The
historical site of the old Parramatta Girls Home represents a
significant part of Australia’s past. It is important that the
site is retained as a reminder of the horrific abuses that were
committed against young girls for almost 100 years (1887-1974). If
Australia is to come to terms with the intentional and unintentional
wrongs of its past it is crucial that these deeds are recognized and
a commitment is made never to allow such terrible cruelty to occur
again. The proposal for the site to be made into a Living Memorial
and to be redeveloped as a National Women’s Heritage Centre and
National Centre for Forgotten Australians will go a long way to
achieving this.
The
Australian Government has shown its willingness to admit and
apologize for past wrongs inflicted on Aboriginal children who were
forcibly separated from their families and placed in care.
Similarly, it is important that abuse committed against the children
in institutions such as Parramatta Girls Home, many of whom were
Aboriginal, is recognized and used as a benchmark by which we can
measure progress in terms of respectful and positive change. This
does not mean that the unique experiences of Indigenous people should
in any way be obscured within discourse of Aborigines being just one
group of people who suffered.
To
make the historical site of Parramatta Girls Home into an institution
for male paedophile prisoners is particularly insensitive and
inappropriate considering that many of the girls who were sent to
Parramatta were sexually abused inside and outside of the
institution. These young women were from a variety of social and
cultural backgrounds and many were forcibly removed from their
families and communities and placed in institutions like Parramatta
Girls School (see Carrington, 1993 for specific case studies). Most
of these girls had not committed any offence but had merely been
placed in institutions under child welfare legislation, as being
neglected, exposed to moral danger, homeless, or “uncontrollable”.
Many had run away from home because of sexual abuse and other
violence in the home, which made their lives intolerable (see
Carrington, 1993 for case studies). Putting aside the issue of
paedophilia, to continue a culture of institutionalization at the PGH
site is to minimize the importance of these young women’s
experiences. Their history is an uneasy, yet inseparable and
critical part of Australia’s history.
The
Auschwitz Museum in Germany is a memorial which is dedicated to the
memory of many thousands of Jews who were murdered at the site. This
memorial stands in recognition of the tragic events that took place
under Nazi rule and families are invited to participate in ceremonies
which are dedicated to the memory of their relatives who died there.
Auschwitz is a dreadful symbol to the whole world of what can happen
and what is humanly possible. It is also an educational memorial to
visitors, students and prisoners within a philosophy of understanding
the history and symbolism of the past. Without undermining the
atrocities of Auschwitz, this example illustrates how the horrors of
a nation’s past can be inverted to raise awareness and educate
the public.
Parramatta
Girls Home can be compared with the Magdalene Laundries at the Good
Shepherd Convent in Ireland where many hundreds of young women were
abused and forced to perform hard labour between 1945-1970. At least
133 of these women died at the convent, many without any record of
their death. The former president of Ireland Mary Robinson
acknowledged the wrongs of the past by erecting a plaque in Dublin,
dedicated to the women of the laundries and the children who were
born from some of the women. The Magdalene Memorial Committee is now
fighting for an apology from the Irish Government.
It
is the responsibility of the New South Wales and Australian
governments to ensure that historical sites are preserved and the
truth of their history is told. It is important to recognize the
cruel tragedies suffered by the young women of Parramatta Girls’
Home who, through no fault of their own, were confined within the
walls of that institution. Then the lives of those who were so
profoundly affected can begin to heal. Australians should have access
to national monuments which provide opportunities for education about
past atrocities, however uneasy this may cause them to feel. This
can only be achieved if sites such as Parramatta Girls’ Home
are kept open to the public and the stories of those young women can
be heard first hand.
Professor Kerry Carrington Margaret Pereira
Transitional Head of School Associate Lecturer
Chair in Sociology School of Behavioural,
School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
Cognitive and Social Sciences University of New England
The University of New England Armidale NSW 2351
Armidale NSW 2351
References
Carrington, K. 1993 Offending Girls: Sex, Youth & Justice, Allen & Unwin, Sydney
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