The Importance of Records in Telling Our Stories

THE IMPORTANCE OF RECORDS IN TELLING OUR STORIES

Anne Kidd

Copyright © 2019 Anne Kidd

All rights reserved.

Distributed by Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Ebook formatting by ebooklaunch.com

Contents

Prologue

Part One- The Past is our History

Down by the Yarra-burdens of the past

Smoking ceremony provides relief and a glimpse into the past

Garden seats in loving memory

Part Two-Retracing Family History

Three photos

The Waring Family-Melbourne late 1800s to the outbreak of the First World War

Embarking to war

Records Tell a Story

The war to end all wars

He fought a good fight

Footprints in the dew- Ypres, December 2015

Ypres-from waffles and sunsets to the horror of the First World War

In memory of where poppies blow

Menin Gate-the Last Post

Part Three- Getting closer to home

Nauru beckons

The advent of the Second World War

Japanese occupation of Nauru

Australian forces re-occupy Nauru

Atrocities uncovered-five Australians killed

Thirty nine lepers massacred

Nauru- loved ones and memories of a pleasant place to live

Epilogue

Notes and Acknowledgements

Prologue

Some of the stories contained in this account are based on my time as a Records Worker in a support service for Forgotten Australians, former Child Migrants and those who identify as being part of the Stolen Generations. For legal and ethical reasons and to maintain confidentiality, names have been changed. Specific details of events and incidents that happened to people who I supported have been altered to ensure anonymity and to avoid any further harm. They have already suffered enough due to their time in care. In relation to other incidents and events such as the First World War and Second World War and my own family history, I accessed original sources and records to verify information. I‘ve provided links to those sources under Notes and Acknowledgements.

*

This book is about the importance of records in telling our stories. It is about the significance of personal records, especially official historical records of our deceased ancestors and family members such as birth, baptism, death and marriage records, divorce records, wills and probate, immigration records, ship passenger lists or war service records. Records also provide social, political and cultural contexts for understanding sense of place at the time the events and incidents took place. They provide valuable information for family researchers. Historical newspapers, journals and manuscripts, personal diaries of early public figures, oral histories, maps and rate books all hold keys to understanding our national history as well as our personal stories.

It is not my intention here to outline in detail the different types of legislation that exists around records within Australia and the different states and territories, suffice to say that Privacy and Freedom of Information (FOI) laws govern access to personal records and information held by the various agencies, organizations and government bodies. The laws and personal identification required to access records are different in each state and territory within Australia. There is specific compliance legislation in place to protect the privacy of individuals and third parties to prevent identity theft. Personal records remain closed to the general public for people born less than 100 years ago unless they are deceased and a death certificate provided to verify this. This safeguards someone’s private information being released without their permission whilst they are still alive. The retention and destruction of records and appropriate storage of records are all covered by legislation. FOI laws govern access to records and information held by the government. Whilst the general public has a right to make a request and apply for information and records held by the government, exemptions exist to protect what information is released. There are appeal processes in place if the release of information is denied for whatever reason.

Records relating to a child’s time in care in a non government agency or church based orphanages, children’s homes or foster care are not covered by FOI laws. These private agencies and organizations are covered by Privacy laws. There were a number of state run homes and orphanages in the last century of which FOI applies. Sometimes records of a child’s time in care might be heavily redacted (blacked out), especially where information is deemed as ‘sensitive’ or relates to a third person. Applying for records is not always a straight forward process. It can take time and be extremely frustrating for the applicant as each organization or FOI officer will often interpret legislation differently, thus affecting what information and record is released.

Our commonwealth government has built many impressive and magnificent buildings, like the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the National Library of Australia and National Archives of Australia, as repositories to house and archive our national records, original manuscripts, diaries, books and treasures. This is to ensure that our national history is not lost or forgotten. The once home of the Australian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra for example, now houses the over two million works contained in the collection of The National Film and Sound Archives of Australia. The iconic buildings that house our national records are often revered in Australians’ psyche for what they represent, like the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The items held in safe keeping form part of our nation’s collective conscious. They are priceless resources for what they can tell us about our history and peoples and are irreplaceable, just like indigenous rock art paintings and artefacts are to Aboriginal history. State and territorial governments also ensure that local historical records are carefully preserved for future generations and have extensive collections of rare items, artefacts and documents, which if placed end to end in a continuous line cover kilometres.

Records are so much more easily accessible these days with the internet and digitization leading to an explosion in the area of family research. The large ancestry databases lure subscribers on the premise of finding genetic links and distant relatives. And all this is a mere DNA match away. DNA, known as deoxyribonucleic acid is the specific molecule that contains the genetic code and can provide us with genetic information. Why are we so interested in finding out about our family history and what difference does it make in knowing? As a tool, when doing family research, records in all their various forms can enhance our understanding, sense of belonging and connection and sense of discovery of who we are. But nothing can compare to the thrill of sourcing and then looking at the original, written historical document and record where possible. The language, choice of typeface and fonts, sketches and illustrations, layout of pages and acknowledgements in the publication speak of the era they were written and hold lots of other clues and information for researches. Oral history records, photos and memorabilia and anecdotal stories passed down from one person to another all add to the rich tapestry of someone’s life and what and who came before them. But records can only ever tell part of the story of someone’s lived experience.

This book describes the role records have played in my work in helping other people make sense of who they are. It’s also about how records helped me in understanding my ancestor’s stories and the journey I took to retrace their steps to honour their memory, so that their sacrifices and lives would not be forgotten.

