Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home receives $220,000 from Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Heritage, Don Harwin, presented $70,000 for the Kinchela Boys' Home Aboriginal Corporation to go towards creating a healing precinct, and $150,000 to help repair the ailing buildings.

"Not all heritage items can be celebrated but helping the community to acknowledge and share painful parts of their story is an integral part of the heritage journey," Mr Harwin said.

"The Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Training Home is rare historical evidence of the policies of the early 20th century which saw Aboriginal children removed from their families to assimilate them into white society.

"Supposed to be places of learning, homes such as these became places of psychological and physical pain."

Greg Douglas, CEO of the local Aboriginal Land Council, is hopeful that with the funding, the site can be transformed before the centenary of the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Training Home opening in 2024.

"We want to tell the whole history of the site, from its time as an Aboriginal Reserve, when it was part of the original Kinchela village and of course the Kinchela boys' home," he said.

"The $150,000 will help us start a project to identify, plan and then implement reconstruction, repair and maintenance work to preserve the site.

"The hope is that we can have something up and running by 2024, the centenary. At this stage, we are still discussing what will happen on the site, whether that be a museum, an educational centre or something else."

While the funding is a good start, Mr Douglas is adamant they will need to apply for more grants to save the broken-down boys' home and preserve the important history.

"The buildings aren't in good condition, the land is a flood plain, and as a result, the buildings are falling apart, the floors are warped, the place needs a lot of work," he said.

Many of the survivors of the home attended the announcement today to share their stories and learn what is happening with their former residence.

Among the group was Colin Simon Davis who spent nearly a decade at Kinchela.

Originally from Cowra where he lived with mum Shirley, Colin, along with his brothers Matty and Dinky, were taken to the boys' home where they were stripped of their names and culture.

"On our first day we were given numbers, I was number 50, my brother Matty was 49, and my other brother Dinky was 47," Colin said.

"I remember having a hiding spot where I would stash my food. One day I bit into a sandwich, and it had maggots all through it, I was starving, and had no choice but to keep eating it.

"Another day I went back to the hiding spot, was caught, and then sexually abused."

Colin says he spent nearly 10 years in the home, from age nine to 19, and after he left, he had a deep seeded hatred that took him years to come to terms with.

"I came out of here suicidal; I didn't think it was a good world anymore, I hated everyone and everything," he said.

Despite his years of torment, Mr Davis now just wants to tell his story to ensure the history is never forgotten and to encourage other survivors to share their stories.

"I just want people to know what happened here, nobody should forget, and I hope that other survivors see me talking about it and know that it's okay to talk about what happened to us," he said.

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