The harrowing story of Millicent, an Aboriginal child labelled "half-caste" and taken from her family by the Aboriginal Protection Board then repeatedly sexually abused.
Millicent was born at Wonthella WA in 1945. Her parents were both labelled as `half-caste' Aborigines. She lived as part of an extended family in the sandhills at the back of the Geraldton Hospital with a number of other families in a lifestyle she describes as happy and harmonious. In 1949 the Protector of Aborigines with the Native Welfare Department visited the sandhill camps. All the families living there were to be moved to other campsites or to the Moore River Aboriginal Settlement.
Because her parents were fair in complexion, Millicent was selected for assimilation when she was four years old. She would never see her parents again. Millicent was taken away from her family and placed in Sister Kate's Home in Western Australia, and remained a ward of the state until she was eighteen years old. She was forbidden to see any of her family or know of their whereabouts. Four of her seven siblings were also taken and placed in different institutions in WA. She and her brother Colin were taken to Sister Kate's Home and put in separate accommodation so they could not mix socially. Their family members were not allowed to visit them on Sundays, which were the officially designated visiting days for inmates. They were led to believe that their parents simply did not show up on these days, and had abandoned them.
When she began her schooling her brother was taken away to the boys' home in Kenwick and she became more withdrawn and shy. As the years passed she realised that she would never see her family again. She was told her family didn't care or want her, and that she had to forget them. She was told it was degrading to belong to an Aboriginal family and that she should be ashamed of herself, that she was inferior. She was taught to act like "white people" but at the same time that it was inappropriate to be seated in the presence of a non-Aboriginal person.
She was forced to attend church three times a day, before breakfast, atlunchtime and after school. As punishment she was forced to kneel at the altar for hours and polish all the floors and brass in the church and was whipped with a wet ironing cord after being stripped naked. She was also expected to hold other children down for this punishment. She was awoken each morning by being sprayed up the backside with an an insecticide pump.
By the time she went to high school she could no longer remember the faces of her family. In first year high school she was sent out to work on a farm as a domestic. The four shillings she was payed went to the home. The farmer came to her room each night and raped her.
When she returned to the home she told the Matron about the rapes, and was beaten and had her mouth washed out with soap as a punishment. The next time she was due to be sent back to the farm she ran away, but soon returned to more beatings and hours kneeling at the altar, before being sent back to the farm again. This time she was raped by the farmer and one of the workers as well. When she struggled she was slashed with a razor on her arms and legs and bashed severely.
On returning to the home she confessed the source of the cuts and bruises, and in response was beaten with a wet ironing cord, had her mouth washed out with soap again and was put in a cottage by herself, isolated so she couldn't talk to the other girls. She was told that if she ever spoke to anybody about the sexual abuse it would bring shame to the home, and that she was "bad" and "a disgrace". She ate rat poison in an unsuccessful suicide attempt, for which she was beaten again. When she was found to be pregnant she was beaten yet again.
When her daughter was born she was taken away, supposedly to be fostered out until Millicent was old enough to look after her. When she left the home the Matron refused to give her details of her family's whereabouts or the whereabouts of her daughter. In desperation she rang the King Edward Memorial Hospital, who told her that there was no record of her daughter's birth.
After leaving the home she worked for a while in Western Australia then moved to Adelaide. Then in 1972 she returned to Western Australia to search for her family and child. She returned to see the Matron from Sister Kate's, who falsely informed her that her daughter was dead and advised her to go back to South Australia and forget about her past and family. She wandered the streets then, trying in vain to find the family that she would no longer recognise even if she did come across them.
She never did see her family again, but in 1996 was reunited with her thirty-four year old daughter.
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