STOLEN CHILDREN REMEMBERED

Over 1000 people from local Aboriginal and community groups gathered for a special commemorative ceremony at Bomaderry in October to honor and remember the Stolen Generations.

The day included a reconciliation march and the unveiling of a memorial plaque and garden on the site of the former Bomaderry United Aboriginal Children's Home.

Chairman of the Nowra Local Aboriginal Land Council, Sonny Simms, had been planning the ceremony since the Nowra LALC bought the property in 1993. Sonny's father and two of his uncles were residents at the home in its early years.

"My father was one of the first brought to Bomaderry in 1912 and things were tough then," Sonny said.

"He spent 14 years of his life there, that's 14 wasted years as far as I'm concerned."

However the day was not only about lamenting past policies. A number of speakers, including Sonny's uncle, Herb Simms, spoke highly of their missionary carers at Bomaderry.

Although condemning past Government policies of genocide and assimilation, Far South Coast Region Councillor, Ossie Cruse, said that unlike many state institutions, the Bomaderry Children's Home represented a place of caring.

"… All the missionaries at Bomaderry were as horrified as were the general community (about Stolen Generations report). I believe as they did that theirs was and will always be a labor of love," Cr Cruse said.

A poem by Michael Flores, describing the feelings of loss he experienced growing up as a Stolen Generation child, was read out at the ceremony.

NSWALC Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Bradford, also reflected on these feeling of loss in his speech to the gathering at Bomaderry.

"Think of the anguish these children felt when they were snatched from their homes, some of them never to see their families again or to know where they had come from," Jeff said.

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"Many of these people have had very hard lives. When you have hard times, where do you go if not to your family?

A PAINFUL PAST

Ian Little and Brian Marshall wandered tentatively around the photograph marquee looking at the images of the aboriginal children displayed as part of the day's events at Bomaderry.

"That's me there," Ian told Brian. "And look, that's you!"

Ian pointed at a little boy, about eight years old, dressed in a uniform, standing in a line with other boys.

At first, Brian did not believe he was the boy in the photograph. In all his 57 years, he had never seen a photograph of himself as a child. He admitted he was given one many years ago by a former missionary from Bomaderry, but he had ripped it up before even looking at it.

If you ask him why, his answer is not clear. But what is clear is that he is still suffering the effects of being removed from his family and culture as an infant.

Brian said he felt uncomfortable at the Bomaderry event. He said he saw the Sea of Hands display but says he did not feel that his hand was one of those in the sea.

"I feel like I'm a single hand stuck over there somewhere in the ground, away from all the others," Brian said.

Although Ian and Brian agreed that during their time at Bomaderry they were well provided for, they say that was not the whole story.

They said that although Bomaderry was not as brutal as state run homes such as Kinchela, they could not forgive the policy of removal which had placed them there, nor could they forget the impact it had on their lives.