AUSTRALIA
The New Daily
Apr 15, 2015
EBONY BOWDEN AM Producer
Notorious orphanage subject of police investigation after claims children ‘disappeared overnight’.
A forensic team is digging up the grounds of a former orphanage in regional Victoria after allegations children were buried at the site before its closure in the 1960s.
The claims were first raised at a council meeting by two former residents at the Ballarat Orphanage after the site was sold to developers in 2011.
In a statement, police said they had received information children were buried at the site, and were working with The Coroner’s Court to investigate the allegations.
Speaking to the ABC, Frank Golding, who lived at the site as a child, said children would disappear in the middle of the night.
“I think that part of it is that children just disappeared overnight, sometimes they would be ill and they simply wouldn’t be there at roll call the following morning,” Mr Golding said.
“We had no information on what happened to those children, there were never any formal farewells … so I think in an era where children were also quite viciously punished at times and had illnesses which were neglected, that leads to speculation, and it’s not just confined to the Ballarat Orphanage.”
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