The fate of the 'Forgotten Australians' is one of the bleakest chapters in the nation's history.
Thousands of British children were brought to Australia, only to suffer appalling abuse in orphanages - most of them in Western Australia.
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Now, The WA Government is under fire for halving its compensation payouts to the remaining 'Forgotten Australians'.
The WA Liberal Government inherited Labor's compensation scheme and slashed the maximum payout from $80,000 to $45,000 and the minimum from $10,000 to $5,000.
SBS reporter Jenny Curtis meets 77-year old Laurie Humphreys, who spent years in State care under the Christian Brothers at Bindoon orphanage in WA.
But Mr Humphreys says Bindoon was more a slave camp than an orphanage, where children were forced to work from dawn until dusk on a construction site and daily beatings were the norm.
Laurie Humphreys received a minimal payout, but says half of those who applied have yet to receive any money.
The State Government says nearly 6,000 people have applied, and half the claimants have received a payout.
However it admits that around 2,000 people are still waiting to be processed.
"The previous Government led people to believe the $114 million allocated to the scheme would result in ex-gratia payment of up to $80,000 being paid. This was outrageous and could never have been done with this amount of money, WA Child Protection Minister, Robyn McSweeney, said in a statement."
WA Greens say the handling of the Redress scheme is insulting to victims.
"What needs to be remembered is that we're talking about people who have already been severely damaged by government, and this was an opportunity to make things right and instead the opposite's happened," says Alison Xamon, Green's Child Protection spokeswoman.
