Work and school | National Museum of Australia

Skip to content

The Museum has a new ticketing system. Read our FAQs

We were never children ...

If you were a child in a children’s home or institution, what did you do when you were at school, not at school – or sometimes instead of school?

Schooling was there for some, but not others. Sometimes it was there but children were too traumatised to take part.

Many institutions used the free labour of children to maintain the institution and keep the children ‘busy’, and for commercial gain.

Here are some recollections of that time by those who lived it.

Black and white photo of a group of teenage girls at work in a garden outside a two-storey home. The girls use various tools to tend vegetable and ornamental garden beds. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'We worked seven days a week ... washing ... scrubbing and polishing ... lighting the furnace ... dusting, serving breakfast or dinner ... bathing children, polishing shoes ... scraping and washing dishes, polishing silver, cleaning bathrooms ... working in the babies home ... taking children to school ...', attributed to 'Bette Formosa, Dalmar Children’s Home, Carlingford, New South Wales'. - click to view larger image

Polaroid photograph showing two girls standing in front of a white lattice fence. The smaller girl, on the left, turns her head to look at the older girl. Tyepwritten text below reads 'Heather Templeman (right), aged 13, with her sister Melita, Catherine Booth Salvation Army Girls Home, East Kew, Victoria, 1960s'. 'Courtesy Heather Templeman' is typed along the left side. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'It was our day to wash and polish the dining room floor ... Our knees were sore [from the washing] so we thought well, we’ll go and get some rags and put them on our feet and run up and down and polish the floor that way and have some fun. We got a hiding for it but we had fun', attributed to 'Heather Templeman, East Kew Home, Kew, Victoria, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

Polaroid photograph showing three girls, on hands and knees, polishing a floor. Typewritten text below reads 'Children at the Havilah Little Children's Home, Wahroonga, New South Wales'. 'Unknown photographer' is typed along the left side. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'In institutions ... the person is lost, the child is lost. Who was Kerry! What colours did she like? What music did she like? What was her potential? All that stuff was never known', attributed to 'Kerry Lowdon, Bentleigh Children's Home, Bentleigh, Victoria, 1980s, 'The Age', 4 July 2004'. - 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

Polaroid photograph showing two boys sitting, stitching. A woman sits at a treadle sewing machine and several garments and a pair of scissors are on a table in the foreground. Typewritten text below reads 'Mending clothes, Mittagong Training School for Boys, Mittagong, New South Wales, 1938'. 'State Library of New South Wales' is typed along the left side. - 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

Black and white photo showing three boys in white aprons, working in a large room, under the supervision of a male adult. The boy on the far right uses a pole to stir a large vat, the boy on the left stands at a table working on a tin, and the boy at the centre moves two tins using a pulley. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'The Hell-hole … These young boys of 10–15 years of age were submitted to such ... brutal power by the Marist Brothers of this Institution ... Westmead Printery, run by ‘Our Boys’ ... it was like slavery — do or die', attributed to 'Graham Evans, St Vincent’s Boys Home, Westmead, New South Wales, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

Polaroid photograph showing a large factory floor with various boys working machinery and stacking papers. Typewritten text below reads 'Printery at St Vincent's Boys Home, Westmead, New South Wales, 1935'. 'State Library of New South Wales' is typed along the left side. - click to view larger image

Photograph showing the front cover of a small yellowed newsletter with a Lizzie Clarke Hardy poem 'Boy Wanted' printed on the cover. Old tape marks are visible on the spine and along the bottom a name handwrittten in pencil is partially visible in the top right. - click to view larger image

Polaroid photograph showing a large group of boys busy on a buliding site. Many dig in the foreground and others walk up a plank on the left. Typewritten text below reads 'Boys building the swimming pool at Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, about 1956. Photograph by Michael O'Donoghue'. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'It was child labour — to build up the resources of the church. We worked before and after school and at weekends. If they thought we weren’t working hard enough they hit us. I’ve still got the injury from one beating', attributed to 'Michael O’Donoghue, Clontarf Boys Town, Waterford, Western Australia, 1950s'. - click to view larger image

An irregular shaped piece of concrete that is almost a triangle. One side of the concrete is corrugated and has been painted white. The other sides are rough and coloured grey. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'WORK, FLOGGINGS … FLOGGINGS, WORK was my whole life at the homes', attributed to 'Ken Carter, Box Hill Boys Home, Box Hill, Victoria, 1950s'. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'I was only eight, but had to work every day in the laundry from after breakfast to 5 pm with a break for lunch ... They must have made heaps of money from doing all this laundry', attributed to 'Lorraine Davis, Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry, Hobart, Tasmania, 1950s, 'Orphans of the Living', by Joanna Penglase, 2005'. - click to view larger image

Black and white photograph showing five teenage girls, their backs to the camera, in a laundry. The girls wear white dresses and scarves on their heads. Three are working at ironing boards down the right side of the room. Another girl stands at a laundry tub while another folds laundry at the far end of the room. An older woman, in a white dress and cap, supervises. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Teenage girls were committed to these institutions by civil or parental authority. Confined in silence ... girls were forced to work six days a week without pay in the deafening and antiquated commercial laundries ... In exchange our sense of being a regular person was replaced with the indelible stigma ... of a Magdalene or ‘fallen, wanton women’, attributed to 'Rachael Romero, The Pines, Convent of the Good Shepherd, Plympton, South Australia, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

A small paper docket headed 'HOME OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, PLYMPTON', printed with columns for listing the number of pieces and cost of various laundry items, including sheets, pajama suits, collars and uniforms. - click to view larger image

