The names of the children have not been included in this copy of the book, because it could unnecessarily disturb the family life into which they have quietly, successfully, and comfortably, settled. Their place of birth, their names, and the names of their parents, their scholastic, athletic, and artistic achievements, and the year their parents, or relatives, took them home again, or when they were adopted, or entered into the profession, or employment they had chosen, have all been given to the appropriate Government Department.

COLEBROOK HOME, EDEN HILLS.

      Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      An account of the Lord's Hand upon Colebrook Home between the years 1957-1964 including the records of those children already at the Home in 1957 and those who came to the Home during that time.

      It includes records of the staff who served there and some of the wonderful answers to the prayers of the children and those who were drawn there to serve there in faith.

      As a preamble to that which follows I must let you know that I have either taken out, or disguised the names of the children we were privileged to spend those years with because it might, in some cases, cause them embarrassment should they be disclosed. However I do not think this will, in any way, hide the wonder of God's Hand upon His Work amongst those we came to love as our family. All the names and details of the children, their parents, and where they came from, are in my private files and also lodged with the appropriate Government Department.

      I suppose the events should include how and why it actually happened to us but suffice to say that the trail of events which led us into this field over which the Lord God is the husbandman began the moment Mr. Payne who in his straight forward way led us to find Christ Jesus as our saviour and Lord and nurtured us as he led us in discovering the marvellous truths in the Word of God. We were led to join the Churches of Christ at Grote Street Adelaide, were baptised there, and after several years and fellowship with one or two missionaries and the British and Foreign Bible Society knew God was calling us to a deeper walk with Him

      The account of that call follows and is how we have remembered it all and recorded it for others should they wish to know. We have thought of many other things since we began this of course but some might be embarrassing for a 'grown-up' to read when now they are parents and prominent in their chosen vocation so we are keeping those memories for ourselves and in this copy for you excluded any. [1]

THE HOME.

      When Pastor Claude Candy gave a challenge at an evening Gospel Service to those willing to serve the Lord on the mission field and invited those so called to publicly declare it, my wife and I, already stirred by James 2 where he writes of works and faith, did so and we sought at once to find a Mission in which we might serve.

      The British Syrian and Lebanese Mission was our choice but our application was not accepted both because we were both approaching 40, and the situation in the Middle East was not suitable for a family which is how we wanted it to be.

      We resumed our everyday life for some time, so confident that one day soon we would be accepted somewhere that we tried to go without little things that were not really essential and then, suddenly, there was a call from the Churches of Christ Mission Board for workers at Carnarvon on the north coast of Western Australia and when we applied we were accepted.

      However before we had begun to get ready to go they advised us the position had been filled and they suggested that as Norseman, a Mission near the goldfields, had a vacancy we might like to go there but difficulties about education for our children, and a sudden illness, saw the opportunity fall away and the dear Pastor Candy tried again.

      He had a serious look on his face when next he spoke to me and said. 'I think I have the place for you both and it is probably why all other avenues were closed but it has what may be a problem for where the other mission we looked at assured their workers a nominal wage this organisation promises nothing.'

      We were interested and he put us in touch with Mr. Samuels of the U.A.M and we had almost been accepted for the Work at Gerard when a series of mishaps there closed that avenue.

      Mr. Samuels suggested, somehow unconvincingly, because Colebrook, at that time, faced the prospect of closure by the Aborigine Department due to the appalling conditions there and the unruly children who had already caused five or six couples to leave over the past year and, so that we might meet one of the children quietly, he arranged for us to go and see one of them who was in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

      She was a shy girl but we struck up a friendship and, although nothing definite had been decided about Colebrook, I mentioned we were thinking of going there and, when we asked her if she would help us if we did come, she said yes. [2]

      A meeting between the Government Department for Aboriginal Affairs and the U.A.M Mission Board which we attended was chaired by Professor Cleland and he confirmed the purpose of the Department was to close the home unless satisfactory parents were found and added that if the U.A.M felt so deeply about the matter why didn't we do something practical and personal about it ourselves! It was another push in that direction for us but there were many things to consider. Florence was concerned with the education of our two girls and both of us wondered, after what Mr. Candy had said, just what the conditions at the Home would be.

      We placed this before the U.A.M and they assured us they would manage to arrange for their schooling but were vague about anything else so we decided to go and see for ourselves. The sprawling house, half hidden by a wilderness of trees and shrubs, did not look at all inviting. The roof was rusty and under the long verandah the somewhat grimy cream wall abruptly met the dark blue painted bricks which continued down to the red floor of the verandah itself.

      We noticed the paint was peeling away as we waited for the door to open and when it was opened by Miss Lovibond we entered the Home for the first time. She was about to show us around when she was called away to some emergency and asked us to wander through the rooms and see everything for ourselves. The whole place had a musty unpleasant even unhealthy odour and looking at the dingy dark coloured walls we felt a shiver go down our spines. We were in what was called the Common room and to the left was the dining room and we peeked in.

      There were six or seven tables and thirty or so wooden chairs, half of which had broken seats. The tables were unpainted and the gloomy look of the room was accentuated by the fact that the bottom half of all windows were painted white so no one could look in.

      Stepping out from there into the untidy hall which led to the back of the house outside we noticed a little room on the left which we found out later was the staff room, and into the cement courtyards.

      The first thing which caught our eye was an enormous tank pitted with holes which we felt must make a spectacular sight when it rained! It sat out onto the courtyard opposite a cluster of corrugated iron buildings which we discovered were the laundry and the ablution block for the girls. [3]

      There were three or four rooms along the left of the courtyard for the girls, one occupied by sister Lovibond and one by Adeline and her two children. Turning to our right towards the kitchen we were confronted by a red flag of defiance hanging from the roof and several boys running wildly and laughing as they ran. In the kitchen we marvelled at the number of dishes on the drain board under the window and the utensils sprawled across the old table. We were quite impressed by the sight of the enormous wood stove but our hearts dropped a little when we saw the padlock on the servery which looked onto the common room, a larger one, on the door of the fridge and another leading into what we found out later was the pantry.

      Once outside we turned towards the boys side passing what was obviously the clothing and ironing room because it was impossible to miss the long wooden ironing table with a hole in the middle in the shape of an iron and an iron itself striving to peek out from the tumble of sheets, boys clothes on top of it. The next door led, as we discovered later, to three separate rooms at present unoccupied but destined for the next family who came as missionaries.

      To the left a stairway leading to a cellar from which we were dissuaded from inspecting because it was flooded and, between it and the rooms on the right an open space of dirt and half bricks. There were four rooms on this side and then the large dormitory at the end. It looked drab and uninviting and as we approached the larger room a tousled head appeared above a barricade which looked like something out of the Eureka Stockade, a pair of brown eyes laughed at us and with a loud, 'hands up!' he pointed a water pistol at us.

      We stopped just watching him for what seemed an eternity and just as suddenly as he had pointed the pistol he dropped it and ran away laughing. We were relieved not only because he ran away but because he didn't press that trigger for it would have caused exactly what we didn't want, a confrontation, and although we hadn't decided whether to come or not any incident would have been a bad start.

      It had not been an exhilarating experience.

      We left by the back entrance and as we walked past the girls dormitory, as if it were not enough to see the two lonely toilets standing on a slight rise, we noticed the sagging roof of an old hay barn obviously now used as a wood shed [4]

      The sudden unexpected sound of a train chuffing as it strained vigorously to come up the gradient beyond the tall grass and scrub behind them was almost too much. We glanced back at the wide expanse behind the home and, as we turned to leave the train whistled loud enough to make us jump signalling its victory over the hill it had just climbed!

      It was a catalyst which decided us when we talked it over at home to say No!. However during the week we were so stirred by the circumstance we saw there we could not get over the feeling we should go but we did not make a decision nor did I pressure my wife to do so because she was rightly still concerned about our children and just what the Mission would supply, I talked again to Pastor Samuels and he said we would need to take beds, linen and any furniture we thought we might need, everything else we would share with the others and our children would be able to go to school.

      I asked a friend to pray with me that, if Florence felt sure she wanted to go, she would ask me during the week what exactly we would need to take. After six days she had not done so and I told my friend that maybe I had not thought everything out clearly enough and perhaps I should think it over again. However, at dinner that same day, she asked the question because she had been as exercised about it all as much as I had been.

      I resigned from my employment an hour later despite an offer to increase my salary and the next week we were so sure the Lord meant us to go out in faith that we accepted the circumstances and were installed as superintendent and missionary. We went in faith knowing God was able to accomplish all He had promised and He never failed us.

      We knew absolutely nothing about caring for children, all that we knew was that we loved our own and were anxious to bring the same love and guidance to these children especially as the U.A.M. had given us their permission to do just that. The Lord was about to show us what He could do and He taught us what faith was and what he could do over the next busy years.

      It was not a happy beginning. We went to a place where already a helper, skilled in youth work, had been forced to take two weeks rest because she was unable to cope but we didn't know that until we arrived. [5]

      Not that the house had changed but the surroundings most certainly had! The entire house was surrounded by what could only be described as a blackened wilderness because, as far as the eye could see, to where the land sloped down to the railway line fire had destroyed all the vegetation creeping up to the eastern corner of the house up to the white washed dining room windows.

      Our feet disturbed the ashes as we walked through it causing the dust to float about us and a hot wind blowing from the north made the atmosphere almost unbearable. Several events which happened on our first day hold a special place in our memories but two in particular come to mind.

      Most of the children were at school when we first arrived except -------- and -------- so we had time to unpack a little in the rooms we had seen on our previous visit. Although we were aware the rooms had been neglected for a long time, they were even worse than we had imagined.

      We were in the middle of cleaning up some of the unsavoury conditions, when we had a surprise visit from Sir Malcolm McIntosh, the Minister of Works and, after we had exchanged formalities, he wasted no time in saying what he had come to say.

      He began. 'Tell me. I read in the news that you are people of faith and that you envisage the home with white walls and a grey roof. May I ask how you are going to accomplish this for I understand the mission has no funds for such a project.'

      When I replied 'I believe that we can with God's help.' He said. 'I'll tell you what I will do. I'll see you get all the paint you need and you show me that it can be done. He did just that. It had an interesting sequel the following year which made me believe he had watched the home with interest and it occurred because of this.

