Abused Indigenous Children 'Must Be Heard'
By Gordon Taylor
An Indigenous woman from Queensland who was abused by a Catholic priest in the 1960s says the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse must examine the widespread abuse of Aboriginal children by members of the Catholic Church. Tjanara Goreng Goreng was repeatedly sexually abused by a Catholic priest over several years while attending boarding school at the Range Convent in Rockhampton. After 30 years of silence, she took on the Catholic Church and won a settlement for the years of abuse by the priest. He had abused many other Indigenous children throughout Queensland and was eventually jailed for his crimes. Assistant Professor Goreng Goreng is now an academic at the University of Canberra. She says abuse was rampant at Aboriginal missions in Queensland but fears it will not be adequately investigated by the recently announced Royal Commission. Assistant Professor Goreng Goreng says Indigenous children were vulnerable because they were not often living with their parents. "Any child is vulnerable where a person has access to them, because there are not adults in their presence who are watching them or taking care of them," she said. "Aboriginal children were put in dormitories in missions, and therefore people had access to them." She fears the widespread abuse of Indigenous children will not be adequately investigated unless the victims are given a safe environment in which to give evidence. "Aboriginal people would be more likely to come [forward] if there was a space that was a safe space, that had Aboriginal people in it, Aboriginal elders, an Aboriginal royal commissioner or two, or Aboriginal legal people and people from our own community who could be with us." "In an environment that is like our own environment, where we feel safe to speak."
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