The real Australian story
Australian history needs to be rewritten to reflect the experiences of people institutionalised as children, the Australasian Social Welfare History Workshop has been told.
Published on the 23 Feb 2010
Historians, policy makers and people institutionalised as children in Australia have called for a rewriting of history at a special event at UNSW.
A panel discussion on the legacy of out-of-home 'care' in the 1950s to the 1970s was one of the sessions at the recently held Australasian Social Welfare History Workshop.
"These 'Forgotten Australians' have received an apology from the Prime Minister but the history of the time does not reflect that they often experienced abuse while in care," said panel member Professor Shurlee Swain, from the Australian Catholic University.
Professor Swain said that historians need to work alongside those who were institutionalised to ensure their views are represented.
"Policy made in a vacuum without understanding history is doomed to fail," said one of the workshop convenors, Associate Professor Anne O'Brien from the School of History and Philosophy at UNSW.
"We are improving links between historians and those making policy.
"We also had a larger component of Indigenous welfare history than at previous workshops," she said.
Other themes addressed at the event included:
Media contact: Susi Hamilton | UNSW Media Office | 9385 1583 | susi.hamilton@unsw.edu.au