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This website uses words, photos and objects from people who spent time growing up in children’s homes, orphanages and other ‘care’ institutions.

These pages feature personal contributions to the National Museum of Australia’s Inside exhibition. They tell only a small part of each person’s story.

Allan Allaway

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'There were 500 kids in Neerkol and only about a dozen nuns. It was knowingly under-resourced. Even Jesus Christ would have lost his temper with 500 kids', attributed to 'Allan Allaway, St Joseph’s Home, Neerkol, Queensland, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Black and white photo of a scar on a person's hip. The photo caption reads 'The scar on my right hip shows where I was thrown to the ground onto a rock ... The scar on the calf of my left leg shows where a broken broom handle was jammed in ... The scar above my left knee was from the Singer sewing machine belt. All the beltings were from the nuns. There was no medical treatment', attributed to 'Allan Allaway, St Joseph's Home, Neerkol, Queensland, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
A colour photograph showing a side view of a man sitting on a four-wheeled motorised blue cart. The man steers the cart on a bright blue and green synthetic field surface. - click to view larger image
Colour photo showing Robin Eltherington and Allan Allaway at an event. - click to view larger image

Anonymous Senate submissions

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I entered the Gill Memorial Home for Boys with my two brothers ... on the 8th March 1966. Our presence in the home was due to our mother’s mental illness,' attributed to 'Submission 326, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I never owned a Doll or Teddy Bear. Those that did had to leave them in a ‘Special Room’ on the top floor, where they would be shown to visitors, but rarely taken down for us kids to play with', attributed to 'Submission 409, Senate Inquiry, 2004, WR Black Home, Chelmer, Queensland, date unknown'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'You could tell what day of the week it was by what we were eating', attributed to 'Submission 18, Senate Inquiry, 2004, Ballarat Orphanage, Ballarat, Victoria, date unknown'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'LH Murphy was committed for trial in 1998 for sexual offences against boys in the Western Australian orphanage system, but in early 1999 he was declared unfit to plead on grounds of advanced age and mental/physical decline' attributed to 'Senate Inquiry, page 78, footnote 18, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I have come to realise that we were never children. We were an unpaid workforce, with no reward just punishment', attributed to 'Submission 169, Senate Inquiry, 2004, Nazareth House, Camberwell, Victoria, date unknown'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I ran away from [the Home] when I was 12 years old ... I reported the sexual assault [at the Home] to the Goulburn Police. I got 6 to 8 months at Doruke [Daruk] Training Centre, Windsor', attributed to 'Submission 312, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel of black handwritten text on a white background reads 'Even after repeated 'running away’ episodes by many of their [Child Welfare Department] wards, they never once asked the simplest question 'WHY’. Nor for that matter did police officers. In my own case, with five boys ‘on the run’ and being described on local radio as 'armed and dangerous' was that simple question raised. NO!' attributed to 'Submission 11, Senate Inquiry, 2004', - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel of black text on a white background reads 'I can recall every girl being rounded up from their beds to go to the hall to watch two girls get a caning within an inch of their lives, because they had the guts to run away', attributed to 'Submission 138, Lost Innocents report, 2001'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel showing black text on a white background which reads 'I was a persistent runaway - nowhere to go, no one to see but I would runaway just the same. I now know the sadness and deprivation I felt but no one in the Department ever seemed to notice,' attributed to 'Submission 344, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'The bedwetters ... would have to parade around the room with their wet smelly sheets draped over their shoulders'. The quote is attributed 'Submission 111, Senate Inquiry, 2004, St Catherine's Girls Orphanage, Geelong, Victoria'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel of white text in capital letters on a grey background reads 'Hay institution ... more of a mental concentration camp than a reform school.' attributed to 'Submission 111, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'My mother, passed on five months or six months prior to my finding out that she had been alive all these years ... Why was I told that she was dead? Why was I told that she had been killed during the war? All I have left is this photograph and a death certificate' attributed to 'Submission, Community Affairs References Committee, 2001, Methodist Children's Home, Cheltenham, Victoria, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'So can I ask when justice is going to roll?', attributed to 'Submission 286, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Let our histories be visible', attributed to 'Submission 22, Senate Inquiry, 2004'. - click to view larger image

Anthony R

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I had been told my mother dumped me into an orphanage in UK yet she wrote me a letter every month and the Brothers hid them in a shoe box, under the instructions of the child welfare department', attributed to 'Anthony R, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950'.

