Thank you for joining us to hear the third in our series of podcasts commemorating Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week 2017.
In today’s episode, William Leslie (affectionately known by his colleagues at Eora TAFE as Uncle Willie) tells us about his life. Uncle Willie was taken from his family at the age of 12 and placed with other Aboriginal children in the Kinchela Boys’ Home near Kempsey on the NSW north coast. He went on to become Australian amateur boxing champion, and in 2000 ran in the Sydney Olympic torch relay. Boys in Kinchela were known by number, not name. Many of the children were never reunited with family, and remain scarred by their experiences to this day.
This episode was produced by Certificate 4 Radio Broadcasting students Jules Hume and Daniel Rosenberg. Our thanks go to Uncle Willie, Director of Eora College Danny Allende, and our hosts at Eora TAFE.
You can read more about the painful memories of the boys from Kinchela here. Read about Sorry Day and the stories of the Stolen Generation here. The full Bringing Them Home Report – important reading for all Australians – is available here.
We would like to offer our respect and appreciation to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and also thank our brothers and sisters at Eora College for so generously offering us their wisdom and knowledge and for telling us their stories, many of which are so painful to relate.
