Thanks for the updates, Jimmy.
I can recall 2 huge orphanages/foster homes in my local region that were phased out in the 70's - one run by Catholics the other by Church of England. Plus an aboriginal mission farm that housed the stolen generation. Just remembered another, Burnside Homes.
I had gone to school with some of those 'inmates" I never really thought about their background. They were well groomed and fun, but some individuals were regularly naughty. Just like we could be from regular family/homes. I wonder now, what happened to them.
In later life, I spoke to an old bloke regularly. He was of Irish descent. As I recall, he told of being fostered to a family farm when he was about 12 years old after arriving in Australia by boat. He spoke of the harsh conditions dealt him while working on that dairy farm. Slave labour, he called it. He was paid sixpence a week. Which he had to put in the "plate" each Sunday.
He was hard of hearing. "The Sisters and Brothers and the farmer used to hit us about the head for discipline - no bruises to show up." He claimed his hearing problem was due to that discipline.
His daily walks when I knew him, involved him going to morning prayers and tidying up the Church. The Church still had a grip on him till the day he died.
DEB
