Syd Graham interviewed by Karen George in the Bringing them home oral history project [sound recording] (2000 - )

Access Conditions

To access tapes and transcripts held in the Collection at the National Library of Australia readers must fill in an Oral History Request form, available from the Petherick Reading Room. Access to tapes and transcripts is subject to the conditions imposed by interviewees. In most cases access is available, but in some cases recordings are restricted. Sometimes written permission from the interviewee is required. In other cases the tapes and transcripts are subject to complete restriction for a long period of time. Tape recordings may be listened to and transcripts viewed in the Petherick Reading Room. Unrestricted tapes and transcripts can also be accessed through inter-library loan through another state or local library. Some audio recordings are available online.

Records

In this interview Sydney Graham talks about his early childhood at Point Pearce Mission and his removal from his family at the age of 3. He spent his entire childhood in children's Homes including Kate Cocks Babies Home, Junior Red Cross Home at Glenelg, Estcourt House, Gerard Mission Children's Dormitory, Colebrook Home and the Salvation Army Boys' Home, Kent Town. He shares his memories of these places, focussing on Estcourt House and Kent Town where he spent a large portion of his childhood. Syd talks about his disability and its relationship to his removal. He also talks about the ongoing impact of separation from his family and the difficulty of 'coming home'. Syd also talks about his work as an Anglican Minister.