      After he left there was no time to do anything more as the children began to arrive home from school, As they did, they made it very obvious that they did not expect us to last any longer than the five or six who had attempted to take control before. It did not take us long to realise the Home was mostly filled with rebellious children and a staff in complete disarray when my wife and I arrived and it was not long before we realised that they were determined we would not stay any longer than all those who had preceded us. [6]

      That they failed at every turn to achieve this was the first real confirmation that God had indeed provided a place for us to work and serve Him in the way He desired.

      We had not really known there could be so many different personalities amongst the children and having come from a situation where everything concerning family life had been lovingly worked through, it was a shock to see any attempts at reason rejected, particularly when some of those problems had not been part of our own life. We took every problem we could not deal with to God immediately and the answer and how to overcome it was instant. Indeed we had cause for praise as the children gradually realised that none of their efforts to deter us would succeed. They began to listen and life at the home took on a different meaning. [7]

FAITH AND MIRACLES.

      A very important thing happened at our first evening meal which helped us to handle other situations later and it occurred when they gave thanks before they ate their meal. They had been in the custom of singing a grace which was, 'Lord make us truly thankful for what we are about to receive,' and the way they sang it only made mockery of the thanks, and I was disturbed by their attitude. The children drew out the word 'truly' until it was comical, indeed ridiculous, and it held no thought of thanks at all, so before they could sit down I halted them with the words, 'Before you begin I have something to say.' They stood waiting and when I said, 'Are you thankful?' They shifted uncomfortably until I went on. 'I'm sure you are, even though you sang the thanks in a way which was not thankful for it or for the way God has provided, so in future we will not ask God to make us 'truly' thankful, we will just say thank you God for the meal you have provided for us and then sit down to eat it.'

      Somewhat shocked at this new approach they nevertheless did so and we never had that ever happen again and having accepted our authority they never really questioned it although it was with a reluctant attitude.

      It was an important issue and the words God gave us were an answer to the situation, the beginning of the many miracles, both large and small, which were to follow and the first was that visit from Sir Malcolm McIntosh.

      The day after he had told us he would supply the paint, a Saturday, a young man accompanied by several girls and boys approached me while I was trying to untangle the office key from the unbelievable bunch of keys which had just been given me. He introduced himself as Mr. Sarre and said he was from the Congregational Church, a leader of the youth group who, the previous evening, had decided they would give a year of their time to do different practical things around the home. He asked whether I had any suggestions and when I told them about the painting they accepted the challenge immediately.

      They came every week, the boys cleaning down and painting the walls and the girls painting the lower part of the dozens of wooden poles supporting the verandah and other little jobs we could find them to do. By the end of the year the outside had taken on a new look. Indeed particularly as the Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary club had landscaped the grounds and lawn had been planted. [8]

      A friend of the home had purchased water piping for us and through the good nature of the local plumber who allowed me to use his plumbing equipment, I had been able to fit threads on them and lay them under ground across the whole front of the Home.

      A Mr. McGowan, who came from nowhere it seemed, also helped with painting and the home was beginning to assume what we had envisaged, except for the roof upon which I could not allow our young volunteers to work on, as it was so high and vast. It would have to wait we thought, and about a week or so after the outside walls had been painted the phone rang and someone I did not know said, 'Is that Mr. Finck?' And when I said 'Yes' he continued. 'Have you completed the painting?' And when I told him that all except the roof and gutters had been done he said 'thank you' and hung up.

      We wondered who it might have been but the next day a surprise awaited us when, about ten o'clock, a man in white overalls met me as I was checking something at the back of the home and asked me if I were the superintendent. He told me he had come to do some painting and when I asked where, he pointed to the roof, saying that his mate would be following as soon as he had picked up their gear. He said he couldn't understand it because they were in the middle of painting a department building and had been suddenly told to come and paint the roof at Colebrook. He said, 'I don't get it. Oh, and by the way, a couple of others are coming also to take down your gutters and replace them.'

      His friend who arrived soon after was just as mystified by what had happened, but they got on with the job at once. We never found out who arranged it all but the paint made a wonderful difference to the home, and it became a landmark where once it had been an eyesore.

      The last to be finished were the chimneys and it was their gleaming whiteness above the beautiful grey roof which prompted one of the girls to say as she came home from school. 'The house has been given a clean slate hasn't it Mr. Finck?' It was true. [9]

      The first year was not easy and, unused to such a large family and equally large meals, it took us some time to adjust, but we did, albeit with trepidation at times. I suppose the most difficult task was getting a substantial lunch for them to take to school and, as the mission had complaints it was inadequate, we were determined to make it a tasty lunch as well as a wholesome one.

      God was faithful in fulfilling the promises he had given to us and through the goodness of a local christian butcher, Mr. Vawser, the Stratfold bakery, and a helpful milkman, all their needs were met. Miss Curtis was a great help when she returned from a week's retreat. She had offered to stay at the home about a month before we came, but the situation with the children's unruly behaviour had been so bad she had to go away for a week or so. However when she returned although, she only stayed a short time, she was a good backup in authority. After we had cleaned the windows so they could be seen through we found out why they had been covered. Some local boys had been making a practice of looking in and when she and I saw them the first night we both chased them through the scrub which surrounded the home, frightening them so much they never did it again.

      We also frightened a man and a woman that night who had driven their car off the road into the scrub at the eastern side of the property and I don't think they ever came back either. One thing that did help immensely was when one of the girls went out the front to talk to some boys walking past. She ran inside when we suddenly appeared and disappointed with the incident we went to the girls dormitory and told them we had come there to be a father and mother to them and part of that meant following what we told them. We let them know we were disappointed that they had disobeyed and left them saying that it was now their choice, if they wanted us to stay as parents and my wife particularly as a mother to the girls we would otherwise we would go but we had to trust each other.

      We went back into what was the Common Room where they could enjoy different games in the evenings and when most of the children were there except a few of the girls the one who had been out the front came to the door. The whole room filled with noisy children became quiet and, in the dead silence, she came up to us and said, 'Mrs. Finck, we want you to be a mother to us.' It was not the final step but it was a most important one and brought a new understanding between us all. [10]

      There was an underlying hostility at first from one or two of the older boys and girls who saw a certain dominance they had over the younger ones disappearing but they lacked cohesion and as the majority settled down they did the same, reluctant though they were to see things change, even though it was obviously for the better.

      Our girls suffered a little in these early times as, although we treated them no different than the others as we wanted to establish a complete family unit, they were tainted with the appellation of "Whitey" for some months, as were any of the children who stayed by our side overly long until they began to accept the idea, particularly as it became obvious we were going to stay.

      The rooms allocated to us must have been vacant for many weeks and were absolutely unbelievable until we were able to clean them out, but after a week or more work with a spade in some areas inside, particularly the fireplace, and a wheelbarrow or so full of actual dirt we were able to put our girls in one bedroom and have the front room for ourselves.

      There was a room we converted into a lounge room of sorts and this later became a room wherein, on Tuesday nights, some of the boys would come for a family night and on Saturday nights the girls. There had once been a kitchen at the back door and as this faced the boys room we were always able to go to them quickly if they needed us.

      This was my responsibility although my wife visited them at times with me. We kept it like that all the time we were at the home, for there might be times it would be inconvenient for a woman to go to the boys rooms and we used the same practice for the girls, into which I never went unless it was suitable and then only with my wife or Miss Lovibond.

      Mr. McGowan was helpful too and often I would hear him wake up one of the boys who was a bed wetter and take him to the toilet. The toilets were a disaster and absolutely unhygienic as well as being inconveniently located with both boys and girls toilets near each other. They were operated on a free drainage system and often overflowed from the pit to run down an open channel into the scrub behind us. The channel blocked up every two or three days and the only way to unblock it was to drag a railway sleeper through it until it cleared. It was a twice a week task for a long time and very difficult, as I had to drag it over several out crops of limestone in the channel. [11]

      My wife often had to take the gum boots from my feet as I couldn't bend down to do it myself when exhausted by the effort of clearing the channel. The department later replaced the sewerage with a better system and to do so they had to dynamite the area as it was impossible to dig. They also provided two large ablution blocks and toilets, one for the girls side and one for the boys, extending the hot water supply to both, to the boys great delight because they now had both shower and bath facilities.

      The department also made a separate toilet available for the staff and ourselves, as by this time we had two ladies working on a casual basis, a young man there for a year as a volunteer, and occasionally Mr. McGowan.

      Some of the boys were troubled by these outside contacts, and of course some more than others. Prior to our coming to the home the Mission board, having heard rumours that there perhaps was some sexual trouble looming between the children, had suggested building a very high gate which could be padlocked at night and in the meantime had one of the girls examined at the Adelaide Hospital, an examination which proved their fears were groundless.

      We were appalled at the suggestion of a fence, fearing it would create an atmosphere of distrust one would never be able to eliminate, and thankfully they decided not to do so. The incident concerning the young girl was an awkward one for us, as we were asked if we would collect her from the Adelaide hospital. It was the first time we had met her and we felt awkward encroaching on her privacy by inquiring about her well being, but in doing so we cemented a friendship which proved helpful in the home at that time.

      The final outcome of all this was that we established a firm approach with strict rules about any boy encroaching on the girls side, and the same restriction for the girls regarding the boys side. This was never breached and developed a feeling of trust in each other which was important, as it became our hope to establish a family life together with our own children.

      The new approach we had of establishing a family wherein all the members had equal rights, giving due respect to us as parents, had the children perplexed for a while and some of their own approaches to us were shy, but never-the-less were made.

      The most uncomfortable were our daughters, who when they tried to be friendly were at first rejected, and until the children accepted them were tagged "Whitey", an epithet the children used a lot. [12]

      One of those who used this derogatively was -------- but I believed he used it as a defence in case he began to actually like us, and he used it mainly against our elder daughter who was very patient until it got too much one day and she exploded. It seemed to clear the air between them and although -------- would never believe it we were fond of him. He was a boy who always cared about his appearance and behaved like a gentleman except with our daughter to whom he was extremely rude. We would not have minded had their relationship become serious, but it never did.

