ANZUK servicemen: Servicemen in the Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom forces.
Billy: A small, tin bucket with handle, typically hung over a fire to boil water and to make tea.
Boozer (slang): A bar; a place where alcohol is served.
Craybobs: Freshwater crayfish.
Damper: A traditional Australian soda bread prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers. It consists of a wheat–flour–based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire.
Holsworthy: A notoriously harsh Australian military prison.
Jack–rabbiting: Running and jumping in a manner similar to a rabbit running from a threat.
Kissing crust: When an unsliced loaf of bread is broken through the centre, the first slice from the middle on each side is uneven but soft. This is referred to as the ‘kissing crust’ (Otherwise known as the ‘fly crust’).
Kombi: A panel van/mini bus produced by Volkswagen and introduced in 1950.
Laminex: A plastic–like, washable–surface sheeting typically applied to table tops and kitchen counters.
Linoleum: (informally abbreviated to lino) An extremely durable floor covering made from renewable materials, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; popularly used to cover kitchen, bathroom and laundry floors.
Motza (slang): Much, a great deal.
Nappies: Short for napkins, a term used in Australia for babies’ diapers.
Removal policies: Social policies that endorsed the removal of children from their family homes by welfare workers who claimed to find evidence of neglect or abuse. Removed children were incarcerated in institutions or sent to foster homes where many suffered severe deprivation and emotional, physical and often sexual abuse. Such policies, which were in effect in Australia from the 1920s to the early 1970s, often resulted in the improper removal (theft) of children from families affected by poverty, illness or temporary incapacity.
Rounders: A game played with a bat and ball, somewhat similar to baseball.
Steelie: A marble made of a silver–coloured metal such as steel, used in a game of marbles.
Six of the best: A term used to refer to a punishment typically inflicted on school–boys in Australia up to the late 1960s. It usually consisted of six strokes of the cane on the open palms, usually three strokes on each hand. On occasions, the cane was applied to the buttocks or a belt, strap or ruler was used.
Stolen Generation: A term controversially used to refer to Aboriginal children stolen from their families, allegedly to integrate them into white society. The term is not typically used in reference to white stolen children. It is not officially recognised that white children were stolen. The wrongful implication that white children were taken for cause, and should blame their parents, compounds the pain stolen whites suffer.
The pictures (as in “into town to the… ”): The movie theatre.
Utility (or ute): A small coupe–style truck.
Yabbies: Another term used for craybobs (freshwater crayfish).
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When I began to write this book, the man on whom the character Paul Wilson is based recorded this account of his experience:
A Child Welfare Inspector burst into my family home in September, 1956.
He burst in like Satan, unannounced and unwelcome, into an idyllic world. He came to tear that world to shreds, destroying my father’s pride and strength, parting loved ones, bringing terror and darkness to a world that had known neither.
I didn’t understand the persistent explanations or the promises the man made. The significance of the courtroom and the black–robed man with worried brow escaped me, except that it brought indescribable fear. The kindly social worker lady terrified me, and her words confused. I understood only my dad’s angry scowls, cursing, spitting and tears; my sisters’ sobs, and my own terror.
Weeks of hunger and cold were forgotten. My father’s black moods were permanently erased from my memory. Only boyhood adventure, Dad’s tall tales and the warmth of my mother’s hugs were stamped indelibly on my young mind as a black sedan urged forward, carrying me into a terrifying unknown.
On 8th October, 1956, a month before my eighth birthday, two sisters#Endnote and I were charged in a N.S.W. Children’s Court with the crime of being neglected children. I was sentenced to four year’s incarceration in a Children’s Home.
Twice my sentence was extended as a consequence of a social worker’s lies. Ultimately, I was deprived of my freedom for 17 years, and as a consequence, denied the right to choose my career or my destiny.
In April 1974 --- aged 26 and a father of two --- I found my parents, two brothers I last saw as infants, and six younger siblings I had never known. I was welcomed back into a poor but happy, loving family in which eight children had grown up healthy, happy and emotionally well–adjusted. I learnt to know and deeply love a father who had walked 73 miles each way to try to find me and take me home, only to face cruel lies and be turned away without seeing the little boy who peered, unknowingly, from an upstairs window, at the shadowy figure of his dad.
