Ten days after the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, Narromine survivor Eric Wheeler has a message for survivors.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised to “the children we failed”, as well as the whistleblowers who were not listened to and the families of survivors who had to deal with the consequences of the abuse and cover-ups.
Mr Wheeler, who watched the national apology on television with his wife Judy, said he hoped it would encourage others to start talking about their experiences.
“I think they need to open up and tell people about it, the more people know, the better they are, instead of keeping it locked up quiet, I think it will make a lot of difference,” he said.
“I know we don’t want to do that, because it just upsets us talking about it but I think we need to get it out there in the open.”
He said watching the apology was an emotional experience “because it brings it all up”.
“I was sad too, because my sisters and brothers, who have since passed away, weren’t there to hear it.”
Mr Wheeler and his siblings were “split up” and put in institutional care when he was nine-years-old.
After a lot of work, Mr Wheeler said his brother found him when he was 19-years-old but Mr Wheeler didn’t remember having siblings.
“You didn’t talk about it ... because it’s emotional, but you’ve got too,” he said.
Mr Wheeler said a miscommunication with the attorney general’s department meant he couldn’t see the Mr Morrison apologise to survivors and victims in person.
After the incorrect contact details were rectified, and the department attempted to organise the trip to Canberra, Mr Wheeler said he was “over it”.
Mr Wheeler said he would have rather been there to experience it.
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“I wanted to be there, I wanted to talk to other people there … I wanted to be there to feel if it did anything, you had to be there to know if it meant anything.”
However, he said the Prime Minister’s apology was “pretty good”.
“I think you can’t just get up there and apologise – you have to do something about it. It happened, it’s still happening.”
