Multiple sites of possible secret or “clandestine” burials have been discovered on the grounds of one of the most violent and abusive institutions of the Stolen Generations era – Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home on the north coast of New South Wales.
At least nine “suspicious” sites of possible graves have been identified by experts surveying the area using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), Guardian Australia can reveal.
‘Taken to hell’: even today survivors of Kinchela boys’ home are known by their numbersRead more
The NSW government is aware of the discovery and received a report on the survey six months ago. The report highlighted “high priority anomalies” in the ground at the home, which show “signal patterns that in other contexts have proven to be human burials” and cannot be explained by other information sources.
“Some evidence supports the use of cadaver dogs in finding buried human remains,” the report said.
Kinchela Aboriginal boys’ home investigation
The report added there is a possibility that “graves may occur” in other areas not already investigated. It recommended further physical searches of the entire property near the town of Kempsey.
If human remains are found in those areas, the report said “they would likely be of the clandestine burial type and not typical Christian burials”.
It is understood the report’s authors urge caution about interpreting the results, as some of the anomalies could be archaeological as well as forensic. If forensic (less than 100 years old), police would need to be called in. However the authors note the only way to determine for sure if there are bodies buried on the site is to excavate.
The grounds of the former Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home near Kempsey, NSW. Survivors want urgent excavation of ‘anomalies’ on the site. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian
The survivor organisation Kinchela Boys’ Home Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC) is calling on the NSW and federal governments to urgently fund further searches of the entire property.
They also want excavation at the high-priority areas to determine whether some may be children who died at Kinchela and were buried in secret.
“I’m hoping that there’s nothing there. Just as simple as that. But with the way that those people were and the way that they flogged us, it wouldn’t surprise me at all,” the KBHAC chairman, Uncle James Michael “Widdy” Welsh, said.
‘I’m hoping that there’s nothing there’ … Uncle James Michael ‘Widdy’ Welsh. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian
The report was prepared by archaeologists for the NSW government at the request of the Kinchela survivors, who have long maintained that Aboriginal boys died at the home, either as a result of brutal physical punishment and neglect or because they may have “met with foul play”.
Kinchela was run by the Aborigines Protection Board, later called the Aborigines Welfare Board, under the NSW…
2023-09-06 22:03:23
Link from www.theguardian.com
