PhD Studies
Over the past several years I have been undertaking a PhD research program at Federation University Australia. I posted a short blog here giving some of the detail of my research. I was able to use a number of previously published research as chapters in my thesis. This graphic is a map of my research project – and the Abstract gives an update on the blog post.
Abstract
The publications in this thesis discuss recurring issues in the historical context of out-of-home Care (OOHC). They were written for various audiences but are arranged not by date of publication but thematically so as to present a coherent argument about the recovery of voice and agency by those who experienced OOHC.
The thesis begins with an Overview which discusses autoethnographic and multi-layered approaches to history and shows how subject matter helps determine the choice of methodology and sources and, in turn, how methodologies influence the selection of sources and shape content.
Authorities in Australia have a long history of removing children from their families when they are deemed to be neglected or ‘in moral danger’. Out of the public gaze, these children were often rendered silent, their voices simply unheard or deliberately supressed by the exercise of total institutional power. This thesis analyses how children were marginalised, cast as ‘the other’, and framed as deserving no better than they got.
In the aftermath of a series of inquiries into institutional child maltreatment—some of which came about as a result of survivor advocacy and relied heavily on direct testimony—we now better understand children’s institutional experiences. In this changing environment, advocacy groups are effectively challenging the received accounts of historical Care. Their challenge has gained impetus from the opening up of records through rights legislation, especially access to personal case files. Large numbers of Care leavers have found their files inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, and this discovery has stimulated many to produce compelling counter-narratives of the lived experiences of their childhood, and the living experiences that endure.
The thesis concludes with an extended analytical commentary reflecting new interpretations of emerging histories, assessing changes in the status of Care leavers, and identifying directions warranting further development in OOHC.
Availability: As soon as the University published the thesis and the Library has a copy, I will post the news on this site.
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Ballarat Orphanage Heritage Protection
Note: This section was written some years ago. Much has happened since then. I will update as soon as the planning phase of the Heritage project is finished.
Several strands are coming together to improve heritage services of the old Ballarat and District Orphan Asylum, which morphed into the
- Ballarat Orphanage which, in turn, morphed into the
- Ballarat Children’s Home (and Homes) before it became
- Ballarat Child & Family Services (CAFS) and now just plain
- Cafs.
The 200 Victoria Street Site
A Working Party hosted by the City of Ballarat City has been developing a strategic plan for memorialising the old Orphanage site which is now owned by developers. A strategic Plan is being developed in consultation with former residents (me included). Ember Parkin and David McGuinness (see also in reference to the Caf’s History & Records Project below) are leading the project along with the heritage staff of the City of Ballarat.
An earlier report about the heritage site (2014)
At the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on 17 October 2014, Counsel for the developer, 200 Victoria Street Developments Pty Ltd, announced that he had been instructed by his client not to proceed with the appeal against the Ballarat City Council’s decision to prevent the demolition of the Orphanage School House.
Unless there is a totally irrational and unjustified intervention by the Minister for Planning, that brings an end to the long struggle by former residents – supported by Ballarat friends like Brett from Ballarat Trades and Labour Council – to save the last remnants of the former Orphanage from the wreckers.
Background to the Struggle
In July 2014, I reported that: The long struggle to retain the remaining buildings of the Ballarat Orphanage came to a climax last night (23 July 2014). Along with other former residents and staunch supporters we have made submissions to, and attended hearings at Heritage Victoria, VCAT and a Departmental Planning Panel to advise the Ballarat City Council. The old Toddlers Block (1929) will be adapted as a medical centre. The brick wall, the memorial garden and heritage trees, and various plaques and foundations stones will all be saved.
The old School (completed in 1921, pictured above) was the last sticking point.
Finally, the Ballarat City Council voted by a majority of 7/1 to ban the demolition of the old Ballarat Orphanage School. The developer’s weak attempt at a compromise – to preserve the front two rooms and attach them to a new supermarket – was rejected.
The struggle to prevent demolition had started in October 2011 when a small group of us presented a case to the Heritage Council of Victoria which rejected our claim that the School was of State heritage significance but rated it as of local significance and recommended to the Ballarat City Council that it should be protected.
It remains to be seen whether the developer will exercise his last remaining options: (a) to re-open an adjourned appeal to the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal or (b) to make a direct appeal to a developer-friendly Minister for Planning (sic) who has the power at a stroke of a pen to overturn the Council decision in favour of the developer.
The outcome last night is a victory for the group of former residents and their supporters (including the admirable Ballarat Trades and Labor Council) who marshalled their limited resources against the power of the big end of town. We never gave up even when we feared the worst – and even when it appeared we had been shafted by those who betrayed our trust.
Read the local newspaper’s short account here. But know that the back story is far more complex.
Caf’s History & Records Project
At the same time, Cafs is undertaking a review and update the history and records service. Cafs has engaged professional historians and collections experts Dr David McGinniss and Dr Ember Parkin from Ash Tree Projects to help with this work. If you want to contribute to this development contact Ember by
- telephone (on Mondays and Thursdays during business hours) on 03 5337 3333; or
- write to her via email to ember@ashtreeprojects.com.au; or
- write to Cafs History & Records Project, 115 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat VIC 3350.
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INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE & THE MEDIA
The role of the media in advocacy for Care Leavers can’t be over-estimated. In 2018, I was pleased to meet Walter Robinson of the Boston Globe and Joanne McCarthy of there Newcastle Herald, two award-winning journalists who have written extensively on clergy child abuse.
Here they were at a forum in Melbourne, pictured with (from right) Vlad Selakovic (CLAN President), Robert House (CLAN Committee man), Leonie Sheedy (CLAN founder and CEO – in CLAN colours) and myself.
RUBBING SHOULDERS
Political patrons play an important role in opening doors that might otherwise remain closed to Care Leavers.
(Left) CLAN CEO, Leonie Sheedy, and former CLAN President Jim Luthy with then Prime Minister, Julis Gillard, on the announcement in December 2012 that there would be a Royal Commission.(Below) March 2018, Leonie Sheedy, CEO CLAN, Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, and Frank Golding at Kirribilli House on the occasion of announcing that Victoria and New South Wales would be the first states to join the National Redress Scheme.
(Below) March 2018 with the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and CLAN CEO, Leonie Sheedy, in discussion about the redress scheme. Prime Ministers come and go in Australia.
And advocacy group like CLAN need to keep applying the pressure.
More on the National Redress Scheme