Lucy Bartholomew

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I just want someone to know, there was a good' home and I was lucky enough to be in it', attributed to 'Lucy Bartholomew, Home of the Good Shepherd, Michelton, Queensland, 1950s'.

Peter Bent

Polaroid photograph showing two boys on a waterway. The boy in the foregrounds sits in a canoe, paddling with his hands. Another boy stands on a raft at the rear. Typewritten text below reads 'Boys from Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, with homemade 'canoes' on the Swan River, 1950s'. 'Courtesy Peter Bent' is typed along the left side.

Jeanette Blick

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Everyone wore identical clothing, so that trying to find my sister in a crowd of children was almost an impossible task', attributed to 'Patricia Slatterie and Jeannette Blick, Orana Methodist Home, Burwood, Victoria, 1960s'. - click to view larger image
A small bear shaped like a koala, with pink plush fabric on the front and a mustard coloured plush on the back. It has a circular black felt nose with white hand stitching. The bear's left arm and part of its face are worn. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I can remember receiving the teddy one Christmas … I did not have a family to go to for the holidays, so I had to remain in Orana ... Christmas Day, I remember finding the teddy on the bottom of my bed. I did not know where it had come from as it was not wrapped and there was no tag/card on it … The cottage mother ... said it was for me. She also told me that the prisoners in Pentridge Gaol had made the teddy. I think I cried most of the day. This was the first gift I had received in years. In the New Year a family came and took me for the rest of the holidays. I left the teddy on my bed as I was instructed to do (I wanted to take it with me but was not allowed) and when I came back it was gone. I never saw it again until I opened my suitcase when I arrived ... at my mother’s house. Someone must have put it in the case ... I do not know who had done this or why.', attributed to 'Jeannette Blick, Orana Methodist Home, Burwood, Victoria, 1960s'. - click to view larger image
Colour photograph showing a woman standing beside an exhibition panel, gazing up at a small pink bear on display. - click to view larger image
A colour Polaroid image of two women wearing badges and blue ribbons pinned to their shirts. Typewritten text below reads 'Patricia Slatterie (left) and Jeanette Blick wearing handmade crosses in memory of their brother John who died young, tormented by his life in the Home, 16 November 2009.' 'Courtesy Patricia Slatterie' is typed along the left side. - click to view larger image
A photograph of a hand-made crucifix of white cardboard. Handwritten horizontally in black ink is 'John Halliday, 26.10.53-14.9.06'. The number '80533' is written vertically underneath. Attached to the top of the cross is a small piece of white ribbon. - click to view larger image

Jenny Bosanquet

A woman presses her hands against a glass case displaying a child's dark green school tunic. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Once a staff member had to go and buy me some shoes because nobody had donated shoes my size', attributed to 'Jenny Bosanquet, St Luke’s Home, Bendigo, Victoria, 1970s'. - click to view larger image
Photocopy of a typed document on lined paper, headed 'DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - RELEASED UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION /
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'We deliberately buried eggs for a month, then dug them up and threw them round', attributed to 'Jenny Bosanquet, St Luke’s Home, Bendigo, Victoria, 1960s'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'We hid any possessions. I hid '50 Tales of Horror' under the mattress to read at night', attributed to 'Jenny Bosanquet, St Luke's Home, Bendigo, Victoria, 1960s'. - click to view larger image
Photocopy of a lined page listing dates and names of various institutions from 1963 to 1980. 'DISCHARGED' is also printed on the page. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I never knew I was allergic to penicillin till I got my file', attributed to 'Jenny Bosanquet, 2011'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'You'd missed learning - how to do Christmas, how to budget, how to do a birthday party, how to clean a house', attributed to 'Jenny Bosanquet, 2010'. - click to view larger image
A colour photo showing two women, with their arms around each other's shoulder. - click to view larger image

