Beyond the Walls: Sites of Trauma and Suffering, Forgotten Australians and Institutionalisation via Punitive ‘Welfare’

Main Article Content

Jacqueline Z. Wilson

Abstract

Women’s and children’s welfare and institutionalisation are a neglected area of Australian public history, and the historic sites which operated as carceral venues within that field today stand largely forgotten, in many cases derelict. The prime example of such sites is the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct (PFFP). In practice, Australian women’s and children’s welfare was strongly focused on a punitive approach, resulting in many thousands of vulnerable people suffering significant harm at the hands of their ‘carers’. These victims comprise the group known as the ‘Forgotten Australians’. The article discusses the nature of the relationship between the historic sites and the narratives of individuals who were victims of the system, whether actually incarcerated or merely threatened with such. As a form of case study, the author’s own story of State wardship and her encounters with the welfare system is employed to illustrate the connections between the ‘generic’ stories embodied in the sites, the policies underlying the system, and the nature of institutionalisation. It is argued that immersion in the system can induce a form of institutionalisation in individuals even when they are not actually incarcerated. The effective omission of women’s and children’s welfare and the Forgotten Australians from the forthcoming national Australian Curriculum in History is discussed, with a focus on the potential of the PFFP to be developed as a public history venue emphasizing its educational possibilities as an excursion destination, and a source of public information on the field from convict settlement to the present day.

Article Details

Section
Articles (PEER REVIEWED)
Author Biography

Jacqueline Z. Wilson, Federation University

Jacqueline Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Arts at Federation University in regional Victoria. Her research focuses on the intersections between public history, education and sites of suffering and trauma and their role in the formalization and emergence of Australian welfare and justice systems.

References

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF FAMILY STUDIES. 2002. What is Child Abuse and Neglect [Online]. Available: http://www.aifs.gov.au/cfca/pubs/factsheets/a142091/.

Bacchi, C. 2009. Analysing policy: What's the problem represented to be?, Frenchs Forest, Pearson Education.

Bacchi, C. 2009. Introducing the "What's the Problem Represented to be?" approach. In: Bletsas, A. & Beasley, C. (eds.) Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic Interventions and Exchanges. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.

Carrington, K. 1993. Offending Girls: Sex, Youth and Justice, St Leonards, Allen & Unwin.

CARRINGTON, K. 2011. Punitiveness and the Criminalisation of the Other: State Wards, Unlawful Non-citizens and Indigenous Youth. Somatechnics, 1, 33, 40.

FENELEY, R. 2013. They Were Numbers; Now They Have Voices. Sydney Morning Herald [Online]. Available: http://www.smh.com.au/national/they-were-numbers-now-they-have-voices-20131129-2ygzm.html [Accessed 27 December 2013].

FENELY, R. 2013. Kinchela Boys Home: Response to Keith Windschuttle. Sydney Morning Herald [Online]. Available: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/kinchela-boys-home-response-to-keithwindschuttle-20131219-2zmkj.html [Accessed 27 December 2013].

Garfinkel, H. 1956. Conditions of Successful Degradation Ceremonies. American Journal of Sociology, 61, 420-24. https://doi.org/10.1086/221800


HOOKS, B. 2006. Cultural criticism and transformation: part one: On cultural criticism: Why study popular culture? [Online]. Video presentation, Media Education Foundation. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUuHFKP-9s&feature=related [Accessed 27 September 2012].

PARRAMATTA FEMALE FACTORY PRECINCT ASSOCIATION. 2013. Heritage Information [Online]. Available: http://www.parragirls.org.au/heritage.php [Accessed 15 December 2013].

PARRAMATTA FEMALE FACTORY PRECINCT ASSOCIATION. Parramatta Girls Home: Environment, Routines and Procedures [Online]. Available: http://www.parragirls.org.au/parramatta-girls-home.php [Accessed 14 August 2013].

QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT. 1999. Forde Inquiry Report: Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions [Online]. Available: http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/resources/communityservices/community/forgotten-australians/forde-comminquiry.pdf [Accessed 12 December 2013].

ROUT, M. 2011. Call to include history of children mistreated in care in curriculum. The Australian, 26 September.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY AFFAIRS 2004. Forgotten Australians: A Report on Australians who Experienced Institutional or Out-of-home Care as Children. Canberra.

Smith, L. 2012. Taking the Children: Children, Childhood and Heritage Making. In: Darien-Smith, K. & Pascoe, C. (eds.) Children, Childhood and Cultural Heritage. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. 2008. Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry: Allegations of Sexual Abuse and Death from Criminal Conduct [Online]. Available: http://www.sa.gov.au/upload/franchise/Crime,%20justice%20and%20the%20law/Mullighan_Inquiry/CISC%20-%20Introduction.pdf [Accessed 15 December 2013].

UNITED NATIONS. Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Online]. Available: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [Accessed 2 August 2013].

Wacquant, L. 2011. The Prison is an Outlaw Institution. The Howard Journal, 51, 6.

Wilson, J. 2008. Prison: Cultural Memory and Dark Tourism, New York, Peter Lang.

Wilson, J. Z., Russell, P. & Mccart, S. 2014. The Parramatta Female Factory Precinct and the National History Curriculum. In: Ashton, P. & Wilson, J. Z. (eds.) Silent System: Forgotten Australians and the Institutionalisation of Women and Children. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.

WINDSCHUTTLE, K. 2013. Investigative Journalism, Fairfax-style. Quadrant Online [Online]. Available: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/bennelongpapers/2013/12/investigative-journalism-fairfax-style/ [Accessed 27 December 2013].