      He was intelligent, determined to succeed and very presentable, and when a man who came to the home learned of his interest in metal work, he encouraged -------- to get his Intermediate certificate, promising him that if he did he would find employment, which turned out to be the case.

      -------- was a football player and later trained and played briefly with -------- He grew into a fine man and I remember particularly meeting him in the foyer of the Adelaide Railway station. An assured young man, and I went away happy to see him so. He sustained an injury while playing football which hindered him, but we lost touch when he travelled to the eastern states and we never heard of him again.

* * * * * * * * * *

      As I write of some of our experiences on a faith mission I must question some of the issues raised by those who have been cared for under these circumstances, because they seldom give the reason why they were 'taken' from their parents and brought to us so we could care for them.

      Looking at the problem we see today of young children wandering about our streets uncared for and sometimes unwanted, I can only think how fortunate it would be for them if there were a home staffed by carers who gave their time without pay to care for them such as it was then, an organisation which had been established from voluntary gifts of money. It is true that some were removed from their home when their parents were neglecting them because of a drinking or some other social problem. Sometimes because the parents were finding it difficult to cope and had approached such an organisation to care for them until they were able to manage. It was compassion which stimulated the authorities to establish a home for such children, whether they came from the first background or the second, and many other homes were financed by the government and had a paid staff. [13]

      Many different denominations with the same compassion also established homes by themselves, some with staff paid a minimal wage and others with staff who received donations only if there were funds available after supplying the needs of the home in food and clothing.

      It was in this kind of home where, one of our prominent aboriginal women leaders of today, was cared for as a child by two women who gave their whole lives to this end and she, on our National television, spoke so disparagingly about them that almost all who heard her would have concluded the two women had failed in their effort to establish a home for the children in their care. On the contrary, there were men and women all over Australia who gave up their personal ambitions to care for those in need and they did it to provide as much as possible, a home life and a mother and father's care.

      She has said that they were taken from their parents and never knew the love of a mother and describes the affection shown to her almost as though it were sickening, saying it could never take the place of a real mother and that they never knew what a real mother's love was. We have a woman we love and who loves us who we met at the Home who said that once she also thought something like that but she, looking back with a clear eye at the past, has long since accepted us as a mum and dad.

      Of course these women who cared for -------- and others like her tried desperately to do so and they never always knew from whence came the children they cared for. It was love which drew them to the mission, a love engendered by the love of God, certainly not for money or fame or any such material thing and they gave their lives to it willingly.

      I might ask is it any different for an aborigine child from an impossible home condition to be placed in the hands of Christians than it is for white children to be placed in the care of an institution and the latter are often placed in a secular home probably with a reasonable wage rather than a home cared for by men and women who serve as unto the Lord.

      We are aware that some children were taken from their parents because of the circumstances under which they were living but a great number, I hesitate to say majority, were in these christian homes at the request of the parents and were, although not by all denominations, able to return to their parents when those parents so wished.

      We could give many instances where the parents simply did not want their children and tell of many occasions where the children found the love and care they received in a mission home both motherly and fatherly and still do today. [14]

      We were concerned sometimes when we saw them go back to conditions where there was domestic and other social problems and situations which were one of despair, but whatever our feelings, that was the way the mission worked and every time these parents came and asked for their children they were returned.

      Today September 13th. 1997 as I review these notes I add a news item I heard on the National news at 7.45 this morning.

      The announcer said the Government had decided to establish a Hostel for Aboriginal children of the Pinjarra people so they could obtain a good education and be cared for and thus relieve their parents of much concern because they were unable to care for them in this way themselves. This is exactly what was done by the various bodies earlier and the children so cared for were called stolen. [15]

MIRACLES AND OTHER THINGS.

      As written before, the dining room was in a sorry state and our first experience of a meal there was some thing we shall never forget. We used one of the tables to serve from and the children filed past and when their plates were filled went to their places at tables. The tables were badly worn and some of them very shaky and the chairs were disgraceful. One or two had no backs and some only half a seat and must have been most uncomfortable. The bottom half of the windows were painted over with what appeared to be a whitewash so that no one could see out or look in. All the children looked uncomfortable and as I have written before our first experience of hearing them give thanks was rather disturbing.

      The important thing is that we did see the room change and with that the children also and only God could have arranged the means whereby these two things happened. Of course it meant we had to do many obvious things and as a part of the new beginning my wife made new bright curtains out of some plastic material which had floral design on it and after we had cleaned the windows so they could be seen through and hung the curtains the room looked and felt different.

      I began to work on the tables and one or two of the wobbly chairs and I had just finished a chair one day and put it back at the table when a visitor, an elderly gentleman came up behind me and said good morning to me. He told me he was Mr. Crowhurst and had visited the Home several times over the years. He said, 'I just thought I would drop in and see how you were settling in. It seems your tables could do with a bit of help maybe some paint would help? And when I said yes he went on, 'Well I'm not a rich man but I like to see someone trying to mend things. Maybe I could help in some way by sending up a couple of tins of paint?' Which he did.

      He was a very agreeable gentleman and he did what he had said and sent us some paint. Over the next few weeks we were busy indeed, managing to mend the chairs and paint the tables but still it was not at all inviting in fact it still looked a bit drab despite the new curtains and not at all inviting. One day I had to take -------- to the hospital because of her problem with her ears and knowing it was to be a long wait I took a book with me to read. [16]

      It was called The Spirit in Redemption and as I was reading it in the waiting room where there was quite a large group of men and women, the lady next to me asked me if I were a Christian and when I said I was she said that she was also. We struck up a conversation during which she asked me where I lived and when I told her that my wife and I were missionaries at Colebrook Home she was silent for a moment and then said,

      'You know that's extraordinary and I'm sure you will find it hard to believe, but last night I prayed I might meet a missionary today. I never though my prayer would be answered so soon.' When she found out we were at Eden Hills she asked if she might visit us. She came the next week and after a tour of the Mission, although she was rather taken back by the untidy front of the house and the red white and blue colour scheme, when she saw what had already happened in the dining room she said that the curtains looked nice.

      They did of course in spite of the fact at this time the room still looked dull even though one or two tables had been painted. After looking about she said, 'Is there anything I can do?' I said that we preferred to leave that decision to those who asked, adding that if she had seen anything she would like to do or give towards the work we would gladly accept it in the Lord's Name. At that she nodded her head thoughtfully.

      The next week, to our surprise and delight, a chromium table large enough to seat six comfortably, arrived. It had a blue top and looked marvellous in the dining room and everyone wanted it. We settled that amicably but it proved to be a blessing indeed because it was so different in comparison to the other tables visitors always asked how it came to be there and some, encouraged by the story, were so impressed they did the same and after some time we had six gleaming chromium, blue topped tables in our dining room. The lady, whose name we never knew and whom we never saw again had made a wonderful choice and although not everybody felt the urge to buy a table at the end of it all, over forty red metal chairs with a metal webbed seat were under the tables and the bay window.

      It was not all accomplished at once of course but after about eighteen months the dining room with its blue tables and red chairs was quite a surprise. When the men came from the electricity trust to put up the Christmas tree again they were astounded at difference and the look of the clean smelling room and the contrast the tables made against the backdrop of the floral curtains. [17]

      The Christmas tree, a huge tree which reached to the roof which they decorated for us was the crowning touch and it was hard to remember what the room looked like the previous year. Only the fact I took a photograph of the room when we arrived and another of the room at that time can really show what a tremendous difference it was.

      Next to the dining room was the common room. A huge room wherein we held any meetings, and other events from time to time and it had a brown linoleum floor and a few dilapidated chairs and was not always an inviting sight. The two ministers from the Blackwood Methodist Church came regularly and faithfully taught the children the Word of God as did Mr. Cole and Miss Wiley from the Evangelical Society. Mr. Paddick often came from the Temperance Union. We held a Church service every Sunday night for all the Home as some of the children went to the Blackwood Church of Christ in the morning and some to the Eden Hills Baptist Church.

      After tea the children were allowed to enjoy themselves in there as we had our tea before any visitors arrived. A very noisy but necessary outlet. Again the room was dull with the walls painted a colour which was obviously chosen to prevent them becoming soiled. There was a large table at the Western end and on the southern side an enormous fireplace surrounded by an equally large cyclone frame designed to protect anyone from being burned when a fire was lit.

      However through different gifts given to the Mission all the old chairs were gone and replaced by a row of red chairs which lined the three walls of the room. The passage to the courtyard took on a different look when we were able to repaint the dull blue and red walls with pastel colours, for by this time the red white and blue walls were almost all white. The approach being inviting, especially when the verandah posts were finished in grey.

      The common room was the centre of our activities and the slide evenings of flowers and scenes of some of the places we had visited were enjoyed by the children and many who came to know what was happening on that night. The Lord led us to buy Bible story film strips which I was able to cut and put into half frames and it was the means of interesting others, besides the children. We could live the Old and New Testament together and understand better the country God's people lived in and the see the places Jesus walked during the time He was with us. The room was always a room of prayer and many times a visitor came and said to me how wonderful it all was to hear about missionaries in whom they were interested, being the subject of the children's prayers. [18]

      There were many visitors as the evenings became known and the Bible stories, enhanced by the slides, brought both young and old among them to think about or rethink their commitment to Christ. One young man from the Roman Catholic Church who had fiercely come asking what I, as a protestant, had to protest about, only calmed down when I explained to him that the word 'protest' meant to support a cause, in this case, the claims of Christ rather than oppose them. He became an enthusiastic and regular visitor revelling in the Bible truths he found there.

      Men and women from every kind of Christian conviction came at one time or the other and while not all were in harmony with us we had some thrilling encounters. About this time the Girton School, the Ladies Methodist College and the Presbyterian Girls College made several visits to the Home.

      It was at a time when the boys and girls were mopping the floor, quite an event. We had, to make it more acceptable made a game of it and after washing the floors both boys and girls would put on some old woollen socks which were not able to be repaired and after the polish had been put on, would use the floors as a skating rink. It was most effective and enjoyed for the skating and for the marvellous shine it gave the floors.

