by Adele Chynoweth on 7 November, 2011
The blog will be closed on November 16, 2011 the day that the exhibition Inside: Life in Children’s Homes and Institutions is open at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Last day for sending posts for the Inside website is 9 November.
Comments and responses can be made up close of business November 16, 2011.
Just when we have trust in a website without any hassles the funding gets cut. What are Forgotten Australians supposed to do when this exhibition INSIDE Life in Children’s homes travels and reaches more Forgotten Australians that have no idea that there ever was a Senate Inquiry into State, Church and Charity Institutions , reformatories, Orphanages , Psychiatric Hospital’s, Children’s prisons and Out of Home care.
We need someone to support and keep this open for other FA to know there are other people out there to be able to talk to that experienced what they did as Children.. We need this for our families to be able to read and understand there family. We need this site to be able to make contact with family and for some; this site is the only Family some of us have.
Come on Jenny Macklin ( FaCSIA) give us a break this is really just drip feeding for what we have experienced in our lives being Screwed while being State Wards and Screwed by the churches. Why don’t some of these same providers made to put there hand in there pockets and made support this website to keep Forgotten Australians alive???? We need a Royal Commission in all States into past and present abuse into church State and charities that have Vulnerable Children in there “care”
Thanks Jay, Adele and other workers being behind the scene at the NMA for letting so many Forgotten Australians shed there layers they have carried for far to long some for nearly a life time.
We are not even 2 years into the project and the Federal government now wishes to pull the pin on a project that has been worth while for many Forgotten Australians.
To date we have had many inquiries and many recommendations and all we have seen is a lot of decorating and nothing substantial to help the Forgotten Australians.
Find and Connect a doubling up of a service we are already able to get in every state; $25 million dollars could have been spent elsewhere on the Forgotten Australians.
Part of those funds could have been directed on this site allowing Forgotten Australians to contribute to this site however after the 16th of this month it is to be closed.
Everywhere we as Forgotten Australians look to see what has been done for them has all been superficial nothing substantial nothing with substance just a lot of window dressing to create an illusion we are been cared for.
To date we have many Forgotten Australians in Prisons, in mental Hospitals, homeless and suffering from PMT, what has the Federal or any state Government done that is of noteworthy for the Forgotten Australians, challenged the Forgotten Australians when it comes to legal matters.
Those who had harmed us as children are the same organisations the Federal and State governments still fund today as they did yesterday.
It is a great travesty to let this site fall over after only 2 years, so many Forgotten Australians have poured their hearts out on this blog and now they wish to shut it down.
Our stories are not finished yet, we have a litany of stories to tell and should be read by all those who browse to this site.
KEEP THE SITE OPEN
It is a story that has not been finished yet.
What are Forgotten Australians supposed to do when this exhibition INSIDE Life in Children’s homes travels and reaches more Forgotten Australians that have no idea that there ever was a Senate Inquiry into State, Church and Charity Institutions , reformatories, Orphanages , Psychiatric Hospital’s, Children’s prisons and Out of Home care. We need someone to support and keep this open for other FA to know there are other people out there to be able to talk to that experienced what they did as Children.. We need this for our families to be able to read and understand there family. give us a break this is really just drip feeding for what we have experienced in our lives being Screwed while being State Wards and Screwed by the churches. Why don’t some of these same providers made to put there hand in there pockets and made support this website to keep Forgotten Australians alive???? We need a Royal Commission in all States into past and present abuse into church State and charities that have Vulnerable Children in there “care” plus funding plus redress for state that didn’t get one and also more quicker getting files to people and understand our needs. we are people just like you not a number . we are just as important as everyone else please don’t close nation museum cheers donna
This is so disturbing to me,and no doubt to all the FA that have contributed to this.Also all the work that has been put into it so far.Surely the goverment won’t go broke funding this,it is like being deprived of another thing in our lives.Do any of them have a heart at all.I know so many will be depressed over this,again.Please keep this sight open for tje sake of all FA. Thank you Adele,Jay,George.
Thank you Adele for all the work put into this site. I am so upset that this site will close. It is an awesome resource where many have contributed their stories. I hope there can be a way so the site can remain open, Helena
This blog should remain up in order for Forgotten Australians to process the impact of the exhibit with Adele as our sensitive moderator. It fills a purpose, its useful. It cobbles together people who have been cut off from society and fragmented in their private pain. What a shame that it will be cut off when it served us so well.
So the Forgotten Australians become Forgotten again tell us something NEW. So much for the Government standing with us . They have never looked after us when we were wards of the State under their care but never did they check up on us, never did they care enough for us to mean something to them. They put on a show to say sorry but don’t follow it through with ACTION like letting this Site remain open
What are the “real” reasons behind this website closing down by the NMA?
i formally request for this site,INSIDE CHILDRENS HOMES, to be maintained,closing it is an absolute show of disrespect to all who have been through the systems in Australia and where abused sexully,physically and emotionally,i am one of them a FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIAN,i truly believe that every avenue of discussion must remain open to all FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS and to the public so real stories can be seen and heard,to remove this right is an actual removal of our basic constitutional rights to freedom of speech,this would only prove that we as FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS are being segregated once again in an attempt to silence us and keep our stories hidden from the mainstream public,unless they visit a museum which will never explain the whole truth of our stories,openess and honesty is the way to healing and learning from mistakes made so that hopefully future generations never have to suffer as we did,yours sincerely PHYLIS READ,9/11/2011
I appreciate your concern. I REALLY do.
