Page 23 - eMuse Vol.9 No.07_Neat

We were used.” Their plight was out of sight and out of mind for the
bulk of the population who had no idea these young people were also
a part of an unknown stolen generation.
In 2003 “The Sydney Morning Herald” told the story of such places
where, in the name of rehabilitation, supposed delinquent girls were
“laundry slaves” in commercial laundries run for a profit. Many of
these establishments were based on an Irish model.
The Australian version was found repeatedly in every Australian
capital city and in many regional areas as well. As noted in the above
newspaper, “In these large, often forbidding edifices they lived with
Laundry Slaves prostitutes, unmarried mothers and others who were promiscuous,
plain (ie, unmanageable) or simple-minded. Some of them, incredibly,
had been placed there by their own parents. Once incarcerated, their
sentence could be long-term.”
As youngsters, we weren’t always the little angels we might like The fact that girls were ‘hidden away’ created an air of mystery,
to lead you to believe. Growing up in the shadow of an orphanage, adding fuel to the prurient interest often shown in the redemption of
when we departed from parental expectations, kids in my district ‘fallen women’”. It’s very much like the scenario in the old saying, “out
were often threatened with a one way trip there by Mums and of the frying pan into the fire. Some of these girls may not have been
Dads. Although it never happened, it seems that none of us knew completely innocent on arrival but placing teenagers and children in
how bad living in an institution could be. such moral danger is totally unforgivable.
In some of these places, especially the homes for “wayward It’s said there was a symbolic cleansing element found in this en-
girls”, conditions were absolutely horrendous. Recent write-ups forced labour. Washing of sheets suggesting a search for purity. Much
on social media and newspapers of not so long ago give some dis- of the beautiful white starched linen was used in hotels. During the
turbing, graphic examples of abuse. I do not wish to point an ac- 1950s there was a saying, “Bad girls do the best sheets” — a ref-
cusing finger at anyone or any group. These actual examples will erence to these laundries in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
allow victims to remain anonymous. They have suffered enough. and, Perth .
At the time her troubles began, the first of these girls became Some people outside the system must have known something.
a “laundry slave” at the tender age of fifteen years. Whether she One former inmate said afterwards, “People joke about it being slave
was a really a “problem child” or not is irrelevant. Her mother had labour, but that’s what it was.
her condemned and committed as “uncontrollable”. “Staff from the hotels would occasionally forget to fold the table-
Her demoralising process began by being examined by a doctor cloths and shove them in the laundry baskets without checking. When
to check virginity. Then she was fingerprinted and sent to a re- we shook them a 10 shilling note ($1.00) might fall out. We used to
mand centre where the criminal process began. She was showered keep that in case we ran away.”
in front of female guards and hair treated in case of head-lice. Then From time to time girls at one institution or another tried strike
she was locked up for two weeks to wait for a trial. tactics which were doomed to fail. They were simply starved into sub-
Next she was sent to a convent and industrial school which was a mission and returned to work.
euphemism for a prison for women and girls. In later life she wrote, An Adelaide girl admitted to the system from tender age of five,
“We were definitely not cared for. The youngest girl I remember was and lived there till she was fourteen years old, had this to add, “I’d had
12 years old and she also worked (hard labour) in this laundry. this strict upbringing. You didn’t talk about sex. You only had sex with
“We were organised into groups - my group leader, I believe, the person you married .
had been there most of her life (institutionalised). I found her to “I found out my mum wasn’t married to this man. There was noth-
be a cruel woman until you learnt to toe the line. For all this free ing wrong with him - he was wonderful, and he later became my step
labour we were given 1 shilling and sixpence (15 cents), once a dad. But I said, ‘I’m not living with you. You’re living in sin. I could go to
month, for our toothpaste or toothbrush as this was not supplied. hell for this.’ So I ran away.
No uniforms in those days. I had the clothes on my back and my “The nuns had told me to run from sin, and that’s what I did. Of
mother gave them one more set. So, often I wore wet underwear course, the police found me and asked why I had fled. So I told them.
which I had washed by hand. I can still remember the looks on their faces. They must have busted
“My main concern was the lack of care. Food mainly consist- themselves trying to stop laughing.”
ed of fried bread. I remember the big vats of fat where they fried One would think there would be more escapes. Security was tight
the bread. Devon and fried bread was Sunday night’s dinner. Cold and most attempts failed like this one in Sydney in August 1954. “Two
washes in the morning made my hands crack and bleed in win- young women quit the laundry in dramatic fashion by climbing down a
ter. Hair washing once a week and no such thing as shampoo. Two ladder of knotted sheets from an upper window. Unfortunately, it was
minute showers at night. The last half of the line waiting had cold too short and they fell the last six metres, sustaining injuries requiring
showers as the hot water ran out. hospitalization.
“My health suffered because of the diet and the cold. I had large “They were older than the norm, 25 and 29. Both had spent their
boils on my body and styes which practically closed my eyes. With childhood in orphanages and even as adults knew only institutional
this I also had Irritable bowel and the cramps were excruciating. life. They were found at midnight near Central Police Station, one try-
My request on numerous occasions to see the doctor, who came ing to help her (more injured) partner. An ambulance driver took them
once a week, was denied. to St Vincent’s Hospital.
“I saw an article saying we were allowed radio and freedom but Over the years there were many attempts to expose the practices
this was also untrue. Our windows had wire screens to prevent es- of these establishments but none succeeded in bringing any charges
cape. No radio or TV. Censored movies on rare occasions. Sadness, to bear. The matter was never settled effectively. Were the places as
hopelessness, tiredness, depression and bad health were the affects bad as claimed or was it all a matter of exaggeration.
of this place. The last of the convent laundries closed in the 1970s. The former
“We were forced to go to confession. Now hearing that priest who “laundry slaves” have met with mixed fortunes. Many have been in
spoke to me was another bad experience. No, we weren’t cared for. jail, a few have committed suicide, others have prospered.
July 2020 eMuse 23