The Pied Piper

You seemed to question whether children know to complain to parents when they are ill-treated.

I will answer it this way.
New boys (I was in a boy's orphanage) not knowing the system would complain.
They quickly learnt what would happen when they did and no longer complained.

Too often parents were guilty of ignoring complaints, assuming these "good people" would not ill-treat children. They are church people, serving God so would not lies, etc. Yeah!! Read what has come to fore over the past few years and believe it.

Older boys who had been there for a longer time would no longer complain, knowing it was useless and painful.

I remember my first day at the orphanage. I had travelled down from the far north by steam train and as a young 8 year old was”knackered.
When left at the orphanage I was given the task called early, early getups. They were the children who got up to prepare breakfast.
The next ones went on early getups and they set the dining room for breakfast.
Then there were the normal getups. These children got ready for breakfast and commenced their normal duties of cleaning, making beds, etc.
Unfortunately, for me, I slept right through until normal getups. When the matron saw me, she wanted to know why I was not on duty. I stared at her, not knowing what she was on about. She told me to go to her office and I was belted on the back of the hand with a piece of butter box. My hands swelled up and started to bleed. When she saw what had happened to my hands, she took me to the kitchen where she applied butter to "soothe" them.

continued

Pied Piper
Continued.

In the orphanage 1939-1945, I worked as a duty boy and ultimately a head duty boy (approx 8 year old). It was not paid work either.
Your job was to supervise the other duty boys. If their work was considered unsatisfactory, you received a hiding as well as the duty boy.

I was also responsible for the care of two boys in iron crosses because of polio and rheumatic fever.
Another, a five year-old who had cancer. A further one was a three year old who could not sit up and had to be fed, washed and clothing changed.

They were my personal duties, separate from that as head duty boy.

Time off, I was often sent to the gardens to work, especially the vegetable garden.

It was little wonder I was a loner, keeping to myself.

In a boys orphanage you did not have contact with those "strange people" and I was easily embarrassed when one addressed me. I did not know what to say.

Whether I would accept an apology. A difficult question.
I guess it depends on whether the apology was a genuine one or merely an apology made because it was politically correct. This is one problem facing the stolen generations.
I know cases where an apology was offered along with a token "payment without prejudice". If the offer was unacceptable, then it went to court and perhaps a wait of years before justice. This then begs the sincerity of the apology. The value of compensation did not depend on the fact that you had been mistreated. If you were strong then the offer was less. The offer for brutality was less than those sexually abused.
I remember the people and the treatment I received as if it was yesterday.
I have heard people who have no comprehension say, “Get on with it. It is in the past”.
While I realise we need to start somewhere, I am pointing out the issues that need to be addressed. This will not be easy to understand by those who have never experienced the treatment.

Professori_au

Hey Professori, it was all horrible and I imagine as a child you couldn’t see an end to it. These adults around you, do you think they got stuck somewhere, were always mean or just never stopped to think about what they were doing...I really worry about how cultures build up in an organizations. That matron stopped and had a think or felt guilt aye and obviously it really affected you how she could do that and then try and make it better. You having to look after sick and dying kids/toddlers is heartbreaking.

On another site yesterday a message came up from a parent whose child had been physically hurt in care. For the child the damage must go so beyond the physical as that feeling of being undefended would make any hurt so much worse. Messages from the parents of children in foster care being hurt is common and even if mum or dad listens, is outraged and complains they are often ignored. I had a young mum recently who e-mailed me in a panic with her baby having bruises and the older children telling her what the foster mum was doing. She was ignored until the daycare worker complained. This government still wont listen.

If a foster parent complains about a child not being treated well or a child in distress we are completely disregarded. We have no voice and no rights and are not allowed to publicly (and specifically) complain.

I wouldn’t accept an apology, how could it be heartfelt or sincere. An acknowledgement with compensation would be one decent thing the government could do. HuffnPuff said all the records are gone and that the proof of you all being in these places has been misplaced or destroyed? Is there a register of you all? How does “sorry” work, they just do it whether you want it or not?

Max I hope Huff was well in his cups, I get to see little children in state care that are not being well cared for, this system ignores it still and Huff was being a complete dropkick.

sorry for my out burst here yesterday but i had been very emotionial about a lot of things

some days are diffrent to others

pied piper

your coments are fair and i shouldn't dwell on myself and keep going forward and continue the fight for all

you don't relize that i have every document that i submitted to the supreme court and yes even that of my own dealings with the law , ive not hidden no secrets of my past from the courts ,

the crown lawyers for the state of new south wales stated last year in front of three judges these , log books of records such as isolation cell records log books , excursion log book records . misconduct record log books , were destroyed or lost or misplaced ,
how convienate

i the victim that has been fighting the new south wales goverment for ten years for justice

the state lawyers say in front of the judges the records are gone why destroy them if the goverment had nothing to hide

the thing is we are all fighting for what we suffered and it does eat at you, some people are diffrent as to how they can handle things others not so well

im sorry to have upset anyone here on olo and anyone in canberra on 25th june at parliament house

and no i did not have any drink or druks in me when i wrote here in the last few days as i have been a non drinker for a long time or drug user

their is a lot of diffrence from a smack,

to being bashed hit over the head raped and abused and been made a slave by the state institutions of australia we victims were in

it is hard for a lot of us i will put another post here in a minute where you can watch the media confrence at canberra 25/06/2009

that way you will see and hear our hurt
huffnpuff

please all have a read and watch these then you all will know how hurt victims can be when justice is being covered up , why do you all think the stolen generation had their out rage

regards huffnpuff

Apology ordered for 'forgotten' Australians
Email to friend Print Enlarge text 25 June 2009 | 08:10:06 PM | Source: Ben Fajzullin, SBS and AFP

Hundreds of thousands of children were subjected to abuse while in institutional care, according to a parliamentary report. (SBS)
The federal government should apologise to children who were abused and assaulted in institutional care, a parliamentary report recommends.

Outrage from 'forgotten Australians'

The Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Revisited report tracked the progress of the recommendations of a 2004 report, Forgotten Australians, and the 2001 report Lost Innocents.
Those reports documented hundreds of disturbing accounts of child abuse and neglect of children, many indigenous, in out-of-home care.
The new report recommends the government apologise to the victims, as previously recommended in Forgotten Australians.
The government should request apologies and redress from relevant church and religious agencies, which it said showed "a lack of proper acknowledgement of the issues raised" in the original reports.
The government should also provide further financial support for former child migrants to re-establish family connections, the report said.
Around 100 people who were in the public galleries clapped and cried as the report was handed down.


'Forgotten children' remembered
Source: ABC News
Published: Monday, June 29, 2009 8:41 AEST (Stateline

I am relived you are still with us Huff hon.

You do need to know that staying around is important, the message is getting through after all this time and Australia cannot lose anymore Forgotten Ones. I think the children need you all too.

I’m not talking “smacks” but small lives in misery. Unprotected, undefended, uncared for and unnoticed. These days the privacy laws keep the children hidden and there is still no process in place or authority that can step in and help once they become state wards.
The money involved is huge so I am rapidly seeing why I wont be heard or be able to make a change for all my ranting.

I hope you get Justice which I understand is far different from an apology.

But you must stay and add your voice for the ones gone, and to those standing beside you. Please don’t forget the little ones following.