Forgotten Australians
”…it is highly likely that every Australian either was, is related to, works with or knows someone who experienced childhood in an institution or out of home care environment.’ – Forgotten Australians, p. xv”
At 8.30pm tonight SBS will screen a documentary called The Forgotten Australians, timed to air on the first anniversary of the national Apology last year by then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, to the people who have become known by this term.
Who are the Forgotten Australians – and why was the Prime Minister saying sorry?
Continue reading "One year on, remembering the Forgotten Australians" »
The former Democrats Senator Andrew Murray, one of the driving forces behind today’s apology to the “Forgotten” Australians recently told Kevin Rudd that while many apologies had been made by state governments, churches and charities to the children abused and neglected in care in this country “some were better apologies than others.”
There was a pretty strong sense in the Great Hall of Parliament House this morning that this apology was one of the “better” ones, how ever you might define it.
For a start you could hear it. “Sconey”, 40, from South Australia, told The Punch when the SA Government apologised the speakers didn’t work.
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sylvia blayse says:
Are you serious? Four siblings were removed from their parents in Tully 1951. Their mother had just been committed to Ward 10B Townsville. She was suffering post-natal depression after stillbirth, rejection by her family for marrying a wog, extreme poverty since he’d lost his job as a cane cutter when… Read more »
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6c legs says:
Thank you, Punch, for the way the way you treated this very important and historic Apology, to we, now, Remembered Australians. Cheers from: Just 1 of 500,000 plus. Read more »
In 1957 a little girl’s life was changed forever.
She was three years old when her family was torn apart, when she was separated from her brothers and sisters and sent to St Catherine’s Orphanage, in Geelong.
For the next thirteen years she lived in constant fear of being punished for every minor indiscretion and with the empty feeling of a childhood deprived of love. She wouldn’t see her brother again for forty years. Hers is one of half a million stories.
Continue reading "For Leonie, for Vera, for everyone who suffered" »
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6c legs says:
Jason, you told us on the 16th that there would be people “that still won’t get it”. In my head I already knew that. But my heart plummets when I read comments like those above, or hear what some Australians thought of our day. Like that’s gunna ‘hurt’ me. What… Read more »
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Paul says:
Are the English going to apologise for dropping several nuclear bombs on Australia and deliberately letting the fallout blow across small towns so they could study the long term effects on human ‘guinea-pigs’ and children? (Google it if you need proof.) Don’t think so. Liberals like Jason would be to… Read more »
- This is the speech given by Labor MP and Punch contributor Richard Marles this afternoon on the Forgotten Australians. The Punch will run some of the MPs’ addresses this week.
Today we have heard just a few of the half a million stories of the Forgotten Australians, each as sad and as powerful as the last. Collectively they represent a well of pain and a great wrong which today our nation acknowledged.
Among those are the stories of the co-founders of Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) - Joanna Penglase and Leonie Sheedy. These two were the driving force behind the original Senate inquiry. They have been the driving force behind the National Apology.
Their shoulders have provided support for a multitude of Forgotten Australians. Their ears have heard a thousand stories and in the process provided relief. They are great Australians.
Continue reading "Acknowledging the anguish of those we forgot" »
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djhebo says:
z2ODTw bsqoorxzwzsu, vjtwjpzgocxv, [link=http://ofbznkuttumk.com/]ofbznkuttumk[/link], http://tqtrpxnusllt.com/ Read more »
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6c legs says:
Richard, Thank You! ! ! ! Yup, some bogans still don’t get it. I’m guessing that they’re either the very same people who visited the horrors upon us, or, the sons/daughters of same. . . Read more »
Breaking the news to Leonie Sheedy that our national Government was to apologise to the Forgotten Australians and the former Child Migrants unequivocally rates as the best day in my short parliamentary life.
As she screamed with a mixture of disbelief, joy and relief the enormity of what this will mean to the 500,000 Forgotten Australians and the 7,000 Child Migrants was palpable.
Leonie’s emotions were overwhelming and they overwhelmed mine. It was impossible not to join in the tears.
Continue reading "How do you make up for a lack of parental love?" »
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Kailey says:
TYVM you’ve solved all my porbelms Read more »
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myrtle says:
Thank you Richard Marles for your support of CLAN, I have been a member of that network for close on 5 years and at long last I feel I belong somewhere in society. I can relate to the other members and they understand me as well. People who have grown… Read more »
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@GreenJ how dare you even suggest such a thing. I'd love to blog from their traning session though about what a pack of toffs they are
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