yours sincerely,

Sally Orpin Communications and Liaison Officer Find & Connect Project

email: sorpin@unimelb.edu.au tel: 03 9035 4760

Initial Stakeholder Meeting

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Time: 1.00pm – 3.30pm

Venue: National Museum of Australia

AGENDA

1. Introductions

2. Purpose of the meeting

3. Introducing the Find & Connect ACT web resource

• Content of ‘Version 1’
• Strategies for linking Find & Connect web resource to support services – client liaison, feedback, referrals
• Underlying principles for working together - the Knowledge Diamond

4. Getting involved with Find & Connect ACT and further development of the web resource (2012-2014)

5. Discussion of key issues, priorities for ACT stakeholders

6. Wrap-up and next steps

Afternoon tea provided

rsvp to Sally Orpin sorpin@unimelb.edu.au  (preferred) or 03 9035 4760

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Getting to the National Museum of Australia.

The National Museum of Australia is located on Acton Peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, just a short drive south-west of the city centre. Access is via Lawson Crescent, Acton.

View larger Google map

National Museum of Australia
Lawson Crescent
Acton Peninsula
Canberra ACT 2601

Freecall 1800 026 132
Tel +61 2 6208 5000
Fax +61 2 6208 5148
information@nma.gov.au

Parking

• All on-site parking is free and has a 4-hour limit.
• Disabled parking facilities are available close to the National Museum's main entrance.
• A bus and coach parking area is close to the main entrance.
• Parking areas for caravans, motorhomes, campervans and trailers are also available.

 

 

Local bus services

• Action bus number 3 operates to the National Museum on weekdays and number 934 on the weekends. For route and timetable information and fares visit the ACTION website.
• The Explorer Bus offers a tour bus service to tourist attractions in the national capital. For route and timetable information and fares visit the Canberra Day Tours website.

Cycling

• Bicycle paths lead to the National Museum and bicycle racks are available for your use.
• A map of bicycle paths can be found on the Department of Territory and Municipal Services website.

Walking

• Enjoy a walk to the National Museum from the city on the bicycle/walking paths along the northern shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
• A map of walking paths can be found on the ACT Planning and Land Authority website.

Inside Children's Homes forum

School for Killers

School for Killers

More than 35 violent deaths in Australia have been linked to men who attended the same, often brutal, boys' home when they were teenagers, an ABC investigation has confirmed. Fifteen of these deaths led to convictions for either murder or manslaughter. The Institution for Boys, Tamworth was established in 1947 as a place of punishment for boys aged 15 to 18 who absconded from other boys' homes.

Past Adoption Experiences

This national research project aims to identify the support and service needs of people affected by past adoption policies and practices, particularly closed adoption processes in place until the 1990s.

It is hoped that people who have been touched by adoption experiences will take part in the study. This includes mothers and fathers, people who were adopted, adoptive parents, and other family members. Information is being collected using an online survey, in-depth interviews and hard-copy surveys by request.

AIFS contact: Pauline Kenny

FaHCSIA contact: Rachel Croome

Forget-me-knot Day 2011

The New South Wales representative for the Alliance for Forgotten Australians, Ms Pamella Vernon, attended the Forget-me-knot Day event at Redfern Park on Saturday 12th November 2011, facilitated by South Sydney Uniting Church, supported by St. Vincent de Paul, Lions Club and Adult Survivors of Child Abuse.

Forget-me-knot Day 2011

Forget-me-Knot day, November 19th is only 5 weeks away!  There’s still time to get involved. 

Here’s a sample of the events scheduled:

· Join in one of the scheduled events

“Sydney untangles the knot of Child abuse” in Redfern Park 11am Saturday 12th November, facilitated by South Sydney Uniting Church, supported by St. Vincent de Paul, Lions Club.

· Ask your local faith-based community to hold a service

Forget-me-knot Evensong at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, Perth on November 6th at 5 pm. A quiet, reflective, prayerful service for all those whose concern is for adult survivors of child abuse. Prayer and music followed by a reception for those who wish to enjoy some fellowship afterwards

· Order your tangled knot pins

Forget - Many people forget that adults abused as children often need help to do those things others take for granted.

Me -  ASCA works to empower survivors.

Knot - When children are abused they become confused. Even as adults, life can be chaotic and tangled.

· Hold an event and fundraise for ASCA at :www.everydayhero.com.au/event/FMKD2011

CMAX Cinemas Palmerston 3 Maluka Street, Palmerston NT Saturday 19th November 3.30 pm. ASCA Presents a Screening of MONEYBALL (M) starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill to support Forget-me-knot Day


To find out more go to www.asca.org.au/forgetmeknot or join us facebook. Unite in support of adult survivors this Forget-me-knot Day!

Launch of Recipes for Survival: Stories of Hope and Healing by Survivors of the State ‘Care’ System in Australia

Please Join us for the Launch of Recipes for Survival: Stories of Hope and Healing by Survivors of the State ‘Care’ System in Australia.

Saturday, 22nd October 2011 at 2:00 pm.

The Book Launch will be held at

Relationships Australia
49a Orsmond Street HINDMARSH SA 5007

Please RSVP to drdeemichell@bigpond.com or phone 041 444 7675

People’s Voice Publishing

PO Box 582 Elizabeth South Australia 5112

Life inside Westbrook Children's Home, from the perspective of a survivor

Seminar - National Museum of Australia (NMA) Thursday 1 September 2011


Time: 12.30-1.30

Venue: NMA Friends Lounge

Topic: Life inside Westbrook Children's Home, from the perspective of a survivor.
Speaker: Al Fletcher
Alfred Fletcher was sent to Westbrook Farm Home for Boys in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, in the 1960s. He was 15 years old. He lived there for two and a half years until he succeeded in running away. He likens his time there to living in a concentration camp. He endured floggings that tore his flesh, torture and abuse. Al records his experiences at Westbrook in his book, Brutal: surviving Westbrook Boys Home which was published in 2006 and re-released in 2010.
After Al escaped from Westbrook he worked as a merchant seaman and horticulturalist. He married, has grown up children and now lives in a Bayside suburb of Brisbane.

His story is one of many that will be included in the upcoming NMA exhibition Inside: Life in Children's Homes. Westbrook was established in 1900 by the Queensland Government to reform boys. In 1994 there was an inquiry into the operation of Westbrook and it was closed down.
See http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/qld/content/2006/s1611318.htm
Everyone is welcome, BYO lunch.

‘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."



(END)

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.