The Collard family’s story is one in a vast mosaic stretching across Australia about aboriginal children stolen or forcibly removed from their families. The personal tales of horror, loneliness and anguish became an “issue.”
 

Some advocate forgiving and moving on while others demand recognition of injustice and compensation. But how does one put a price on family bonding, on shared family history, on the torment of parents who have to live with the image of their children being abused in the very institutions they were put in for their own protection?

Don and Sylvia Collard remember the police and the missionary lady who came to pick up their eight children. The parents had to sign a form handing away their rights to the kids. In fact it was the parents who decided that Sister Kate’s orphanage was the best bet – it was either that or all eight of them would be split up and fostered to different families. They thought they were making the best of an impossible choice.  “We just wanted to keep ‘em together” says Don Collard, his eyes watering at the distant but still wounding memory.

Glynnis’s story
Glynnis was the third youngest. Though only a toddler, she remembers the day she was taken from her family. Glynnis and her sisters, like many of the children in the now infamous Sister Kate’s home were routinely abused by the children of the staff, and by the men who came to pick them up for weekend visits. “We would be given shoes and socks to wear, then we’d have to line up for the families who came to pick us up,” says Glynnis. “We were told to look up and smile at them, but pretty soon I learnt not to look up at all.”

At the age of 11, Glynnis decided she’d had enough. She ran away, found a place where other homeless aboriginals hung out, and slept under a tree in a park till she was 14 when she met the man who is still her partner today. Glynnis’ older brothers had already run away some time before. Her sisters stayed in the home for a few more years before being fostered out to families.

Ellen’s story
Ellen is Glynnis’ older sister. She was three months old when she developed a stomach problem and her parents took her to the nearest hospital where they were told she’d need to stay there for a few days. They went back to collect their baby 3 days later and were peremptorily told that she’d gone. “My heart dropped” says Sylvia. “I thought she’d died.” No they were told, she hadn’t died, but she’d been fostered out to a white family and if they wanted to see her, they’d have to ring the family for an appointment.

Ellen grew up in a loving home with her white parents, not even realizing she was aboriginal till she was 14 years old. It was then that Don and Sylvia turned up unannounced at her adopted family’s home. “I was horrified. Dad had whiskers and mum was in a ripped dress and the car was an old bomb...if they’d wanted me to go with them then, they’d have needed a crane to get me out” says Ellen. It was only when her white mum died 11 years ago that she decided it was time to reconcile with her biological parents and her past.

Stolen Generation
Why this happened to the Collard family is a question that everyone has different answers for. They were living in the tiny rural community of Condinnin in the wheat belt area in the south west of Australia. There were other aboriginal families in that community, but only the Collard children were taken. Glynnis says its because they were the whitest of the children there and so perhaps it was thought they could be integrated into white life. Her parents give confused angry answers to the questions, denying the charges of drunkenness and neglect. 

Glynnis and her sisters and brothers found their way home eventually and were re-integrated back into aboriginal or nungah culture early enough. For Ellen however, it wasn’t that simple. She loves her nungah family now and is secure in the knowledge that they love her back, but she knows – they all know – that she’s different from the others. They call her a wajullah – white person. “I love Ellen because she’s my sister, but she’s like a foreigner to me” says Glynnis. “We’re worlds apart because they’ve made us worlds apart.” 

Worlds Apart: The Story of the Collard Family was produced by Dheera Sujan. The program was originally broadcast in November 2001 as part of the series Sound Fountain.