Does it help to know that the website will still be accessible to read online? It’s just that there will be no more online participation after November 16.
No presumption that that will make a difference to how you feel – just a reminder that the website will remain as a resource.
For all those coming to the Rally 8.30am on November 16th, now’s your chance to also rally to keep this Museum opened. They giveth with one hand and taketh with the other. Well we have to stand our ground so bring your Placards with “We want Life inside Childrens Homes to stay open” and what ever else you want to say about your feelings of what is happening with the closing down of a very important part of our history. Lets stick it right up em and tell them to get …. out of our Territory and give more Forgotten Australians who have not had the chance to tell thier stories. Thankyou Adele for all your hard work time and efforts you have put into our cause.
And they wonder why we have trust issues?
Good one Lorraine!
Hi Adele this site is very important to many Forgotten Australians and to this country. Many Forgotten Australians come here to read of the stories and some come to tell their stories it gives them a place to write their stories without being doubted.
This site has moderator who does have the compassion and understanding of the Forgotten Australian a rare trait outside of the the ways many Forgotten Australians were raised.
Our stories are not completed and it may take many years for all those stories to be told some may never be told however we have a site which allows us to write our stories and we have a moderator who is able to direct us or point us in the right direction so we don’t point fingers when it is not neccessary but allows us to tell the story as it should be told from our hearts.
WE LIKE THE SITE AS IT IS
Without input from all those other Forgotten Australians this story will never be completed.
We have an amazing exhibition that brings our history alive, it goes so much deeper already there is great impact with those that are working around this exhibition .there have been FA speak publicly to the workers and hosts threw there personal stories and that has also had big impact and a better understanding of FA in what we experienced..
This exhibition will travel and reach so many more Forgotten Australians so they can also be supported rightfully threw the services that are in place in each State and services that are still being negotiated for. Really there is not too many FA that knows about the Senate Inquiry so does not know there is support of other FA. REMEMBERS there are roughly 500,000 of us. This exhibition names and shames our abusers in public (not there personal names) but there providers names, churches, charities, governments.
These past providers are not past providers they are still present within the Child protection services. By protesting against this close down of the web site will go no where. But could possibly stop other museum or galleries taking our exhibition; also turn away media that we need. Please just celebrate our exhibition and respect the other Forgotten Australians and Families that are going to find this hard enough to walk through and deal with. There can be a solution to the website but it has to be looked at with the people involved to try and push the right ways . Also this has nothing to do with the rally the exhibition is federal, we will again lose what the rally represents for Forgotten Australians.
Wilma it doesn’t hurt for people to take a placard as well stating that we also want this site to remain open, it is still relevent to our cause, and we need to give more people time to come forward and tell thier stories as well. Many still don’t know that this site exists given more time they will find out and they too can tell thier stories. There are a lot more horror stories out there this is a good place to come to let the public know.
That’s right Gabrielle there are many hundreds of thousands of Forgotten Australians to tell there stories we need another life time over and it still would not be long enough. All I am saying is too much wanting and demanding gets lost. This needs to be done through people that can sit and look at all avenues to be able to keep this site up and running. Working with government departments is not all clear cut it is a whole lot of patients massaging and waiting.
All I said Wilma is for those who want to bring a placard with a statement on about not closing the musuem for Forgotten Australians., also yes I agree with it would take a life time to get all the stories out, but I wasn’t asking to get all the stories out I was saying more people could get thier stories out I dont know what the big issue is here, why the hell is it always as soon as any of us suggest anything we are made to look like we are crazy and you Advocates look like the sane one’s. what the hek never mind.
Thank you to everyone for your comments. I hear your concerns and protests against the Museum’s decision to draw the commenting period of the blog to an end. It’s not our intention to be still another government agency who forgets about the Forgotten Australians. Museums are keeping places – both online and in our exhibitions and collections. We value the contributions of everyone who has participated in the blog and we’ll keep them as a legacy on the Museum’s website – a place where all Australians can learn about your thoughts, feelings and experiences.
I suppose we the public in general have to realise at some point that we actually are nothing in the eyes of the government!! We were nothing back then as children and by removal of this website/exhibition the government is certainly showing that we Forgotten Australians are nothing yet again?? Governments don’t care, never have or we wouldn’t have gone through what we did in the first place(so who is really to blame? & are they worried that at some point we will get too loud & too damaging) and to be labeled the “Forgotten Australians” was it just patronizing way of giving a little to pat us on the head hoping that we would shut up??? Too many unanswered questions yet again?? we really shouldn’t be too surprized by this. As long as the Governments sit in their expensive houses eating expensive food & drink, why do they have to worry about what we go through on a daily basis?
Got to thank Adele and the others at the National Museum for careing enough to to have got this far, it also must be very disapointing to have done all this work to have it shelved.
My heart breaks yet again??