CITY’S HIDDEN CHILDREN

SPECIALIST STAFF FROM THE GEELONG HERITAGE CENTRE IN CONSULTATION WITH LEONIE SHEEDY FROM CARE LEAVERS AUSTRALASIA NETWORK

FROM the 1850s to the 1980s, the Geelong region housed the largest number of orphanages, children’s homes and missions outside any capital city in Australia.

A total of 13 were scattered from Herne Hill to Apollo Bay, Newtown to Elliminyt.

St Augustine’s Orphanage, in Geelong, which originally took both boys and girls, was established in 1855.

It later became a boys-only home when the girls moved to Our Lady’s Orphanage (later St Catherine’s) in 1862.

Daily life in orphanages and children’s homes was characterised by regimentation and harsh discipline, with occasional opportunities for the young residents to engage in activities out in the community.

These outings were reported in the local papers, with the children represented as “happy and healthy”, though the names of the children were generally not included in reports.

In the first half of the 20th century, St Augustine’s Band was perhaps the most welltravelled and well-known orphanage group, travelling across Victoria and to Sydney to give performances and winning the A-grade championship at the South Street contest in 1912. They also performed locally, often to large audiences, at Geelong Oval, Eastern Beach and Johnstone Park.

In 1938, some young St Augustine residents also took part in an amateur boxing and wrestling tournament against St Vincent de Paul orphanage at West Melbourne Stadium, with funds raised going towards a new building for the orphanage in Geelong.

At other orphanages and children’s homes, like the girls orphanage St Catherine’s, a

picnic was a local event, with locals in 1924 lending their cars to transport the “happy children” to the picnic grounds and the details of the day relayed in the Geelong Advertiser.

Many people who grew up within the walls of these orphanages and homes have since described the emotional and physical abuse they experienced as children and the trauma of being separated from family. Some of these stories were captured by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, while many other stories remain untold.

To learn more about the history of these Geelong orphanages and children’s

homes, a special exhibition titled Geelong’s Forgotten Children will be on display at the Geelong Heritage Centre on Level 3, 51 Little Malop St until May 27.

It will feature items from CLAN’s Australian Orphanage Museum, 351 Ryrie St, Geelong.

Support for people who grew up in Australia’s orphanages, children’s homes and foster care is available through the Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) on 1800 008 774. Donations are also accepted.

Group photo of the boys of St Augustine’s Band, circa 1906. Front left to right: J. Watson and W. O’Sullivan. Second row: A. Collins, C. Warde, J. Keleher, W. Keating, P. Jones (bandmaster), Brother Kerrins (manager), L. Drysdale, J. Scully, V. Hughes, J. Carey. Third row: J. Lane, J. Kearney, G. Finlan, A. Cerezo, A. Carey, L. Hoffman, G. McCormack, J. Hickey, W. Thornton. Back row: H. Larsen, E. Dwyer, W. Grant, E. Dicks, E. Daniels, J. Cronin, J. Thornton, J. Jarvey, T. Geoghegan, J. Collins, J. Daly. Photographed by Willetts.

View across the gardens to the Geelong and Western District Protestant Orphanage, Herne Hill, 1917. This was one of the first of four orphanages set up in Victoria during the 1850s.