      The schools, impressed by the children and the things they heard about the Lord's Hand on the Home, and the children, were moved to give floor tiles and when they were finally all laid in the dining room and the common room the place was transformed. The pastel coloured walls now with red chairs contrasted beautifully with grey tiles and the room looked magnificent and visitors who came to the Home for the first time would stand at the front door after they had entered, amazed.

      It was incontrovertible evidence of the Lord's Hand and the means of making many rethink their faith. One minister who came, whose name escapes me at this time, was so impressed that he told me later he felt as though he could feel the Lord's blessing as he worked amongst us. I have told of him before in more detail but it was a wonderful experience for many others also. The common room, so called, and the staff dining room, where we held our Bible Studies, were the Power Focus of the Home and we rejoiced in the answers to the prayers which emanated from that source and from the many Christians who supported us in this way.

      God's Hand was manifest everywhere. [19]

      The Harvest thanksgiving bounty, the painting of the Home, the landscaping of the surrounds, the lawn and the lawn mowers. One of the mowers, a Victa was given to us from the Army girls. The other, a large roller machine, came from the group who planted the front lawn.

      The way He led us to deal with the various problems the children had, and other important things such as, organising the ladies who gave up their time to help around the home. What an experience it was to be in the Common room on Christmas morning! We had saved most of those gifts the Christian Endeavour and individual groups had brought, and placed them in the office and, the children often asked if they could come there with me and read a book or play with a toy, if they were reasonably quiet.

      As Christmas approached each child and staff member was given the opportunity of writing down the gift they would like for Christmas and they were allowed a list of ten items each from the store. My wife and I would spend a lot of time before Christmas deciding how to fulfil the lists but fill them we did, although some of the cars or dolls were quite small and when Christmas eve arrived we spent several hours filling a pillow case for each child and staff member.

      On Christmas morning my wife would stand at the door and all the children, beginning at the youngest would line up from the office door to the Common room door and she would hand a pillow case filled with goodies which they took into the Common room and played with them together. It was a wonderful sight to see, older children helping the younger ones. Our oldest boy, even though blind, enjoyed what he had received, playing with the little ones as well.

      The room was filled with delight and after they had played for some time we had a Christmas breakfast and short service in which we remembered the birth of our Lord and they spent the rest of the day enjoying their gifts showing them to everyone who came. The photographs I took say it all and, as we remember the day, we remember those who gave. Sometimes it was from a boy or girl who had given a favourite toy, once it was minister, Mr. Brown, whose son gave his railways set. One year John Martin's sent us an enormous chest of damaged but useable toys which I was able to mend and they were a special reminder for the children who had just enjoyed the John Martins Christmas Pageant from a special vantage point reserved for them in King William Street. [20]

      This was not the only occasion the children were thought of by the authorities either because they had the same privilege at the Queen's visit, a prominent place on Anzac Highway, waving to the entourage as it slowly passed them. Our only problem, the first long wait and then, after it was over, getting them across the road to the railway station at Keswick to catch the train home again. My wife thought I held up the traffic admirably!

      The visits to my office became quite important and if we were not having a meeting, a knock would come on the door and when I sang out and asked them in, either a boy or girl would be there, and then one or two more. Soon I would have an office filled with boys playing with the toys or reading. Sometimes it would be a girl and my wife would come and read a book or sit and watch them as they examined the toys also. They were all unbelievably quiet considering how much noise they could make and the look of amazement on a visitors face as they slowly walked out of the office so that he could get in and talk to me was an evidence of that both to him and to us.

      It was about this time we were able to spend a little more time with Trish and Fran because the response of the children in the Home was more harmonious and we set up the lounge we had brought from our home in the spare front room. After getting the radiogram working we had the electrician from Blackwood come and put a speaker into the Common Room through which music was played.

      Some of the boys were intrigued by this and -------- in particular, by the way the record changer changed records. He concluded it was magic until reality took over. It was good to have some quiet times with the girls, however before long the lounge room had either a few girls or a few boys in it.

      The boys loved the music the girls were more interested in feminine things and my wife's hair which was waist length was one of the main attractions, the girls designing all kinds of fashion ideas. Sometime later when we had more little ones Trish and Fran would entertain them with all kinds of games and stories which they acted out.

      We got very close to the boys and girls through these evenings and it seems such a pity now that they have largely forgotten it all, not that every one of them has forgotten of course because -------- wrote to us, -------- invited us to her baptism, often rings up, and came to our church a few times -------- always keeps in touch and -------- was a constant visitor until his death. We sometimes meet -------- in a shopping centre, and -------- rang a few times talking about the 'good old days.' We met -------- and -------- a few years ago and others too at various other infrequent times. [21]

      The only thing which upset the progress of the relationship between us all was the tendency of the Mission Board to send a boy or girl who had been misbehaving at another Mission to us in the hope the atmosphere at the Home would help them and it often did, but in the doing, more often disturbed the boys and girls of the Home who were sometimes too interested with some added account of the newcomers adventures from whence they had come.

      The evenings in the Common room of our trips in the country, the flowers and scenes and the ones about our children and the increasing number of slides about the children were wonderful and the talks by those who came with the Gospel message were most important about which I have written in the section I have called 'Reflections' were most rewarding and besides encouraging the ones taking the meeting helped us all keep our missionary friends in prayer and enabled us to know each other better.

      Just here I must tell of some of the children's prayers because they made us deeply conscious of the need we all had to know God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord. Some were sometimes unconsciously humorous but always sincere and others so sure God would answer that we wondered sometimes how He could and of course He did, a result about which the children had no doubts.

      I remember two brothers one night who gave what could only be called a combined prayer. -------- began by saying 'Dear Father we pray you will bless all the men working outside in the garden, and in the street digging those drains up. Bless the men who pick up the dirt in their spades and throw it up and the men who come along and put it on the wheelbarrows and take it to the trucks. We pray for the men who are working out the back and digging more holes and for the big trucks which are coming all the time bringing us sand, and -------- who as I wrote before, often had the impulse to care for one of the other boys added a prayer for them when -------- finished.

      One of the most touching nights was the night an older girl, -------- , stood up after we had been talking about those who had seen Jesus and said only a few words but they were most important. They were. 'Dear Father. As we are here tonight at our meeting we pray we will see Jesus like -------- can.' Of course what made it so much of a blessing was the fact that -------- was blind. It touched everyone and brought an almost breathless silence to the room.

      On a humorous note was --------'s prayer. One of our ministers was a heavy smoker of the pipe, and this particular night he came into the room as all eyes were closed in prayer and walked as silently as he could to the front of the room where he sat down. [22] Almost immediately -------- stood up and prayed. 'Dear Father. Please help our minister to stop smoking!' And we all knew who he meant because none of the others smoked. We all wanted to fall through the floor I think but the gentleman concerned took it with real Christian grace. Of course the reason we all knew who it was, was because we all smelled his pipe as he came into the room.

      Perhaps the most momentous one which lives on our memory is the night two children prayed. It was July and there was very little fruit left. Harvest was long gone and in fact we were very low in everything, something all the children knew. I had only become aware of how much they knew about the situation the previous evening when one of the younger boys came to the office to have prayer with me before he went to bed. He had prayed. 'Dear Father please send us some more rice' and after I had gently scolded him for just thinking of his stomach Sister Lovibond came and asked me what we could have the next day for tea as the rice was all gone. I asked her did anyone know and she said the little boy who had just prayed with me might because he was there when she opened the bin.

      I had to apologise to him and had just done so at the meeting when a little girl about six or seven at this time, stood up and began. 'Dear Father please send us some more apples and nice oranges and bananas, and peaches too. Please send us some grapes and what daddy called pineapple. And we do need vegetables because we don't have many left, and Father we thank you for all you have sent us before in Jesus Name. Amen'

      Well I for one could have sunk through the floor because there was no way we could satisfy those needs -------- saw as urgent and my wife and I, concerned about it, prayed about a solution. The next day I had to take one of the children to hospital for treatment and before I returned home I rang my wife to see if there was anything she wanted me to get while I was in town and after telling me there wasn't she asked me if I was expecting a visitor.

      When I said no, she told me a reporter had rung to say he wanted to see me and would probably arrive at the same time as I came home. He wasn't there when I arrived but came soon after, and after introducing himself, told me he had come to take some pictures. I thought he meant of the Home and told him he could do that if he wished because several times different newspapers had done so before but when I said so, he said 'No! I'm here to take a photograph of the vegetables and the fruit.' [23] When I asked him what he meant he said, 'Don't you know?' I said I didn't and he went on, 'Well you'll know shortly, there's a truck load on the way here right now.' Sure enough a truck pulled up at the back of the Home a few minutes later simply filled with fruit and vegetables! I still have a photograph of him photographing the children unloading it.

      Everything -------- had prayed for was there.  . . and more! and her calm, sure, unequivocal acceptance of that answer was a lesson to us all. The photographer did not know and although the truck driver did, he could not tell us the whole story, so it was not until some time later, after a telephone call, we were able to solve the mystery. It had been Independence Day in America a day or so before and a group of men and women who called themselves the American Australian Friends had given a luncheon at the Adelaide Town Hall. The stage and room had been decorated with fruits, flowers, produce, and vegetables of every kind representing the two countries. After the day was over the problem of dispersing it was solved when someone suggested Colebrook Home and, having agreed, they sent the whole display to us.

      We wrote telling them how much we had appreciated such a much needed gift and when they read of how it had been an answer to a little girl's prayer they wrote and thanked us that they, and their day, were used as that answer.

      Prayer of course was the focal point for all matters and it was there we sought God's guidance as we considered how to do the necessary things which were there to do, content to leave everything else in God's Hands. The additional little unexpected miracles like the tables and chairs, the beach sand arriving just after we had built our sand pit, and the fruit which came at the right time, were incredible and one day I said as much to my wife adding, 'I'm almost afraid to think about anything which would make the Home more comfortable for the children and ourselves.' Her response was, 'Do you know what I think the Home could do with?' and at my reply of 'No', went on, ' I would like them all to have inner spring mattresses!'

