Mass Grave Search: ‘children Just Disappeared’

By Ebony Bowden
New Daily
April 15, 2015

http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/04/15/police-search-mass-grave-former-orphanage/

The orphanage was once home to thousands of children.

A forensic team is digging up the grounds of a former orphanage in regional Victoria after allegations children were buried at the site before its closure in the 1960s.

The claims were first raised at a council meeting by two former residents at the Ballarat Orphanage after the site was sold to developers in 2011.

• Dublin investigates mass graves

• First Contact: SBS proves TV can change lives

In a statement, police said they had received information children were buried at the site, and were working with The Coroner’s Court to investigate the allegations.

Speaking to the ABC, Frank Golding, who lived at the site as a child, said children would disappear in the middle of the night.

“I think that part of it is that children just disappeared overnight, sometimes they would be ill and they simply wouldn’t be there at roll call the following morning,” Mr Golding said.

“We had no information on what happened to those children, there were never any formal farewells … so I think in an era where children were also quite viciously punished at times and had illnesses which were neglected, that leads to speculation, and it’s not just confined to the Ballarat Orphanage.”

Mr Golding said he was at the 2013 council meeting when the two sisters, members of the stolen generation, said children were buried at the site.

They were particularly concerned about the remains of Indigenous children and laid a “blood claim” to the site.

Between 10 to 15 per cent of the children at the orphanage were members of the stolen generation whose parents did not know they were there, Mr Golding said.

Police began excavating the site, which had most recently been a college, on Tuesday, and is now under police guard.

Many former residents of the orphanage allege they were subject to sexual abuse and neglect, with claims children were procured for paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

Speaking to The Ballarat Courier, former resident Debbie Findlay said she was unaware about claims of a mass grave.

“In my 14 years there, I certainly had no knowledge of kids being buried there,” Ms Findlay said.

“If it turns out there are children there, it needs to be done respectfully and with dignity.”