FORGOTTEN GENERATION

Kevin Rudd, on Monday 16th, apologised to more than half a million Australians who suffered physically and emotionally at the hands of 'carers' in institutions around Australia from the 1920's.

My friend, Peter O'Donnell, grew up in St John's Boys' Orphanage, Goulburn, in the 1940's and 1950's. The orphanage was run by nuns with the occasional priest called to administer severe punishments.

Some of the punishments Peter remembers having nightmares over include:

One night a young boy in his dormitory was crying because he had stomach cramps and an ear ache. Sister Gabriel knelt beside his bed and told him that if he didn't stop crying she would whack him in the ear. He didn't stop and she continued to hit. This ruptured his eardrum and he later died in hospital. This was not the only death during his time there but these children just disappeared and were not spoken of again.

The cane. Hands were placed on the desk, face down, whilst 'six of the best' were administered.

Oiled strap. This leather strap was soaked in oil before punishment to give it an extra impact and was given in front of the entire orphanage, which at any time could be up to 100 kids aged from 2-16.

Corn rubbing. This punishment involved crawling under the nun's desk to massage her feet for anything up to an hour at a time. Peter was continually called for this punishment, even if he wasn't talking in class or doing anything wrong. He remembers being exhausted but too frightened to ask whether he could stop as it was, after all, better than the cane. He laughingly bragged about being the best at this activity because he was called up more often than any of the others.

One night, at 3am, four of them escaped and headed into Goulburn with their little sacks. They were heading for the bush. Unfortunately they were noticed by a cop and caught by 5 am. Punishment was not given until 2 weeks later and in those two weeks they waited, terrified, knowing that something was planned. Those 2 weeks of waiting were worse than the actual punishment which was eventually dealt with the oiled strap on legs and arms in front of the frightened assembly.

Food. He remembers they looked forward to the days when the cook made the soup. They waited outside the door for the bones to be thrown out. They would grab these, break them in half and eat the marrow. They also remember getting very sick from eating orange berries - peel and all, as they were so hungry.

Medical. Each Sunday they were lined up for their dose of Epson Salts. If anyone was caught talking they were given their dose then sent back to the end of the line and given another dose. This second dose was the cause of many cramps and was to be avoided at all costs. Even though they were very careful to be on their best behaviour, there was always a couple sent back - they thought this was for the amusement of the administrators.

Sexual Abuse? Peter's has no memory of sexual abuse happening. The only odd thing he remembers was that some of the older boys would come around after midnight with torches and pull off the bed clothes of some of the boys. He always pretended to be asleep so that they wouldn't come near him. He does remember having his bed clothes pull away and the torch shone on his face, but that was all that happened to him.


There are over half a million of these stories around Australia including some 10,000 British children send here during World War II. These children were told they were orphans only to find out in their 40's and 50's that it had been a lie and they were able to trace their relatives.

Included in the apologies on Monday was one from the Melbourne University which admitted that they used the children in these institutions as guinea pigs in the testing of trial medicines to cure childhood complaints such as whooping cough etc.