Malcolm Field, with a picture of himself and his brother Laurie, who were sent to child migrant school Fairbridge Farm. Picture: DAVE TEASE

Malcolm Field was at home in his tidy Bellambi apartment when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology was broadcast yesterday.A kitten danced about the lounge room, but otherwise the apartment was still. There was no wife to sit at his side and no children to lay a comforting hand on his.No grandchildren interrupted the great moment with questions.

The Forgotten Australians: Now we are believed

Kevin Rudd says sorry to the Forgotten Australians

Warilla man one of the Forgotten Australians "I have never married as a result of the trauma," Mr Field, 64, said."I couldn't build relationships. "I thought the apology was very good, Kevin Rudd spoke very movingly. But it was very emotional for those of us who have been through it. We've had to wait a long, long time."It has been almost 57 years since Mr Field's widowed mother sent him and his older brother Laurie from England to Fairbridge Farm, at Molong, near Orange.There he endured almost seven years of neglect, trauma and abuse.The children were made to keep the dorm windows open in winter, he said, and he knew of two children who committed suicide, aged 13 and 14, as a result of the conditions."Within your first day you found out you were going to be there until you were 17, so it was like a jail sentence," Mr Field said."If the principal heard anyone talking after dark, you all had to stand up out of bed and we each got a whack on the bum."The other thing that I didn't like was that you had to shower publicly. There was no privacy, no emotion, no love, no guidance." One of the hardest parts was being made to watch would-be deserters thrashed with a half hockey stick when they returned.Worst of all was the sexual abuse on two occasions at the hands of a staff member."The second time he invited me to stay in Sydney. He said to me that if I said anything to anyone he would say that I had stolen from him and I would be put somewhere else. I was looking forward to going to Orange High School. That was the only way out." Mr Field said yesterday's apology was therapeutic for having brought the abuse to the surface."For so long you felt that no one knew about it. Finally there is recognition for the harm that was done to so many of us," he said.He hopes it will help progress a class action he is pursuing with other Fairbridge Farm residents. Mr Field's story forms part of a documentary - The Long Journey Home - on ABC tonight. He expects watching it will be "more stressful" than the apology.He plans to visit a friend's house. They will watch it together.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Long wait for Forgotten Australians apology was worth it

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

Get the latest Wollongong news in your inbox