EMOTIONS ran high and childhoods revisited last week when Premier Jacinta Allan made a formal apology to Victorians abused and neglected under institutional care.<\/p>\n
Livestreamed to the Mercure Ballarat from Parliament House on Spring Street, Ms Allan addressed more than 90,000 people placed in state care between 1928 and 1990.<\/p>\n
Ms Allan\u2019s address was followed by Liberal Party leader John Pesutto and Greens leader Samantha Ratnam.<\/p>\n
Tom Rouhan, who entered state care in 1969 at about 12 years old due to an alcoholic and abusive father, wept during Ms Allan\u2019s apology.<\/p>\n
Initially placed in a Ballarat prison cell filled with adults, Mr Rouhan ended up at St Augustine\u2019s Orphanage in Geelong, where he was sexually and physically abused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were fed just enough food and had to go to church every morning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be woken up with a strap with lead in the middle that left bruises. I couldn\u2019t sleep, I\u2019d have one eye open and one of the brothers, Houston, would drag me into his room and rape me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you went to the nurses, it didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou became like a machine. You didn\u2019t feel love, you didn\u2019t feel acceptance, and there was no counselling. You were told you were just number 173, that was my number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Rouhan was moved to other boys\u2019 homes before being left in a YMCA boarding house at 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey paid for the week\u2019s rent and walked out the door,\u201d he said. \u201cI had no experience of the outside world, didn\u2019t know how to access money, or when to shower and eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Ms Allan\u2019s apology dredged up memories he hadn\u2019t recalled for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was very genuine. I could see and feel she was moved and touched by the experiences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never thought about my number until she brought up number 88, and I thought 173, that\u2019s who I was, so that was tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been cathartic and I didn\u2019t expect my emotions to go to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up in Melbourne\u2019s Methodist Babies\u2019 Home, Helen Sinnott, was classed a ward of the state between 1951 to 1966 due to her mother\u2019s status as a single parent.<\/p>\n
She said her time in institutional care was detrimental to her education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were taught all about God and not much else,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I left the orphanages at 14, I could barely write, in fact I didn\u2019t even know how to spell my middle name.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the ages of 14 and 17, I had about 30 jobs because I was basically illiterate, growing up in an orphanage was not a good environment for an education.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got seriously ill with Crohn’s disease which enabled me to get an education. I got put on a disability pension and studied a degree in electronics and social work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked in electronics all my life after and worked on the first EMI brain scanner in Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though she appreciated Ms Allan\u2019s apology, Ms Sinnott said more needs to be done to make up for care leavers\u2019 gap in educations.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did a first-class job but I think one of the problems is I was incredibly lucky to get an education because I was ill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my peers ended up having to work all their lives or got educations afterwards, mostly second grade, and it\u2019s really limited the scope for what they can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government is serious about taking care of their former wards of the state, they would be a good parent and give them the opportunity for an education they didn\u2019t get as children.\u201d<\/p>\n
A redress scheme for care leavers announced in late 2022 is still yet to be rolled out with early payments currently open for those who are terminally ill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EMOTIONS ran high and childhoods revisited last week when Premier Jacinta Allan made a formal apology to Victorians abused and neglected under institutional care. Livestreamed to the Mercure Ballarat from Parliament House on Spring Street, Ms Allan addressed more than 90,000 people placed in state care between 1928 and 1990. Ms Allan\u2019s address was followed […]<\/p>\n