"Institutional abuse does not stop when we age out of the system". Former Senator Andrew Murray shares the essay that he co-authored with Dr Marilyn Rock "The Enduring Legacy of Growing Up In Care in 20th Century Australia".
Tag: Christian Brothers
‘Religious life is dying’
'We noticed that the abuses happened when the Christian Brothers were at our strongest. We were thriving in terms of vocation, power and money. The government would not dare to question us.' Read an interview with Brother Philip Pinto, head of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, who says religious life in its traditional sense is 'dying'.
Recruited from Nazareth House, UK
Read the Catholic 'Record' newspaper's report of the arrival of young Oliver Cosgrove, one of 65 children on board the SS 'New Australia' in 1953.
The orphan who unorphaned himself
Patrick O'Flaherty arrived in Australia in 1947 thinking he was a war orphan and not knowing that his mother was alive in England. Read Patrick's contribution to 'Where's the fair go? The decline of equity in Australia', for more on his life in Australia, his shaky reunion with his mother and reconnecting with his family in Wales and Ireland.
Clontarf strap #2
An X-ray scan of a leather strap made by Bill Brennan, who grew up in Clontarf Boys' Town, WA, shows internal metal reinforcements inserted to give the strap more strength.
Child slave labour
Oliver Cosgrove writes in response to personal histories about child slave labour in children's homes. He refers to a photograph of children building the swimming pool at Clontarf Boys' Town, and notes that such work contravened the International Labour Organisation Convention.
Orphaning experiences #2
In a recent post on this website, Godfrey Gilmour, writes about his experience as a former Child Migrant. He remembers Father Cyril Stinson visiting his school in Malta in order to recruit boys to migrate to Australia. Oliver Cosgrove kindly contacted the National Museum with information about Father Stinson.
Orphaning experiences
"Imay not have been an orphan in the real sense of the word, and my experience at Clontarf as a state ward, however, was full of orphaning experiences”. Godfrey Gilmour, a retired Anglican priest, noticed himself as a child in a photograph, published on this website, taken by Mick O’Donoghue at Clontarf Boys Town in the 1950s. Here, he shares his experiences as a child migrant from a loving family in Malta to the humiliating conditions at Clontarf.
I learn not to show my emotions
Former Child Migrant Raymond Brand writes about his experience as a child migrant from Britain, growing up in Castledare and Bindoon, WA. Ray describes the abuse he suffered and how education and medical care were low priorities at Bindoon.
Barriers to justice
This month, a US federal judge threw out of court a class action filed on behalf of an estimated 10,000 former Child Migrants.
