351 Ryrie Street Geelong, Victoria Australia
Care Leavers around Australia held services and events to honour State Wards and Care Leavers who fought for our country.
Thousands of State Wards and Care Leavers served in Australia’s armed forces over the past 115 years – this service was considerable and often overlooked.
Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) held a special dawn service at the Australian Orphanage Museum in Geelong on Anzac Day. Thank you to Anne and Malcolm for representing the Care Leavers who served. Anne’s dad was in St Augustine’s Orphanage and he served in Japan. Malcolm’s dad was in defence in World War 2 and Malcolm, a South Australian State Ward, served in the navy for 17 years.
89-year-old Wreford was there to honour his father who served in Gallipoli, Egypt and France. Although Wreford’s dad was shot in the leg and gassed, he survived World War 1.
Thank you to Geelong RSL for providing a beautiful wreath and to Hayley from Richard Marles MP’s office for attending and presenting a wreath from the Deputy Prime Minister.
We remembered Private Albert Bell who was born in 1908 and placed in the Geelong and Western District Protestant Orphanage. He joined the 2/14 Battalion and died on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea in 1942.
Sue, Shirley and Peter held an Anzac Day service in Perth to honour all Western Australians who served.
Special mention to Lawrence Dominic McCarthy who was brought up at St Joseph’s Boys’ Orphanage/Clontarf Orphanage in Perth before serving at Gallipoli. He earned a Victoria Cross medal for actions on the Western Front in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in 1918. His only child died in Papua New Guinea in World War 2.
Former Royal Commissioner Bob Atkinson and former CLAN president Jim Luthy honoured Queenslander Roy Allison at the Nundah cemetery.
Roy Allison enlisted at 18 after becoming a State Ward at eight. He survived World War 1 only to die from the effects of gas poisoning six weeks after returning to Brisbane at the age of 21. Because Roy had no will and no relatives, his war medal and memorial scroll were given to the State Children’s Department.
Research shows that Australians who grew up in Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Foster Care enlisted at a higher rate than other volunteers.
Some State Wards and Care Leavers had family to put their name forward for memorials and a few Orphanages and Children’s Homes erected Rolls of Honour. However, the service of many Care Leavers is still unidentified and unrecognised.
Another Care Leaver, Rayene Stewart Simpson from New South Wales, received a Victoria Cross for actions in Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam, on 6 May 1969. Rayene Simpson was separated from his siblings and placed in the Church of England Home for Boys in Carlingford in 1931.
Over the past 115 years, various wars had a significant impact on Australian families. Both World War 1 and World War 2 led to increased numbers of children being placed in Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Foster Care.
CLAN works tirelessly to determine the identity of service men and women who grew up in Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Foster Care, and connect families with war records. This discovery process is often the first time State Wards and Care Leavers see a photo of their father.