Forced to suffer the most awful pain life can inflict on a woman, my mother, in her own words, “had other children to care for, so just had to keep on, somehow”, but cried herself to sleep every night for 18 years, and probably many nights thereafter, still haunted by misplaced guilt and bad memories. Where did she find the strength and courage to get up every morning?
On February 13, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the so–called Stolen Generation. He didn’t apologise to me or to thousands of other stolen Australians. He didn’t apologise to my parents for the indescribable agony of being denied all knowledge of the whereabouts or well-being of their offspring.
I was stolen --- twice. I am a white, native–born, fifth–generation Australian.
I learnt the full extent of bureaucratic bungling and heartlessness on 6th April 2008, when, for the first time, I was permitted to read the records of my youth. I learnt the reason for my removal was that my war–injured father, unaware of veteran pension entitlements and never assisted to secure them --- even in his infirm old age --- couldn’t afford enough blankets to provide each of his five children with their own separate bed.
I inquired about suing the N.S.W. Government for kidnapping and wrongful incarceration. I was advised that it was too late. The effluxion of time would be deemed to have compromised the Government’s defence. By withholding records for 52 years, wrongdoers apparently escape all obligations to answer for their crimes and successfully deny their victims the right to redress.
In November 2009, Mr Rudd made a hollow, low–key apology for the abuse and deprivation I suffered while “in care”. There was no apology for the greatest hurt of all. On 8th October 1956, I was deprived of a fundamental and essential right of all human beings: the right to be me.
Thousands of white Australians were stolen from families by negligent or misguided child welfare authorities, often for no better reason than because families were poor. Welfare workers not only removed children in preference to implementing other readily–available and cost–effective remedies --- such as helping parents access benefits to which they were legally entitled --- but often lied to keep children in care. Boosting the number of children in care ensured funds continued to flow to the Government department that kept welfare workers employed. Many workers received generous gifts from the Homes that operated at substantial profit by depriving children of all but the most basic essentials.
In addition to the many benefits accessible to Aborigines solely on the basis of their race, a formal apology has been made to those Aborigines who claim to have been stolen and to their descendants. Stolen whites have received neither formal acknowledgement nor compensation. In some States, minor compensation has been paid to men and women who suffered abuse as children in institutional or foster care, but those incarcerated in N.S.W. institutions received nothing.
Unlike Aborigines, stolen whites enjoy neither the support of the “mob’’, nor public sympathy generated by very public outcries about the injustices they suffered. Taught to be ashamed of their past, most kept to themselves and kept their childhood and family history a guilty secret. Generally poorly educated and skilled, and often suffering health issues as a result of childhood abuse and deprivation, they were prevented by financial challenges both from seeking out fellow victims and from pursuing legal remedy. More recently, groups such as CLAN have publicised the abuse many suffered in institutions, but have failed to expose the ugliest truths of past sins against children and have been unsuccessful in persuading governments to make reparation or offer realistic aid. Despite strong recommendations from the Federal Senate, the N.S.W. Government continues to refuse compensation or assistance. CLAN has, however, succeeded in easing the feeling of shame and facilitated reunions of men and women who grew up together and share unique bonds.
Successful legal actions for compensation are virtually impossible due the effluxion of time. Withholding records and poor record keeping by authorities obstructs justice. The literacy and psychological capacity of victims, the emotional strain of reliving their trauma, access to and emotional strain on potential witnesses, and the high costs associated with any attempt to access legal remedies, discourage attempted claims.
Stolen white children, denied healthcare, education, employment opportunities, and permanently damaged by deprivation and abuse, were left to struggle through life without assistance or benefits of any kind --- not even recognition. Many who survive are now ageing in poor health due to abuse and deprivation in childhood. Many are desperately poor, and all still struggle with psychological damage caused by the wrongs they suffered.
