Margaret was among 900 people attending the historic ceremony who had suffered abuse growing up in institutions and one of an estimated 500,000 members of the Forgotten Generation that were wards of the State between 1930 and 1970.

She lived in Catholic and State boarding houses and hostels between the age of 18 months and 17, suffering psychiatric and other forms of abuse.

“It’s quite a horrible part of our history but it’s part of the Australian story and nobody can deny that reality,” she said.

“Abuses varied from sexual, physical and emotional abuse, there were no standards in those institutions and so many children were affected and children in those days were seen but not heard.

“When in those institutions the children were not even seen, that’s why we are called the Forgotten Generation and that’s why this apology means so much to us all.”

Margaret acknowledges there were a lot of good people caring for children in institutions and she remembers nurses who became her best friends until she was moved on for behaving badly and had to start again.

“But there were also the perpetrators that abused children the whole way through.

“I’ve recently reached a settlement with the organisation that ran a Catholic institution in Victoria and am in the process of doing so with a State one.

“There is a lot of litigation at the moment and it is a slow process, but on the other side of it is the need to provide services, particularly mental health support, to Forgotten Generation members.

“Progress is being made, children today have rights and organisations have emerged like the Commission for Children and Young People and this apology is an important step forward.”

Margaret is now a qualified Victims of Crime counsellor based in Blackheath, providing a government-funded service available to Forgotten Generation members still suffering the effects of being abused as children.

“I’ve come full circle and was one of the rare success stories in terms of getting an education.

“Recent studies show that only one-in-100 members of the Forgotten Generation went on to university or higher education.”

For more information, visit www.forgottenaustralians.org.au or call Margaret on 4787-6049.