      I had to laugh because it was obviously impossible but I agreed it would be helpful. All the children were sleeping on collapsible iron beds which were covered with a cyclone wire mesh and the mattresses were lumpy cloth or pallets and while comfortable enough not hygienic as they might be and often had to be emptied, cleaned, and refilled. [24]

      This was quite an effort because there were about forty mattresses all told and it took a long time. It was something we would all be thankful for certainly but the idea of asking the Mission Board to consider it was utterly impossible particularly as only a week or so prior I had received the last of the chromium beds and now everyone had one.

      That was another miracle which began a year or so before when our blind boy bought one like the ones Trish and Fran had brought from our home. His, in a room with another boy sleeping on a plain iron fold up bed, had been as much of an incentive for someone to give another, as the table had been, but inner spring mattresses?

      We put the thought on one side but it would not have been more than four or five days later when Mr. Samuels rang me from Adelaide and said, 'Do you happen to have any particular need in mind at the moment which could be beneficial for the whole Home?' I told him I couldn't think of anything at the moment except, I added laughing, that my wife had a wild thought the other day that it might be good to have inner spring mattresses for them all.

      No one was more surprised than us when he said, 'That's it!' I replied, 'Whatever do you mean, that's it? He told me that a group of ladies whom he did not name had collected quite a substantial amount of money to be used in a way which would benefit every child in the Home. 'What you have just said is just it!'. I will ask them.'

      He was right, the ladies were ecstatic about the idea but I had one little problem. One of the boys still wet his bed nearly every night and the thought of that happening to an inner spring mattress so often was depressing, to say the least, and nothing we did seemed to help him and it was difficult to help him too. We knew it was because he needed attention but he must have had this problem for many years and the boys teased him about it which did not help.

      In the end we decided he wouldn't get a mattress but God had a different idea about it all and the day after they all arrived, it was a Saturday morning, a gentleman parked his car at the rear of the building on the girls side and approaching me as I walked towards him introduced himself as Mr. Potter. A little uncomfortably, he said 'I know this will sound ridiculous to you but our daughter has just bought a new inner spring mattress for her new bed and the one she already has does not suit it. It is in perfect condition though and my wife and I wondered if you could use it in the Home here?' [25]

      Well to say I was without words is quite an under statement and when I told him what had happened he could hardly believe it and said, 'Well there's no doubt about what God meant is there? Now the young boy can have his inner spring mattress?' and he did. It was truly a magnificent miracle!

      I'm not sure whether I have written before about how each boy and girl had a coat with CH on the pocket. Each boy had a pair of grey flannel trousers, and each girl a blue check dress because someone just prior to our coming to the Home had left a substantial amount of money in the letter box for that purpose. We had another man who helped us whom we did not know for a long time and every Christmas he would quietly leave enough Christmas puddings for all of us! We found out a couple of years later it was a Mr. Brown who had a store nearby, in Brighton Road I think. [26]

MORE MIRACLES.

      One evening a gentleman and his wife gave the children a fish dinner and it was a magnificent dinner too and the sight was much appreciated by another visitor who had dropped in. He was a Hungarian butcher and he felt he would like to do something similar. The upshot of it all was that he sent us quite a quantity of meat which included a large quantity of minced meat. It happened to be the week I was doing the cooking and thinking the mince would be ideal for a change I got out the two large trays, and they were large, filled them with mince and placed them in the oven of the stove. After lighting the fire, I left the room for about half an hour or so returning to find oil running out of the oven door. Not sure what to do I took the trays out and poured some of the excess oil away but after replacing them had to drain off, even more a little while later. It was not so bad after that but by the time it was cooked it exuded a pungent spicy smell that was almost overpowering.

      Hoping for the best we got ready to portion it out but everyone refused to eat it. Not even those serving it out wanted any and we had to finish with a meal of cold meat from the day before and vegetables. Fortunately I had also made a rice pudding, nice and solid, just as they liked it, and all were satisfied. We didn't know what to do with the mince though and later when a friend came he said he wouldn't eat it but his dogs might and he took it home. He told us the next day they wouldn't either and he finally buried in the back yard because the smell was getting too much for them.

      It took several days before the pungent smell cleared from the kitchen and as for our friend who took the mince home, he said with a serious face, and a note of amusement in his voice, perhaps as the buried minced matured it might make his home a tourist attraction if it were promoted as a health location where the atmosphere was such as to almost immediately clear the nose and throat.

      An occasion which lives in all our minds was the time when Big Sister rang us one day. The man who spoke to me was almost apologetic and began by saying he didn't want to offend me but they had a few cans of soup which were not up to standard. He wondered if we could use them. He was quick to add that they were not dangerous to health but that they had put too much pepper in them and it was not to the standard they were famous for and when I thanked him he said he would send them up the next day. [27] I was in the kitchen when the man arrived and when he asked me where I would like him to put the soup I told him to put it on an old sewing machine we had in the courtyard. He laughed and when I asked why, he said, 'Mr. Finck, I've got a truck full for you out there. Now! Where do you want them?'

      It was true and we hurriedly made room for them on the new open cupboards I had recently completed and stacked them there! It was incredible! There was mushroom soup and tomato, chicken, vegetable, asparagus, and some others. We had never seen such a variety and over the next year my wife used much of it in the stock she often prepared. One amusing incident arose as it came and concerns -------- She had been sent to the kitchen for being naughty by Sister Lovibond but I had not had time to deal with her before the soup came. In the excitement of it all Sister had even forgotten what it was all about anyway, so we told -------- she could have a bowl of soup.

      However she, thinking it was some kind of punishment, tried her best to avoid putting it in her mouth and when she finally did, although very reluctantly, the look on her face was something to see! It was a great compliment to Big Sister both for their integrity in not allowing something they considered not quite up to their standard to be sold, a great compliment also because the soup was delicious, and a lovely gesture from a large manufacturer who thought of someone needy in this way.

      There were others like them also. One distributor of groceries, Independent Groceries, I think, I am unsure because they often either changed their name or were taken over by someone else, but all were members of a group who used the same place of business as a depot. One day one of the managers came as a casual visitor, and we had no idea he was anything but that, pointing to a box of cereals he said, 'I bet you use a lot of that'! He laughed when I said it was a little different for us too because we had only used one a week at our home and now it was two or three a meal. He said, 'I might be able to help.'

      I had no idea what he meant but he arrived during the week with a large tea chest filled with corn flakes and, at my look of astonishment, said, 'We get some broken packets at times in our store through careless handling but they are all OK. No mice or anything like that has been near them and if we get any more I, or whoever is in charge when I leave will see you will share with others, any which get damaged.' [28] It was a marvellous thought and it kept us supplied for a long, long time.

      He must have had a lot of careless workers. This was about two years or so after we went to Colebrook and I don't remember ever having to buy corn flakes again.

      It was the same time whilst we were at the Home we never bought a single jelly and we had them often, it was one of the things the Christian Endeavour groups brought and it was also a gift a casual visitor would bring, and we were never without custard either and we often received tins of fruit also. All these things were certainly the Lord's provision through those who came as God worked upon their hearts.

      The Christian Endeavour days, as I have written before, were tremendous and it was quite an experience to suddenly have two to three hundred swarming over the Home. They caused a flurry once though, and made a lot of hearts beat faster.

      Colebrook was near the railway line and after leaving Eden Hills passed through a tunnel which could be seen from the edge of the property and I shall not easily forget the panic in the man's voice as I picked up the telephone. He almost screamed, 'Will you please get your children off the line before the other train comes down from Belair. The train driver from Adelaide almost had a heart attack when he emerged from the tunnel and saw the line surrounded by children of all ages!'

      All of us went down and hurried them back and more than one teacher was glad it had turned out so well for it could have been disastrous.

      The supply of bedspreads was an outstanding example of the way God works upon the hearts of people. One day, after a visit from the Unley Girls school the group who had been impressed by the chromium beds but not by the patchwork quilts or grey army blankets decided to buy a few of the girls a candlewick bedspread.

      They made a dramatic change to the room and the girls. Again it was one of those things which spur others to do the same and before we long every bed had a candlewick bed spread, of all different colours on their beds. My photographs of the rooms before and after show the dramatic change.

      Not all the changes came because of gifts. The Lord worked upon the children's hearts also and they helped in many ways by offering to help in some of the jobs around and in the Home. [29]

      I have a photograph of both boys and girls working with us when Mr. Pillar was directing the rebuilding of the old fowls yard into which we had already put a large quantity of beach sand and one day when I decided to plant some almond trees on the other side of the driveway, several of the older boys, including -------- helped me drive an old water pipe under the driveway after which it was easy to place the new pipe which I had joined to the existing underhand section I had put in some time before.

      The hours were long for us both and we usually rose well before breakfast for the children and went to be bed just before midnight. I usually rose about 5 or 5.30 because one or two of the boys wet their beds and it was wise to get them to the toilet before this happened. My wife did not have to do this because sister Lovibond watched over this part of the girls day but she was busy in the kitchen and looked after the girls when they came home after school.

      I think I have mentioned before about the toilets but they drained into a cesspit behind them and this often overflowed into an open drain which ran down the hill and dissipated into the bush a long way from the Home. The trouble was that it frequently became blocked and this was a real problem for me because it had to be cleared and the only way was to put on a pair of gum boots get into the drain and after tying a rope about a railway sleeper attach it about my shoulders and pull it the length of the drain. A most difficult task because the drain was bedded over limestone and an outcrop would often bring me to a halt with a sickening thud and sometimes my back got so sore that after I climbed out my wife had to take off the boots for me.

      We had to do this for a considerable time until we were able to persuade the Government to put in a new sewerage system. That did a great job and an exciting one for the children although I'm not sure how some of the neighbours viewed it because they had to dynamite the area before they could do anything. However, they divided the toilets much better than they had been and gave us an extra toilets nearer the bedrooms which helped the few who still wet their beds if they could not get to the toilet quickly enough. They also provided other toilets for the staff which was more convenient for all.

