Find & Connect is a living history project that provides an opportunity for people who lived in care to tell their side of the story
In the grainy black-and-white photograph, a little girl prays beside her bed with a doll. In another photo she is tucked in bed cuddling it.
These are some of the idyllic images in a flyer promoting the Cooinoo Home for Destitute Girls that operated in Western Sydney between 1938 and 1970.
It was common for institutions to use photos of ‘orphans’ in their publicity or fundraising. Picture: Find & Connect
But the ideal in the photos was very far from the reality.
“All these pictures were staged,” says a former Cooinoo resident in a note to the Find & Connect online archive resource – described as one of Australia’s largest public history projects.
This website contains material that is sometimes confronting and disturbing. Words or images can cause sadness or distress, or trigger traumatic memories for people, particularly survivors of past abuse, violence or childhood trauma.
Documents and newspaper articles written many years ago often include offensive and derogatory terms which are unacceptable today.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that Find & Connect may include references to, or images and names of people now deceased.
