Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

Carol[Carol’s grandmother was removed to Beagle Bay at the age of 10. She and herhusband had 10 children. When her husband was transferred to the Derbyleprosarium, all ten children were placed in the Beagle Bay dormitories. Carol’smother was 8 years old when she was removed. Carol was born in Broome in themid-1950s. When she was three, her mother died leaving four children. Although hergrandmother was still alive, Carol and her siblings were removed to the Beagle Baydormitories. Carol spent the next 14 years there.]Five generations of my family have been affected by removal of children. Fourgenerations of my family have been removed from their mothers and institutionalised.Three generations of my family have been put into Beagle Bay Mission dormitories.Four generations of my family went without parently love, without mother or father. Imyself found it very hard to show any love to my children because I wasn’t given that,so was my mother and grandmother.When I think back on my childhood days – sad, lonely and unloved childhood days –we should have been treated better than we were by the Church. We weremistreated badly. I was abused by the missionaries from all angles – sexual, physicaland mental. I am a strong person in myself. I had to be strong, I had no-one to turnto, no-one to guide me through life.6.30am every morning, straight from bed, we had to kneel and say our morningprayers. 7am we had to go to church for mass. If we didn’t we would be punished,like going without a piece of bread for breakfast or get the strap or whipped on ourpalms. 7.30am we had to thank God before and after our breakfast. 8.30am beforeand after class we said our prayers. 10am we had to say another prayer before wehad our cups of milk and morning tea break. 11am we had catechism taught to uswhich was part of praying and learning the history of our church. 12pm again we saidour prayers before and after our lunch. 1pm we said another prayer before and afterclass. 5pm we prayed again before and after our supper. 6pm most times we had togo to church for Benediction or rosary. 7pm we would kneel and say the last prayerof the day, which was our night prayers.We were locked up every night. Also during the day on weekends and publicholidays. That was only when we didn’t go out on picnics.7am breakfast – very light which was only sago with milk or most times porridge.10am morning tea time: one cup of Carnation milk. 12am lunch, very light sometimesone piece of bread covered with lard along with a small piece of boiled meat. Weloved it all the same.5pm supper, very light which was ‘bubble-bubbles’ which was only flour, sugar andwater, and if we were lucky we would have a piece of fruit.We had nothing else to eat, only if we stole vegetables from the garden. We had twobig vegetable gardens. Every vegetable was grown there yet we were never givenany. We never had vegetables. Things that we never saw on our meal table yet weresold elsewhere from Beagle Bay Mission. When it was my turn to work in the conventkitchen I saw that all the vegetables that our people grew were on their meal tables.Everyone would think we were doing the laundries for a big hospital, how many times