Although a totally factual biography would be impossible given the effects of trauma on memory and the sensitivities of some of the characters involved, this story was written to expose the ugly truth.
FOOTNOTE: Although only one sister is mentioned in this story --- at the specific request of the man on whom the character Paul Wilson is based --- in fact three children were taken: a boy aged 7, a 9-year-old sister, and a 5-year-old-sister.
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Little of worth is ever achieved alone, and what we do in isolation rarely brings much joy.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my editor, Robb Grindstaff, for his helpful advice and encouragement, without which I doubt this work would have ever been completed; to Barbara Scott of A Woman’s Write, whose encouraging words motivated me to make yet another critical revision; and to Diana Hockley, who so generously gave her time and expertise to help me apply that all–important final coat of polish to the manuscript. Also to all my wonderful friends on Authonomy who have been so supportive.
Thanks are due to my wonderful family: my mother, daughters Suzie and Danie, son Garrick, sons–in–law, daughter–in–law (now, tragically, deceased) and adored grandchildren for their love, encouragement and support.
Most importantly, I owe a huge debt to my wonderful husband, Peter, who throws his untiring support behind my every endeavour, and whose love and companionship makes waking every morning a joy. Only his insistent modesty prevents me naming him as co–author. He is “the wind beneath my wings”.
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This book is dedicated to the memory of Lesley and Edith Tuck, in humble recognition of their dedication, generosity and hard work loving and caring for homeless children.
I attended a reunion of some of ‘their boys’ a few years ago. One of those present proposed a toast to Les and Ede. It brought tears to my eyes when over two dozen men, middle aged and older, raised their glasses and, with no prompting, chorused “To Mum and Dad”. There could be no more fitting tribute to the memory of a couple who gave so much to kids who had so little.
In the words of one of those who loved them, “If they aren’t saints in heaven, they’ll do me until some come along”.
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To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”
E.E. Cummings
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
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Until around the mid–1970s, government policy across Australia was to remove children they considered to be “at risk” in their home environment. The story of “The Stolen Generation’’ is now well known internationally, but the whole truth hasn’t been told. Children weren’t taken solely because of their race. They stole white kids too.
Welfare legislation authorising the removal of children from poverty–stricken homes was enacted by people who were untrained and unable or unwilling to acknowledge that lack of money did not mean a bad home life. Children were removed to institutions where they suffered deprivation, abuse, separation from family and withholding of affection that scarred them for life.
Financial benefits accrued to welfare workers and churches through increasing the number of wards of the state. Increased government funding of welfare departments meant more jobs, and churches profited by keeping children on subsistence diets and dressed in rags, spending far less than the government allowances provided for the children committed to their care.
This is the story of one of the victims of this policy.
Although the story framework (the journey with the lawyer) is fiction, and details have been changed, most of the incidents related happened as described. To create a story --- and because memory is sometimes unreliable, interpretations and perspectives vary, and access to detailed knowledge of some incidents is limited --- creative licence has been taken in describing some people and places and relating details of events and conversations. Names of people and places have been changed, but some characters are named, or may be recognisable as known persons.
The story is told from diverse observations and fragmented and sometimes unreliable memories, including memories of individuals whose perspective was shaped by trauma and years of suffering pain, struggle and cruel injustices. There is no intention to defame or criticise individuals about whose life, other deeds, endeavours and deeper motives and intentions neither the author nor the protagonist has knowledge. Rather, the goal is to expose how their thinking and conduct in specific situations was influenced by a flawed system and the social prejudices of the day; and how it was perceived by, reacted to and affected the victims of society’s failure.
The condemnation of those who continue, today, to misrepresent history, to discriminate based on race, and to deny victims fair reparation and assistance is, however, deliberate and made without apology.
The author endeavoured to be true to the protagonist's memories and representations, and to accurately reflect his thoughts and feelings, although her own experiences and emotions inevitably influenced the way this story was written.
THANK YOU FOR READING. Please email me your feedback, comments and questions, or connect with me online at https://www.facebook.com/lcobcroft.
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