It is in three parts beginning with my Welsh ancestors and the risks they were prepared to take in voyaging to Australia in the 1850s to begin a new life in the fledging colony of Victoria. I have relied on original sources and records to reconstruct what it must have been like for them arriving in Melbourne in 1853 as immigrants and settlers. It is also about my grandfather and two of his brothers, my great uncles. My great uncles fought in the First World War. Knowing family origins and those connections across the generations is important to our sense of identity and where we came from. Military and family records helped me piece together the early parts of my family history. It’s also about three strangers whose paths I crossed in Ypres (often written as leper or Leper) Belgium, during the winter of 2015 as I retraced the steps of my great uncles more than one hundred years ago on the Western Front. I was touched by their kindness and their selflessness as they went about their daily lives with a deep sense of humility.

Secondly, it is in honour and recognition of people I’ve supported in my work as a social worker over many years and more recently as a records worker in Melbourne and what they taught me about resilience and forgiveness in the face of unbearable loss. I have worked with Forgotten Australians, former Child Migrants and those who identify as members of the Stolen Generations. They were all removed or taken or separated from their families. They all suffered as a result of federal, state and territory government intervention during the last century. Their stories are all different but they share common experiences as a result of being removed from family. Many of the people I’ve worked with have no shared family memories because they grew up in out- of- home care such as children’s homes and orphanages. They have no personal memories of family picnics, or Christmas times spent together with parents and siblings and extended family- no wealth of family stories that have been passed down. They have no baby photos of themselves. They are bereft of any shared memories and the usual signposts of a childhood growing up in a family. They have had to rely on official records for any information about their family to piece together their story, including who they are, where they came from.

Family continued to be important throughout their life even though Forgotten Australians and members of the Stolen Generations often had no contact with their parents and or siblings when they were placed in care. The inextricable invisible connection to family would always be there, whether it was felt as a strong longing that didn’t diminish over time or as a weak thread that they’d cling to for dear life. A lady in her sixties who I was supporting had been left at the hospital following her birth. Her mother never returned to the hospital as planned to collect her. Her welfare and hospital records which I later applied for on her behalf, detailed the efforts the hospital and authorities took to locate her mother as her father’s details were unknown. They had no success and she’s been looking for her mother ever since. When recounting her experiences of her time in a specific children’s home she started crying. She hated some of the staff who she said were mean to her, so she’d often sneak into the babies section of the home to seek solace. She loved being with the little ones. Then without warning I heard a strangled gut wrenching cry of a little girl calling, I wanted my mummy but she never came. It was pitiful and awful. A shiver went up my spine hearing that instinctual universal lamentation for a mother to come. It came from a place so deep within her, as if her soul had been cruelly wrenched apart. She waited and waited- but her mother never came to get her. And now, almost sixties years later, she sobbed and sobbed until there was nothing left. I looked on utterly helpless. I felt her pain and the hurt of abandonment. It was the pain of an adult woman and the frightened, lonely, distressed little girl locked within. She eventually stopped, totally spent. Her face was puffy and smeared with tears. We sat there together in the sadness and silence of her lounge room breathing deeply and heavily. Her primeval cry and voice still echo in my mind whenever I think of her. I don’t think it will ever go away.

The absence of family for Child Migrants when they were shipped to the other side of the world and placed in children’s homes did not erase the urge to see their parents and to be reunited. It did not quell the need to know what happened to their parents. Family continued to be the missing link and the big aching hole in their lives. Through their courage I’ve gained greater insight into my own life and who I am. My sense of identity has been enhanced through understanding the past lives of my ancestors and where they lived, what they did and what happened to them. I was able to connect to my family history in a very powerful and personally fulfilling way-whether this was by retracing their steps on the Western Front, or through photos and records and older family members providing critical information. I’ve been lucky to have been able to do this. I’ve known many people who have little to connect them to their past, other than some historical record, if they are lucky, that only tells them part of their story. Where I’ve been able to, I’ve endeavoured to assist Forgotten Australians, former Child Migrants and members of the Stolen Generations find ways to access the missing bits of their family history through records. Sadly and frustratingly, despite the best of endeavours and often multiple attempts, it has not always been possible to find any records. In some cases I was able to link them to other family members they had lost contact with or never met.

Significant numbers of Forgotten Australians and Aboriginals who were removed from their families and placed in state and church based children’s homes, orphanages and institutions were physically and sexually abused whilst in care. Many former Child Migrants who were shipped out to Australia suffered the same fate as they were placed in the same homes. Australia has had many Senate Inquiries and Royal Commissions which have uncovered the extent of abuse and what happened to children and their families. The trauma has had lasting effects on their lives and continues today. Government officials, welfare officers, social workers, non-denominational organizations and churches responsible for caring for those children were also responsible for keeping records and documenting what happened to the children. Record practices varied widely and there was little accountability or consistency. In some cases records went missing or were destroyed leaving gaping holes in a child’s history. But records are an interpretation of events and of what happened. Whilst records can provide answers to questions, records sometimes throw up more questions. Records can be judgemental depending on who wrote them and reflect social and cultural attitudes at the time they were written.

Sometimes a child’s name would be spelt incorrectly, or else they would be given a different name. Dates of birth were carried across incorrectly from one page to the next in official records causing confusion much later in life, especially when