Former Retta Dixon Home residents give evidence at royal commission

By Mark Colvin
ABC - PM
September 22, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4092605.htm

MARK COLVIN: At the child abuse royal commission in Darwin, a former resident of a home for Aboriginal children and young women has described her stay as like living in a "jailhouse",

Another resident of the Retta Dixon Home says she was chained up if she did anything wrong.

The opening day of the commission's case study of the Retta Dixon Home has heard from several former residents.

It's the first case study to investigate institutional responses to wholly Indigenous people.

Senior counsel assisting the commission this morning warned of harrowing stories.

The victims gave evidence of serious physical and sexual abuse at the hands of "house-parents", people who were supposed to be providing care.

Will Ockenden reports.

WILL OCKENDEN: It was a day for victims - former residents of Darwin's Retta Dixon Home.

Five witnesses took the stand telling the royal commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse what happened to them.

As member of the Stolen Generation, Lorna Cubillo was taken from her family around 1946 when she was seven or eight-years-old.

LORNA CUBILLO: I was taken away from a loving family and placed into a loveless home.

WILL OCKENDEN: At the Retta Dixon Home, Lorna Cubillo she says she was physically and sexually abused.

LORNA CUBILLO: One day I was cleaning the Walters' house and Mr Walter came in but I didn't see him. I was just starting to go through puberty. Mr Walter came from behind and fondled my breasts. I was shocked, but I was quick enough to duck under his arm and get out.

The next day I had to go to the Walters' place again to work. I went to Ms Shankleton and asked her if I could work somewhere else. I even told her I would work in the nursery and do all the dirty work. I was too scared of Mr Walters to go back there.

WILL OCKENDEN: Senior counsel assisting the commission Sophie David said Mr Walter has never been charged with any criminal offence and is still alive today.

Lorna Cubillo says she complained to the superintendent of the Retta Dixon Home, but was ignored, and the abuse kept happening.

LORNA CUBILLO: I did my work and I got used to it, otherwise I would get strapped. Most of the strapping came from male staff of AIM (Australian Indigenous Ministries).

WILL OCKENDEN: The Retta Dixon Home ran from after World War II to 1980, as a place for young mixed-race Aboriginal people, removed from families as part of the Stolen Generations.

The Home was operated by a group of Christian missionaries, then known as the Aborigines Inland Mission or AIM, but now go by the name Australian Indigenous Ministries.

The group will face questions on how it handled allegations of sexual abuse and its policies on handling such complaints, later on in the week.

Another former resident, Sandra Kitching, told of being chained to the bed if she complained or spoke back to the people running the Home.

SANDRA KITCHING: If we back-chatted him or complained to Mr Patiemore, he would chain us to the bed and leave us there until we were sincerely sorry for what we did.

When you were chained up, you couldn't sit properly or sleep and he would just, take our clothes off us, which was just the dress, I still had pants on, so we could only be wearing our pants, like big bloomers.

WILL OCKENDEN: Some of the witnesses requested pseudonyms, like AJA, who told the Commission about children sexually abusing other children.

She also spoke about regular physical violence, saying children often went to school with big welts on the backs of their legs.

AJA: We had not completed all the chores expected of us. Ms Fergusson came into our bedroom, woke us up, and sent us to the kitchen. The other girl was still half asleep which annoyed Ms Fergusson, so Ms Fergusson picked up an old style can opener that we had not put away. It had a sharp metal point and Ms Fergusson stabbed the girl on the upper hands, causing her hands to bleed where the skin had been pierced.

WILL OCKENDEN: This morning, senior counsel assisting the commission Sophie David outlined the case, warning of harrowing stories.

Witness AKU told of severe beatings at the hands of one house parent, and many other instances of being forced to commit sexual acts.

AKU: Don Henderson started sexually abusing me from when I was about five-years-old until I was about 13-years-old. It would happen, on average, about twice a week. When I was about 10-years-old we got an above ground pool put in the backyard of Retta Dixon. Don Henderson would sit in the pool and then myself and other children would stand on this lap, he would bounce us up and down so that our feet rubbed his penis.

Sometimes his penis was inside his shorts but sometimes it was out.

WILL OCKENDEN: The last case was the subject of complaints to NT Police, and the matter was referred to the DPP (Department of Public Prosecutions), however Mr Henderson has never been convicted and has always denied the allegations.

Four more former residents will give evidence to the commission tomorrow about their time in the Retta Dixon Home, before attention turns to Territory's Government and the DPP's handling of abuse complaints.

The Commission's hearings are scheduled to run for a fortnight.