AUSTRALIA
The Age
April 15, 2015
Chloe Booker
Police are digging up the grounds of a former Ballarat orphanage associated with historic sexual and physical abuse, searching for children’s remains.
The remains are suspected to have been buried at the once Damascus University site before the orphanage closed in 1968.
The investigation was sparked when former orphanage residents raised the issue at Ballarat City Council meetings discussing redevelopment plans for the 200 Victoria Street site.
Former orphanage resident Phyllis Read laid a “blood claim” to the site at a 2012 meeting.
“I say it’s our blood, so it’s our land,” the indigenous woman said.
Her sister, Edith Orr, asked at a 2013 Ballarat City Council meeting how the remains of children allegedly buried there would be respected if it was redeveloped.
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