Warning: this article may be distressing for some readers.
For decades, the memories of Keller House in North Parramatta have stayed with Stolen Generations survivor Aunty Dr Matilda House-Williams.
“I still know the bed that I slept in … I used to listen to the bats coming down,” she said.
“1959 it was … I remember the date very bad.”
Keller House was one of many institutions where Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families were relocated, separated from culture, language and community under government policies that lasted for decades.
“Living here in Keller House with the other young girls … just laying in bed listening to them crying,” Aunty Matilda recalled.
“We would end up huddled all together which would help us get through things night after night.”
Hundreds of Aboriginal girls, including members of the Stolen Generations, lived at the site throughout much of the twentieth century, often arriving frightened, isolated and far from family and Country.
“When you don’t have your parents to go through all that … you’re just alone,” Aunty Matilda said.
“And the only people you have are the girls who have also been abused.”
A place of trauma and survival
Survivors say children inside Keller House endured trauma, neglect and abuse, with many carrying those experiences throughout their lives.
“I don’t know if I will ever move on,” Aunty Matilda said.
Despite the hardship, she says culture remained a source of strength and survival.
“I’ve never told this story at all til now … but my culture was never taken away from me,” she said.
“I remember all the culture that I had that helped me to survive til this date.”
More than 50,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families across Australia between 1910 and the 1970s under government policies.
Many were placed in institutions including Keller House, Kinchela Boys Home, Cootamundra Girls Home and Bomaderry Children’s Home.
Keller House to become permanent Keeping Place
Now, Keller House is being transformed into a permanent Keeping Place designed to honour Stolen Generations survivors and preserve their stories through truth-telling, education and healing.
“This is about repurposing what the colonial system did to our people,” said Lisa Madden, Executive Director of Truth and Healing at Aboriginal Affairs NSW.
The Keeping Place will include a museum and information centre, ceremonial gathering spaces, a yarning circle, fire pit and private meeting rooms for survivors and their families.
It will be one of four Keeping Places established across New South Wales, alongside sites at Bomaderry, Kinchela and Cootamundra.
The project follows recommendations made in the 2016 Unfinished Business Report, which called for truth-telling, reparations and healing initiatives for Stolen Generations survivors.
For many survivors, the redevelopment comes after years of advocacy to have their experiences acknowledged on the very ground where those stories unfolded.
“It made me who I am today I think … resilient,” Aunty Matilda said.
After a five-year consultation process, restoration works at Keller House are expected to wrap up later this year, with survivors hoping the site will become a permanent space for remembrance, education and healing.