      The sand we received from various sources helped us keep the surrounds of the Home tidier after it was spread and, although most of this was done by the men when the grader was there, we still had a lot to do manually and Miss Bentley and I must have been quite a sight as, with a rope harness about our shoulders, we pulled a very heavy sleeper behind us until it was level! [30]

      A yearly event for some years was the burning off of the grass on the property and one night, when I went out to watch them as they neared the end of the operation, I stood next to one of them and he spoke to me. 'What do you expect to accomplish here with the children? He said. 'I mean what good will it do them and, for that matter, you either?' He listened as I told him we were there because we believed the children had a future in the world and, while we were here, we were teaching them about God and the salvation which was to be found in Jesus Christ. We wanted to see they received a good education so that they could secure employment when they left the Home. We wanted them to appreciate and enjoy family life and, because of that last reason, have them stay at the Home until they found employment or married.'

      He turned over what I was saying, particularly when I spoke of God, and after a while he said. 'Can I tell you something I've been aching to tell someone for years?' He cleared his throat when I said yes and went on. 'During the war I was a pilot and in one skirmish I was shot down. Nothing dramatic but an inevitable crash and as I went down I said, God you get me out of this and I'll follow you. He did that, but I didn't. I've been trying to tell about that for years and have never had the opportunity. Thank you for listening but what do I do now, how do I get out of that?' I know God gave me the words to speak to him and I believe the man's promise he made to mend matters with God was sincere. He said he would begin by taking the kids to Sunday school which was a good first step because he added that he would go with them.

      There were many who came to the Home with a hidden problem who were touched by the children and the evidence of God's Hand there, but that incident lives as fresh in my memory as does the next I bring.

      I was taking two or three of the children to hospital quite early one day in the Rugby which had the sign 'Christ died for the ungodly' on the back, and after travelling down Shepherds Hill and along the South Road for about five or six miles and, as I neared Edwardstown, a car came up close to the side of the Rugby and the driver sounded the horn and gestured to me to pull over. Thinking something was wrong because the Rugby often backfired I turned into the next street on my left and pulled up. Almost immediately he had stopped behind me and running to me said urgently. 'Tell me. Does that sign on the back of your ute mean what it says? I've been following you for miles and it's got to me. Does it? Because I'm one of the ungodly?' [31]

      Just five words from the Scriptures revealed to this man his desperate position. What a wonderful confirmation that God's Word never returns unto Him void!

      We were late for our appointment that day but what a blessing and it all began because Colin Cotton, filled with the desire to do something for the Lord's Work in return for what God had done for him. He had given us his old Rugby, which he had lovingly restored, to be used in the Home and Mr. Cole had supplied the sign which read, 'Christ died for the ungodly.'

      One helper who was first interviewed by Mr. Samuels who recommended him to us after a lengthy conversation was a great help with the boys although he was only with us a short time. He had quite a knowledge of the Scriptures but we could sense he had a problem because he gave the impression he was trying to make up for some failure or other. I believe he was just about to unburden himself when we were suddenly asked to drive the new truck up to Nepabunna so we waited until we came home again to hear his story. He said he had been a sailor so I suggested he might tie down the load which he did. It was disastrous because he had no idea of how to tie a knot and when I questioned him about that he said he had been a steward, often responsible for the care of young children and he must have been because he was a great help with the boys.

      When we came home he unburdened himself about the problem we had discerned and he said he had treated someone wrongly and was trying to make up for it by doing something for others in some way. When he asked my advice, I told him if he could mend the matter personally he should do so and, if this was not possible, he should confess the problem to God. He never told us the end of the matter and when he left he never gave an address. We did write to the place where we thought he went but the letter came back marked 'not at this address,' and we never pursued it any further. But he was a help, his only problem something he could not, or would not, resolve in the right way. A nice man nevertheless, his favourite Psalm, Psalm 1, the one where we are cautioned not to sit with the ungodly!

      We often had men and women who offered to help but when they found out there was no guaranteed wage they never stopped. One young man of great promise, seeking confirmation of his faith, was convinced after a series of studies on the old Testament. He would have become involved with the Home but his mother persuaded him to stay with his profession in which he became quite successful and an active Christian. [32]

      The doors which were given, which I believe I have mentioned before, were a blessing as they kept out the mosquitoes which were quite a problem. There were 27 I think and when they finally arrived they were the wrong size and we had to put extra timber on the sides before we could begin. Len Dennis, an apprentice carpenter, who married Trish, and Mr. Pillar hung most of them, although I did a few myself, and they made a great difference to the Home.

      As I think of Trish I must tell of an incident concerning Trish and Fran.

      Fran, at this time had begun nursing and had bought a second hand motor cycle of modest proportions to get her to Adelaide at those unusual hours nurses often were called to work and one Sunday she took Trish to Church on the pillion seat. It was quite an event and after Church Fran drove the bike to the front of the Church and called for Trish who went and sat on the pillion seat. However just at that moment someone called out to Trish and she stood up just as Fran opened the throttle and sped off leaving Trish standing there in the middle of the road in a ridiculous position.

      It was hilarious especially when Fran returned having found Trish was missing! The children teased Trish about this unmercifully but they were a happy group and I guess none of them ever forgot the day.

      -------- was like a brother to our two girls and often our Frances would take him for a ride on the motor cycle until Mr. Samuels rang and told us he thought it unwise and although we didn't agree with him Frances did not do it often after that.

      -------- was particularly fond of us and as I think I wrote before, he would have loved us to adopt him which of course we were unable to do because of our age and because he had a family. He always did as either my wife or I advised him and an instance of this was when he got lost at the Show. Knowing that some one might get lost, we had told them all that if it did happen they were to wait at the front gate. Sure enough when we got home we found him missing we rang the showgrounds and asked them to go there and tell him we were coming back but they couldn't find him they said. Then, an hour later, -------- x arrived with him having found him still waiting at the gate as he had been told.

      Some of the gifts which arrived at times were unusual and once, upon opening a little box about 12 inches by 4, we found it was filled with tea bags with a note saying 'only used once.' It was a kind thought but we didn't try to use them again. [33]

      We had a visit from the University of Adelaide once and they came down to the Sturt Creek with us and took film of the children swimming in the creek. We had a wonderful opportunity to talk to some of them about faith which some thought meant letting others do the work, an outlook which changed when they saw what had to be done each day by us all and what we had to manage on when supplies ran short.

      My wife and I had an important christian discussion with one of the young ladies and I still remember her saying. 'I like the Christ you are telling me about but I want to have a good time first.' I remember too her apt remark when my wife said that if God had wanted us to have red lips He would have made us that way because she just said, 'does your husband shave?'

      Not many of the children were outstanding scholars but they all tried and they all had, although I do not care for the word because it sometimes implies a lack of eventual success, potential.

      Our boys choir was really a blessing and we have a beautiful letter from the Eden Hills Baptist Church who had asked whether the boys would sing at a special meeting. We said yes because the boys seemed happy about it and their choir master, a very patient man, came and practiced with them for some weeks. He, himself, had been dubious about it as he had never been to the Home and had the idea they might be a little unruly. However after a meeting or two he was enthusiastic not only about the boys but the Home as well. He encouraged the boys and so did Colin Matthews and Mr. Carman and the boys responded and made an excellent choir which had a great impact on the boys making them feel they had done something themselves which was a blessing to others as well.

      The letter reads:

Eden Hills Baptist Church.
November 11. 1961
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Finck.

      On behalf of the members of out Church we wish to say a very special thank you for your devoted assistance at our recent Sunday School Anniversary.

      Our Sunday School, as yet, is not big enough in numbers to enable us to hold an anniversary of such a high standard as we all enjoyed together without the help of your people. We have since seen visible results, also know of, at least one, who has found her Lord as a result of your singing. [34]

      We praise our Lord for using us all in this combined effort and pray that He again will bring us together to serve Him in song and word, Special thanks to special guest singer Jimmy Lester who, with his sincere devotion to his Lord, brought tears to many eyes with his rendition of that lovely old hymn with his voice and gum leaf. Many of you had special parts which you carried out splendidly for your Lord. The members of our Church would like to have you join us again in our next anniversary should this be God's wish and if it fits in with your plans at Colebrook. May it be so. Many thanks from the Church members.

	Signed.
	Church Secretary.	L. Hawkins.
	Sunday School Superintendent.	C. Matthews.
	Pianist.	R. Searman.
	Choir Conductor.	R. B. Berry.

      Speaking of the meetings again.

      They were wonderful occasions given by people of all persuasions, some just happy entertainment and some, most I should say, of Christian content. The children always sang beautifully as I wrote when I recorded about Mr. Hughes evening which we sent to a similar Home in Europe This is the only recording we have of their singing because we had no such thing as a tape recorder at that time.

      There was always something happening and if we had no visitors we usually enjoyed an evening laughing at the various funny things each of us did. Not just the children but all the staff as well for we all joined in visits to Sturt Creek, the trips to the Beach and the parties and I photographed as many as I could developing them myself mostly in, the once flooded but now comfortably restored, cellar.

      I treasure a slide I have of the children getting out of the bus when we went to welcome my wife and Trish home from a holiday on Kangaroo Island, and I also remember the look on the face of the pilot when he asked where they were from and was told they had come to welcome mum home!

      One of the highlights every Christmas was the trip to Mt. Breckan, the Rehabilitation Centre at Victor Harbour. They had a large tower and on the way down all the children waited expectantly to see it, giving a great cheer as it came into view.

      The staff and those in their care would greet and farewell us with a line of residents all holding balloons and their Father Christmas, 'mummul' to -------- , would actually come down the chimney to the room where the children were gathered. [35]

      It was a therapy for the children as well as the residents and the response from one man between a visit from one year to the next typifies that. He was having great difficulty reconciling himself to the loss of both of his legs but, despite that, he made a football for the boys with his own hands. The day was a great occasion in every way and the townspeople often joined in. The trip to Granite Island and the dinner at the local Piscatorial spudatorium, (fish and chip shop), was a delight.

      One year when we did not go there a Mr. and Mrs. Stone, whom we had met at Mr. Payne's Sanctuary several years before, arranged a trip to his property at Mt. Compass and he was enthralled by the children especially our blind boy. It had only one unfortunate incident, when the boys and girls leaned against his fence, it fell down!