Photograph of a ruled, A4 sheet of paper with 'Plan of the Convent of the Good Shepherd alias the Pines 1968' written at the top. A hand-drawn map shows the floor plans of several buildings and external features around a central quadrangle. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'We always referred to ourselves as slaves, and, looking back, I can see that we were', attributed to 'Janice Konstantinidis, Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry, Hobart, Tasmania, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

A copper cross and figure of Jesus mounted on a round stand. - click to view larger image

Black and white photo showing three teenage girls, whose faces are blurred, in a laundry. The girl on the left operates a press, the girl on the right stands near a large wicker basket and places laundry into an industrial washing machine, and the girl feeds a checked cloth into another machine. - click to view larger image

Black and white photograph showing a large commercial laundry, with baskets of wet clothes near a large wringer. - click to view larger image

Polaroid photograph showing two young boys and an older man. The boys are barefoot and wear uniform jumpers and shorts. A man in a grey dustcoat stands over one of the boys, helping him hammer a piece of metal at an anvil. The other boy works the forge at the rear. Typewritten text below reads 'Boys learning blacksmithing, Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Western Australia, 1954'. 'National Archives of Australia' is typed along the left side. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'WE WERE TAUGHT SO MANY SKILLS THERE. I DON'T HAVE A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE HOME. THERE WAS NO LOVE, NO WARMTH, BUT YOU CAN'T EXPECT IT IN A PLACE LIKE THAT', attributed to Nola Rollinson, Lynwood Hall, Guildford, New South Wales, 1960s. - click to view larger image

Black and white photos showing five teenage girls gathered around two tables covered with craft items. Three of the girls stand behind the tables working on baskets, a fourth at left working on a small cylindrical object, and a fifth, at right, seated at the table. - click to view larger image

Beige and pale blue book cover titled 'Successful DRESSMAKING', with a line drawing of a needle, thread, button and thimble. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Dress making at High School, I enjoyed. I had liked school, it was release time for me. I was only to complete 1st year high though and a little of 2nd year. This was because I had attended 14 different schools, missed months being in a reformatory, ill health in hospitals, and being assaulted by 2 boarders, where I now lived. I escaped there and went to work', attributed to 'Priscilla Taylor, Windana Remand Home, Windana, South Australia, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

Handwritten lined half-page with the heading 'Phyllis'. The text in blue ballpoint pen consists of answers to questions (not included) which have been corrected. The answers have been given a mark of 10.5 out of 12. - click to view larger image

A hand-embroidered doily with a crocheted border. The embroidery is on linen in several shades of blue and features a cross stitch 'frame' with a tiger lily motif at either end. - click to view larger image

Black and white photo showing seven girls at work in a classroom. The girls have their backs to the camera. Four are seated at desks, one sits at a trundle sewing machine and another two are standing operating machines at the far end of the room. - click to view larger image

A child's drawing of a small yelllow bird, with grey and red highlights. The handwritten text at top reads 'Sydney Walters, Age 12, Birthday March 21, 200 Victoria St, Ballarat Orphanage'. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'This [staff member] rarely addressed us by name. When she wasn't calling us sluts or whores she called us by a number ... School was on the premises, but it was less than basic. While at Lynwood I learnt ballet ... It was my only joy', attributed to 'Caroline Carroll, Lynwood Hall, Guildford, New South Wales, 1960s'. - click to view larger image

A woman stands beside an exhibition panel. - click to view larger image

Black and white photo showing young Aboriginal boys in a classroom. One boy stands at the front, reading from a book, with the teacher standing beside him. A map of Australia hangs to the left of a blackboard. A boomerang sits above the blackboard. - click to view larger image

Black and white photo showing 12 teenage girls sitting at wooden desks, writing in exercise books. A nun wearing a dark habit and veil leans over one of the desks. - click to view larger image

Black and white photo showing five teenage girls in a library. Three sit at tables, reading. Another girl browses at books on a shelf on the rear wall. A fifth girl stands looking out a window. - click to view larger image

Exhibition graphic panel that reads: 'Dalgety Show Committee invited us to play at their show. We were very well treated and had all the food and drink we wanted. This was great and we enjoyed ourselves', attributed to 'Submission 292, Senate Inquiry, 2004, Gill Memorial Home for Boys, Goulburn, New South Wales'. - click to view larger image

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

Black and white photograph showing nine rows of four boys standing outside with right leg extended forward and arms raised to chest height, with hands pointing down. The boys wear matching dark shorts, jumpers, long socks and boots. Three men stand behind them towards the back of the photo. - click to view larger image

Wooden and metal trophy in a semi-shield shape with a laurel wreath in the centre. At the top there is a blue and yellow striped enamel badge with the words 'O.L.M. PREPARATORY SCHOOL' Remnants of bird droppings streak the trophy. - click to view larger image

A wooden and metal trophy with two half circles on top. The surface is streaked with bird droppings. - click to view larger image

A trophy with a stepped wooden base, a metal 'triumphal arch' feature, a pillar with a laurel wreath and a male and female figure either side. The trophy is streaked with bird droppings. - click to view larger image

Framed formal black and white photograph showing a group of four rows of young boys, wearing uniforms, and holding brass instruments and drums. - click to view larger image

Bindoon Boys Town

'Bindoon boys' video 04:15

This video has no sound. Historic footage from Bindoon Boys Town, Western Australia, 1944. National Film & Sound Archive

Outside the gates

Apology and unfinished business

Online features

Defining Moments

Further reading

Caroline Carroll’s ‘Finally, we Forgotten Australians are believed’, The Age

Kerry Lowdon in the 'Who cares?' report by Claire Halliday, 2004, The Age

‘Bad girls do the best sheets’ report by Alan Gill, 2003, The Sydney Morning Herald

Top