Julie Braddock

A colour Polaroid photograph showing two women holding out white shirts with protest slogans written in black felt pen. The woman on the right's shirt reads 'ABUSED NEGLECTED WHILE IN STATE CARE' and the words 'ROYAL COMMISSION' are partially visible on her trousers. The woman on the right's shirt reads 'WHY ARE WE STILL FORGOTTEN'. Typewritten text under the photos reads: 'Kristina Tucker (left) and Julie Braddock wearing their protest clothing at the Canberra march marking the first anniversary of the National Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants, November 2010'. 'photograph by George Serras, National Museum of Australia' is printed on the left.

Raymond Brand

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I even wet my bed on purpose, I knew Murphy hated boys who wet their beds' attributed to 'Raymond Brand, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Photocopy of a typed, formal document headed 'COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRLALIA, DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION, CHILD MIGRATION'. The form has been completed in handwriting and relates to Raymond Brand of 'Father Hudson's Homes, Coleshill, Birmingham, age 5 years'. Raymond's next of kin is listed as 'Very Rev. Canon W FLINT, Coleshill, Birmingham'. - click to view larger image

Anthony Brennan

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'That calf was like a dog — it followed me everywhere. Those animals gave us the comfort — they gave us what the Brothers should have given us. If we didn’t have the animals I don’t know what would have happened to me', attributed to 'Anthony Brennan, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Polaroid featuring a group of boys each standing next to and holding the bridles of calves. - click to view larger image
Colour photograph showing a man talking with a woman beside an exhbition graphic panel. The panel includes a large print of a boy standing with a cow. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Nobody trusted anybody', attributed to 'Anthony Brennan, Clontarf Boys Town Waterford, Western Australia, 1960s.' - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'My brother Bill Brennan made this. It’s just like the straps he had to make as a boy in the Home, for the Brothers to use on the other boys. Each Brother had his own ‘recipe’ — a hacksaw blade sewn inside or a piece of lead', attributed to 'Anthony Brennan, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
A colour photograph below shows several thin, lightly coloured pieces of leather held together with white stitching around the outside. - click to view larger image
X-ray image showing a long, solid rectangular shape with a narrow solid strip at the centre and a ball-shaped object at one end. - click to view larger image

William Brennan

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'My brother Bill Brennan made this. It’s just like the straps he had to make as a boy in the Home, for the Brothers to use on the other boys. Each Brother had his own ‘recipe’ — a hacksaw blade sewn inside or a piece of lead', attributed to 'Anthony Brennan, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
A colour photograph below shows several thin, lightly coloured pieces of leather held together with white stitching around the outside. - click to view larger image
X-ray image showing a long, solid rectangular shape with a narrow solid strip at the centre and a ball-shaped object at one end. - click to view larger image

Gordon Briscoe

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Meal bells, sleep bells, wake bells', attributed to 'Gordon Briscoe, St Francis House, Port Adelaide, South Australia, 1940s'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Instead of offering us a decent education — we were not there to read books! — they substituted labour for reading. You can't articulate what they owe you. You are made ignorant, made inarticulate', attributed to 'Gordon Briscoe, St Francis House, Port Adelaide, South Australia, 1940s'. - click to view larger image
Black and white image showing two rows of boys, one sitting and one standing. Some of the boys' faces have been blurred. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Intermittent humanity was provided', attributed to 'Gordon Briscoe, St Francis House, Port Adelaide, South Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I knew my grandfather Wati Kunmara as a child. I met him again just by chance when I went to Yalata in 1973 as part of the National Population Inquiry — by sheer accident he was there. He gave me this club — pununka chuku chuku', attributed to 'Gordon Briscoe, 2011'. - click to view larger image

Peter Brownbill

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Circa 1953, I was charged a ward of the state, and remained so until 1970 ... Between these benchmarks, I lived a life outside the normal experience of the average Australians, male or female' attributed to 'Peter Brownbill, 'Orphans of the Living', by Joanna Penglase, 2005'.