      When colds were about it was wonderful to see how each child looked after someone else and it had an amusing side too. The Government sent me cough medicine, one called mist tussis and the other pro tussis and it, without a doubt separated those who really had sore throats from those who did not. I would have a line of perhaps twenty if the medicine was mist tussis but only the true sufferers maybe three or four if it were pro tussis.

      Wonderful memories. The answers to prayer. The answers to unspoken prayer. coming up to say 'The Lord Jesus is coming one day isn't he daddy and when I see Him I'll run up to Him. No! I'll tell all the other girls first.'

      -------- -------- and her fear of the same event when one night we saw the aurora. She watched with us as the waves of light lit up the southern sky as though a scroll was being opened and confessed she had been sinful until it didn't happen any more.

      The children, in their open way, must have touched a large number of lives in that time. -------- did for the 'piggy man.' We pray they will remember that and be encouraged to do it again and witness to the Hand of God as they saw Him work there and tell it to others.

      Lindsay Tune often tells me of the wonder he had one night when, short of fruit, one of children at the tea table prayed for apples because we had not seen fruit for some time, and when we left the dining room and one of them walked out the front door, there was a case of apples! [36]

      My memory of a similar event is when my wife, who is fond of cabbage, said, 'I wouldn't mind a change for a while, a few tomatoes perhaps', and I said I would even eat spinach. Almost immediately we heard a knock at the door and when my wife opened it a man who lived down the road said, "Excuse me I don't want to bother you, 'I wonder if you would like some tomatoes I have quite a lot. If you send a couple of boys down they can pick some,' and as he turned away he turned his head and added, 'and there is some spinach there too of you would care for some.'

      It was God's Hand upon His Handiwork and although it is sad to see many have forgotten this we rejoice in the ones who still remember.

      We are grateful for the time we spent with them. [37]

THE CHILDREN.

      The number of children fluctuated over time and varied between thirty and forty. When we arrived there was only one young boy amongst the others but that grew rapidly the first year or so and the addition of twelve month and two year old children among the older children helped immensely to implement the family feeling we yearned to establish.

      There is no doubt our blind boy will be one of the most remembered amongst the children from Colebrook although many others, both boys and girls, have achieved prominence in the world.

      We, and all those concerned with the Home in those years, will have memories of his Christian witness, more evident I suppose because of his courage and determination despite his accident others particularly those at the Blind Institute, will recall his skills as he learned a trade which he had never ever heard of before. And now -------- ?

      There is no doubt he will be remembered now and, later, as a leader amongst the aboriginal community. My wife and I and our two girls Trish and Fran remember him as a helpless boy whom we watched grow into a confident and able young man who became a friend, a child of God, and a brother in Christ.

* * * * * * * * * *

      Although Mr. Bartlett, the Protector for Aborigines, and Professor John Cleland had been able to find treatment for him after his accident it was obvious that he was going to need a great deal of attention for a considerable time and when they could not find any facilities suitable they contacted Mr. Samuels who in turn rang me and asked me if would go and see him at the Hospital and ascertain if we could help him at Colebrook.

      The first thing which should be settled is the loss of sight to his eye because that is why we agreed to take him into our care and although he has been credited with saying it was lost due to the fall out of radiation over Everard Park after the Atomic tests of that time it certainly is not so and an independent inquiry into the matter by specialists in this field some years later confirmed it was not the cause.

      Two Adelaide newspapers, and a local paper, printed articles about the loss of his eye but, although I wrote to the Adelaide papers about this and told them the true story, they never acknowledged my letters. [38]

      I have kept a copy of my letters in my personal records but I suppose it is of little real importance and our blind boy no doubt believes it himself because he had heard it so much from others who were ready to take advantage of those events in the 50's and use it for their own ends but the reason for his lost sight is quite different and was recorded by the Protector of Aboriginal Affairs Mr. Bartlett soon after our blind boy had left Hospital.

      A little thought would have one asking why only one eye was damaged and not the other. He is blind in the other eye certainly but that was from birth and two other reporters at various times have given other colourful reasons for his loss all claiming to have received it from his own lips.

      The truth is it was due to a camp fire accident in January 1957, which I shall detail later, when he lost the sight of his eye. He was then working for D. Joalin. Everard Park Station N.T. and after treatment at Alice Springs he was sent to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where three months later after his admission to the home he received his glass eye 13.5.57. Dr. Scheler was his doctor.

      He had been an itinerant camp worker and colt breaker and been blind in one eye since birth and when a spark from a camp fire had damaged his good eye he had been sent to the hospital at Alice Springs. There bewildered by it all he had wandered away and by the time he was found the eye had gone soft.

      Mr. Bartlett, the Protector of Aborigines and Professor Cleland on one of their inspection journeys arranged for him to go to the Royal Adelaide Hospital notifying Mr. Samuels who in turn asked me to go and see him and see if we could help him. He was a nice boy but obviously a little scared about all the things which had happened to him so quickly, confused by the new noises and smells he had never experiences before, but I felt a warmness towards me in him and after a talk he decided to come back to the home with me. It was afternoon when we got there and no children around so we tried to make him feel comfortable before we introduced him to the children.

      I shall not forget the meeting as he slowly came around the bottom of the courtyard to where we were having our evening meal because it was hot inside and I am sure all of us felt as well as heard the silence which fell upon all the children at their first sight of him. He was of slender build dressed in shirt and trousers and supported by Mr. McGowan a man who sometimes helped around the home in odd jobs, he had a white patch over his lost eye and as he drew closer and they saw he could not see out of his other eye they were, one can only say, lost for words. [39]

      They avoided him, all moving as far away from him as they could when we sat him at the table, and seeing the obvious discomfort to the young man, I said, 'Isn't there even one of you who can say something to this boy,' and I showed them his possessions a draw bag, two shirts, one pair of well worn trousers and a five pound note and said 'well?'

      No one answered for a long time and when I repeated it adding 'We are going to care for him but we will need help-- isn't even one of you willing to try?' and one said he would. It was a start and he gradually became accepted. He spent most of his time with us over the next few months because he knew little about hygiene or toilets or soaps and he sat next to me all the time he was with us at meals because he needed to have all his food cut for him, quite often fed to him.

      We wondered what his future was to be because he had no skills that would fit in with the world he now lived but in time he walked around slowly getting familiar with the posts and the verandah. We spent a lot of time together as his eye needed to be bathed two or three times a day besides which he visited the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment regularly. We didn't know what to do about that and probably pestered the specialists too much because one day they drew me aside and explained that nothing could be done for the sightless eye he had left because they had examined every possible angle and come up with nothing.

      He received his glass eye soon after and while it made him look better it created quite a problem until his eye socket accepted it and some of the occasions when Fran and I had to bathe it were exhausting for us all. He absorbed the atmosphere he couldn't see and it must have been a wonder to him as he heard first prayer for a need or direction and then our thanks for its fulfilment and he himself in his own simple way began to trust the Lord.

      We tried several different ways to entertain him and once when he heard us talking about tearing up sheets for bandages and hankies, when we asked would he like to help he did. He showed great patience and determination but it was not until we watched one day when he had taken on the job of taking potatoes out of a bag that we were convinced he had the ability to do something worthwhile and had the courage to do so for he let go of the bag and potatoes went everywhere and without a word he felt around and found every one of them.

      We spoke to Mr. Samuels who was also blind and he thought that perhaps the Royal Blind might take him, and see if they could teach him an occupation but he was unsure if they would do so for they had never trained an aborigine. [40]

      It must have been a traumatic day for him and when I saw him trembling as we waited for an interview I said. 'Don't be afraid son you know what to do' and his reply made my heart leap for he said,' Yes Mr. Finck I will trust the Lord.'

      The director was impressed with him and although he had reservations told us that if we could get him to the workplace and have him picked up at night they would try and teach him broom making. It was wonderful but seemed impossible until a local man Mr. Ed Radcliffe and a Christian, heard of the arrangement and offered to do just that which he did until the boy was able to make other arrangements a year or so later. He became one of the most efficient workers there and built himself up a nice little bank balance before he left.

      He bought a guitar, a chrome bed, new clothes for special occasions, a wireless and learned Braille, reading it almost every night to Trish or I until he was proficient. Many helped him including a pastor from America, Marney Pearce, Mr. Samuels and a lady from N.S.W who wrote to him in Braille and he joined in all the activities at the home enjoying some special advantages because he was so popular with others.

      As I wrote before we had made countless visits to specialists, seeking an answer for him, persisting until one day one of them called me into his office and told me plainly that nothing more could be done for him. However a group of concerned Christians, not knowing this, arranged for him to go to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for an investigation and although this proved fruitless he met his future wife there.

      Our last real contact with him was at the Grote Street Church at his wedding and as he took my hand for the last time he said, 'I must tell you Mr. Finck I have a friend I have just found and I'm going to reach him about the Lord as you did for me' It is a shame to read in his book, obviously written by someone else, that he was 'made' to tear up sheets and box potatoes!

      It was I who told them how he had offered to help my wife and Adeline and the joy we knew when he did these little acts which helped him to pass the time away and gave him a special sense of self esteem. It gave us an insight about the depth of his character and his courage too. It is a shame! It turns what was his natural desire to help into a servile task he was forced to do! [41]

      It is even worse to read of the filthy language the book contains.

      All the children, including -------- knew that even the term 'shut up' was considered bad language.

      I still remember the boys bringing -------- -------- to me for summary punishment when he used the term shut up in the dormitory and my difficulty in refraining from laughter mixed with my pleasure at the boys swift answer to something they felt was wrong.

      After his book was published they sent us a complimentary copy as a thank you gesture because of the information and the slides we had given them of some of his life with us and, when we saw the bad language, I wrote to the producers of the book protesting about it but they never answered and, despite my request asking them to remove the words from the next edition, they reprinted it in the same format as the first edition.

      We lost touch with -------- after a few years although he sent me a birthday card one year with one of his favourite Psalms in it but until the producers of the book contacted me I heard no more even though I asked them to have him remember how, when at Colebrook, he sang or played on the gum leaf, a hymn, 'Take time to be holy.'

