For the past two years, staff in my electorate office have been joined by a volunteer who helped with filing and mail-outs.
Anthony Sheedy had limited job skills in the formal sense but a great aptitude for work and a cheerful attitude to life that filled our office with joy and defined our days by happiness. He was gold.
Ten days ago Anthony suddenly died. I am, along with all in his life, still struggling to believe he is no longer with us. It is profoundly sad. His funeral is in Geelong today.
Anthony’s life story is important. It is the story of so many hundreds of thousands of Australians who grew up in orphanages. It is a tragic story and one that is a significant chapter in the history of our nation.
Anthony was one of an estimated half million Australians alive today who as children, throughout the last century, were robbed of a proper home and family. We know them as the Forgotten Australians.
Anthony’s sister Leonie Sheedy is a dear friend of mine. As head of the Care Leavers Australia Network she has been a fearless campaigner for the rights of those children who grew up in orphanages and state homes.
Anthony was placed in care one month after his second birthday and never returned to his family. Leonie isn’t sure why. His mother went on to have another five children and all of them ended up in care, including Leonie.
Anthony spent his childhood in a series of boys’ homes and orphanages across Victoria, including Geelong.
He thought he was an orphan until he met his mother and father for the first time at the age of 12. But after their visit was complete, they left and Anthony stayed. This was no happy homecoming.
At the age of 15 he was led off in handcuffs to a boys’ home in Bendigo where, in Leonie’s words, he worked for little and suffered much until he turned 19.
By the time Anthony’s childhood was complete it had been a misery. His body had been continually physically and sexually abused. As an adult it is little wonder that he dealt with the legacy of this by turning to alcohol and in a sense the abuse to his body continued.
Anthony’s adult life was lived on the edge, drifting from job to job, from boarding houses to the streets. He had almost no contact with his six siblings until nine years ago. By then Anthony was 60.
It took him six months to summon the courage to open a fateful letter from the Government telling him his sister wanted contact.
Leonie found him washing dishes for the Sisters of Charity in Fitzroy, a reformed alcoholic, who carried with him the terrible anger of the abandoned child.
But at last Anthony’s life was about to take a turn for the better. Because despite the abuse to his body, Anthony’s spirit had survived. He remained a decent and honourable man and with the support of his sister and brother humour and joy returned.
In the last few years of his life he at last found happiness and peace. He lived in East Geelong with his dog and close to his beloved Geelong Football Club.
Leonie says it meant a lot to Anthony to work in our office. The feeling of acceptance and pride in his job helped underpin his newfound happiness. But, as I say to Leonie, the pleasure was all ours.
The staff loved having Anthony around. The Anthony we knew was cheerful and cheeky. He would talk for hours about Frank Sinatra, if we let him.
He took enormous pride in the work he did, boasting that he could put letters in envelopes faster than anyone else. In the process he taught us about life, the power of fun, and the enduring nature of one man’s indelible spirit.
Anthony lived to see the National Apology to the Forgotten Australians. It helped soothe the pain and it punctuated his new lease on life. It is now one of my cherished memories that I spoke to him and stood with him in the Great Hall on that great day.
His life may not have been as glamorous as the high flying career of the famous. But given where he started his journey his arrival at contentment is no less a remarkable achievement and a source of inspiration for us all.
He is one of Australia’s great survivors.
Anthony may have been forgotten as a child but he is remembered now by us all and we are certainly the richer for having known him.
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