Mary Brownlee

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'In 1967, my family fell apart and they couldn’t cope. After the court case my mother got custody of us. My father wouldn’t leave our house. The judge wouldn’t give her any help to get shelter. My mother did nothing wrong. My parents took me and my four brothers on the long road to Kincumber and it was dark,' attributed to 'Mary Brownlee, 2011'. - click to view larger image
Black and white Polaroid photograph showing a young woman with three small boys and a small girl outside a house. They are positioned in a group facing the camera and all smiling. One the boys is sitting on a tricycle and the girl is holding a large doll. Typewritten text underneath reads: 'Mary Brownlee, holding her doll, Susie, with her mother and brothers at home in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle, shortly before the court case that led to their family break-up. Mary's baby brother, Stephen, was inside the house when this photograph was taken in June 1967'. In smaller text, on the left-hand side of the image, in a vertical direction, reads: 'Courtesy Mary Brownlee'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'This apron was given to me by a beautiful light in my life — Sister Judith Kelly. It was one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever had. I used to wear it all the time. I used to call it ‘My Ireland’. Sister Judith was like my mother and my sister. I wish to share this light with all of Australia', attributed to 'Mary Brownlee, St Joseph’s Home, Kincumber, New South Wales, 1960s'. - click to view larger image
Child's apron in a silk fabric printed with a map of Ireland and sketched scenes of Irish landmarks and landscapes. - click to view larger image
Photograph of Mary Brownlee and her siblings, with Sister Judith Kelly, at St Joseph's Home, Kincumber, New South Wales. The photograph was taken by Mary's father, who used to visit every Sunday, 1969. - click to view larger image

Dilys Budd

Paper tag with the text: HEAR DILYS BUDD TALK ABOUT HER EXPERIENCES AT ST JOSEPH’S GIRLS’ ORPHANAGE, SUBIACO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, IN THE 1940s / recorded in 2010, duration: 5 minutes 20 seconds, National Library of Australia.’

Graham Budd

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Breakfast, plate of porridge with milk but no sugar, two rounds of bread and dripping, one glass of milk ... Dinner, mutton stew with rice [pudding] and tapioca, alternate days except Sunday when it was dried apricots and custard ... Evening meal at 5 pm. Two rounds bread and dripping, two rounds bread and jam ... The meals never varied the three years I was there as far as I remember', attributed to 'Graham Budd, Northcote Farm School, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, 1940s'.

Juanita Burr

Exhibition graphic panel of black handwritten text in capital letters on a white background reads 'I couldn't learn 'cos I got that many floggings', attributed to 'Juanita Burr, St Vincent's Orphanage, Nudgee, Queensland, 1950s, 'The Lost Children', edited by Coral Edwards and Peter Read, 1989'. - click to view larger image
Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'The nuns had the best foods. They gave us the stuff that was donated — it had weevils in it. I remember vomiting it up. They made me eat my own vomit.', attributed to 'Juanita Burr, St Joseph’s, Neerkol, Queensland, 1950s'. - click to view larger image
Colour photo showing four woman standing with their arms around each other's shoulders. - click to view larger image
A collage showing an image of a lotus flower top right, with the printed text 'Juanita's Words. This flower is the lotus flower. The flower seen rising up from the muddy waters. Ys we did rise up from the muddy waters but we never learnt to fly'. Underneath is a compile of images. Two show aging buildings with corrugated iron rooves. Another shows a statue of a young boy holding a suitcase. 'SURVIVORS OF ABUSE IN QUEENSLAND INSTITUTIONS 40s, 50s and 60s' is printed around an image of a small child. - click to view larger image

Pamela Buss

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I got shock treatment in Goodna Psychiatric Hospital ... I wasn’t even 12. I wasn’t psychotic or anything I was just sticking up for younger children … After shock treatment your eyes are all rolled up … There was no anaesthetic', attributed to 'Pamela Buss, Tufnell Home, Nundah, Queensland, 1960s'.

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