One was called Prince and if you didn’t call him by the name there was another punishment. One horse we used to call Sue and they had three German shepherd dogs. I used to call my cousin Mighty Mouse, so at least we had names.īut we had animals in there and they had priority over us. After that, I can remember when I got my supposed uniform but they was just old rags, our numbers were printed on the shirt, me and my cousin. And so you imagine walking into the showers and the cold water up on your feet would be stinging you. I was five years of age, me and my cousin. Back then they didn’t give you shoes – you’d walk down to the shower block barefoot across bindis and burrs. They’d shave your hair off and we’re standing down here with nothing on, and while you were standing there they’d chuck dog powder over you and see if you had fleas. They’d march you down to the shower block. When they got you through those gates, they’d strip you down and burn your clothes and shoes and socks. Two years later he discovered his mother was alive – and living in the next suburb. He left the institition at age 16 and moved to Sydney to live with a foster family. He says he was told that his parents were dead. He was incarcerated in the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home at the age of five in 1949. Uncle Bobby “Bullfrog” Young (number 24) is a Gamilaroi man from Quirindi. Uncle Robert ‘Bullfrog’ Young: ‘There’s only 56 of us left out of 600 boys that went through this home.’ Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian So nobody was charged for what happened to us. Luckily they’re gone now, they’re all dead. The staff here were all ex-army why the government put them in charge of us, I don’t know. Take him out there, they chain him up, padlock them and leave them there, they just walk away. They’d cut sleeves out of an old sugar bag, put it on and wet it. If it was not hard enough for them, they’d send you down the line. You’d have to punch him hard and if you didn’t punch him hard enough, the staff would walk behind you and belt the crap out of you with a cane. They would put 30 this side and 30 that side and they’d send this boy down. The staff here were all ex-army why the government put them in charge of us, I don’t know Uncle Roger ‘Pigeon’ Jarrett Some of the boys said trivial things like they might have said someone’s name. Some of the boys used to go out and try out at night, and get extra food because you didn’t get that much food. They cooked that up and they give you that plate until you completely finished it, even the weevils. Little black weevils got in there and multiplied by the millions. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Notes and photos collected in a scrapbook by Uncle Roger ‘Pigeon’ Jarrett.
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