      He played cricket for the Blind Institute at different times but lost touch eventually and at the end of this collection I have included a letter I wrote to a more recent reporter which was never followed up and could have been verified by simply looking at the report Mr. Bartlett made of him when the department was located in Kintore Avenue and the report in the booklet published by the Aboriginal Friends Society. Also included are my letters to the group who arranged publication of the book.

      He was remarkably intelligent. His bank account held £1070 after coming to the home with £5.

* * * * * * * * * *

      The boy who had pointed the water pistol at us that day we came to look at the home became more like a son to us as time went on.

      We struggled in the kitchen for some time trying to get enough sandwiches for the boys and girls and with only two staff it was a difficult job indeed to arrange breakfast for so many after a home with only two children. [42]

      He poked-his face in one day and said, 'Can I help?' and he did. He made toast and tea while the sandwiches and the meal was being prepared. Gradually he began to take a cup of tea to the staff and eventually a little boy from his room came to help also. It was a catalyst for soon all the boys were clamouring for a turn. We praised the Lord for we wanted to establish a family where everyone helped, not a place where people were ordered to do things and when -------- came soon after with the same request it began an avalanche of help we, had to make a roster, it was so popular.

      He was unflappable and took up lacrosse later instead of football as did most of the other boys. He was the first aborigine to play in the State lacrosse team and immovable as goal keeper and so 'laid back' that one day his coach asked if he was really interested. When I told him it was the best thing the boy had ever done or experienced and that his apparent disinterest was because of his natural calm nature he was relieved and encouraged him until he was chosen in the squad. The young man won the trophy that year and some years later encouraged and coached others in the sport. A trophy today in his name is played for each year.

      We wanted to encourage every child with us to realise their full potential and with the aim to remain a family and have them with us until they got employment or married. It was a joy to see two of them become apprentices, one as a metal worker and this boy as a carpenter at which he finally became a master tradesman and a teacher of others in later life.

      He boarded out with another boy from the Home for some time and our daughter Frances when she became a nurse often used to take him for a ride on the pillion of her motor bike after church. We missed him after he got married and then one day he came to our house with a little boy they had taken into their care. He wanted to show him the 'big man' who had been his daddy at Colebrook. It must have been a mystery to the little fellow because his daddy was now bigger than I and sported a beard that was a sight to see.

      It was a traumatic moment when we next met and came about like this. The 'phone rang one night at 1.30 and on lifting the receiver our niece said, naming our boy, 'Do you know him?' and when I said yes she said he has rung her number asking for me and when she said we had a silent number had pleaded with her to give it to him.

      She refused but promised him she would see if I wanted to return his call and he could ring back and added, he sounds terrible. [43]

      I told her it was alright and a few minutes later he rang. He was in a state and when he said "Help me Mr. Finck. Help me I've done something terrible to my wife." With visions of a dead body lying somewhere I dressed and accompanied by a friend from Canada who was staying with us we sped as fast as we could to the place he had directed us to.

      I couldn't help wondering if we might find a dead woman at his home but there was a lone figure on the footpath I recognised as our boy. He looked so bedraggled and helpless that I took no notice of my friends call of 'careful' and jumped out of the van and went up to him. He had obviously been drinking and smelt abominable and, when I neared him, he put his arms around me and cried. I couldn't get any sense out of him for a while and he finally answered my words of 'What's wrong son?' with the words 'she won't let me in.' And when I said 'Why what's wrong?" he said 'she thinks I'll beat her again.' It was a shock to hear his words it wasn't the boy we knew, and I persuaded him to take me to his home and let me talk to her.

      She wouldn't listen at first and then relented to allow us all in where she told us about it all. She blamed his relations saying they met him every pay day and drank his wages before he came home and when he did come home more often than not he would abuse her in his drunken state. It didn't seem possible of him but it was so and, after a long time and promises from him, she agreed to my suggestion. I take him home with me find a place to dry him out and get treatment and when he was over it all come back with him to her and see what she thought.

      She agreed and with the help of my friend who had once been an alcoholic and was a great help to -------- we got him to go home with us. He was a mess and I managed to get him showered and in the morning Florence found him some clean clothes and with the help of a Christian friend from our church got him into the centre where they promised to look after him. They did and after a few days they put him with some others in a house to rehabilitate him. [44]

      After a short time and much prayer he was the young man we once knew again and when we visited the house we had found him he was already making tea for everyone and soon able to go back to his wife.

      He never drank or abused her again and when they moved to Mt. Barker was able to return to his work of training the boys at Port McLeay again in his trade and he then resumed his place as a player coach in Lacrosse and later played cricket.

      I got to see him at lacrosse once but never at cricket because of a heart condition which hampered me at the time. When he came to see us he did some excellent carpentry work for us and because he was interested in some old wooden planes which had been my father's, I gave them to him, just before he died.

      We had a long talk and he spoke of how much he had wanted to be our son and when I said he was he said 'Yes but I mean really adopted like Christine.' I explained how it had also been our wish but not possible because of his age and our own at the time and he was satisfied I think. He was in some financial difficulty just then and we loaned him the money to solve it just before we went to Queensland to see Fran and whilst we were there he had a heart attack when driving home and died as his car rolled into a parked truck. It was devastating for his wife because I think they had fostered three children by that time.

      Many remembered him and Trish and Gary attended the funeral to represent us. She said it was a wonderful occasion. His wife's troubles didn't end there because one of the children lit a fire and the house was burned down. It was insured though and when we saw her at my 70th birthday she looked and sounded as content as she could be under the circumstances.

      She saw us once or twice after that and accepted an invitation to our 50th wedding anniversary but never came and we have not seen her since.

* * * * * * * * * *

      He was the little boy Mrs. Dunn had tried to help on his way to school. We were shocked to learn when we came to the home that one boy, 8 years old, could neither read nor write. [45]

      He did not appear backward but when I made inquiries at the school they explained that he did not have the mental capabilities to learn and they would be content if at the end of his schooling they could at least teach him to write his own name! It was an attitude we had struck before we came to the home and neither my wife nor I believed that. We believed it was lack of opportunity which left many aboriginal children without an adequate education and this belief that they could not learn was one of the obstacles that hindered them, not lack of intelligence.

      It was one of the reasons we became interested in the first place about aborigines in general because I had been friends with an aboriginal family when I was a boy and never knew them as any different from myself. The trite remark disturbed me and when his teacher affirmed he was more interested in the birds outside than in reading, I understood what she meant. It was because he did not have an interest in school work at this time, simply because he couldn't understand it. She was a considerate teacher however and when I said I was determined to get him to read she gave me a primer and encouraged me to try.

      My wife when she heard it all was as certain as I he could be taught and together over the next few weeks we taught him. It was unbelievable to see the change which came over him when he could translate what he saw in the primer to the things about him. To see what the teacher thought of his progress I went back to the school one day to find her leading him across the playing area towards the class rooms. She had an axe in her hand and when I said, 'Is it that bad?' She laughed and said, 'No. It's not bad at all really and I'm amazed at his progress. If only he didn't want to wander outside when he feels like it.'

      Somehow between us we convinced him not to do that and over the next few months all of us were astonished at his progress. He never became a scholar but he did come to understand the world better and all the work the teacher put into his education was not wasted either as she wrote a paper about it which helped her in her own progress. He had other behaviour problems associated with his lack of understanding that were somehow ingrained in him.

      Unfortunately, when some of the boys who briefly stayed at the home from distant places, filled his mind with their fanciful tales and his conduct, even though he was a little harmless boy, drew him into a pattern which made it impossible for him to remain and the Mission sent him to Mt. Barker. We heard he took up painting and became quite successful but never met him again. He died a few years later but no one told me of the circumstances except to say it was unpleasant.

* * * * * * * * * * [46]

      This little girl was like a daughter to us. She was two years old at the time and we were devastated when her mother came when she was seven and took her home even though it was what we had expected might happen eventually because we believed her mother had a real love for the daughter she had once had to leave when she was trying to establish her self in a world which had not treated her very well.

      We never really knew very much about her mother who had not had a very pleasant experience, our first meeting with her was when she came to the home one day and asked us if we would care for her daughter until she was able to find a place and settle down. She first lived in our room in a cot and then, when Christine came, with Trish and Fran in their room as their sister indeed, as Christine was when she arrived.

      She grew to be a beautiful loving girl and I still have a slide we took of her at Black hill where our friends Mr. & Mrs. Payne had a seven acre garden to which we often took the children for a day. She looked beautiful and when I told her she said. 'Why don't you take my photo then daddy?' and I did. She was the little girl who prayed for all those supplies the day before they came from the 'left overs' from the Independence Day party and the one who ran up to us calling out that she knew Jesus would come for her one day.

      An insight into the way she felt about us came one day as she was going to school. An official had come to tell me about one of the boys winning his medal at football and she waved to us both as she went past, took a few step, then turning about came back to me said. 'Goodbye daddy,' and went skipping away. The man looked at me and said almost wonderingly, 'She loves you!' and when I said in reply that I would be devastated if she didn't, he nodded his assent. It seemed she would be a part of our family indeed because her mother had not come back for her but one day she did, and seeing her own child so beautiful she took her back home with her. We never saw or heard of her again and not one of our letters or birthday cards were ever answered.

      Neither of us ever got over the loss. [47]

      This boy was a quiet boy, and I don't remember him ever being troublesome. That does not mean he was inactive or never into mischief either, in fact an incident at a day in the National Park when he and a few of the others went for a roam through the scrub ended in him having a sore eye that night and he came to us for attention. After a brief scold for being silly my wife found out he got something in his eye and he had pulled it out and uncertain what to do she used a remedy we had always found helpful and bathed it in boiled and strained tea.

      He said it felt better but by morning it looked red and swollen and I took him to the Children's hospital where first one and then another doctor examined him. Finally one of them called me aside and said. 'You'll have to leave the boy with us I'm afraid Mr. Finck. Apparently some sharp object has pierced his eye in the top left corner and it may be serious.' When I went back the next day he told me they feared he may lose the sight of his eye because of the way it had been pierced and he drew me a diagram to show me. 'Anyway' he said. 'There is nothing we can do here as yet. Take him home and bring him back in a week's time. In the meantime let him rest.'

      He smiled when I said we would pray about it, saying it wouldn't do any harm but they thought they may have to operate. We all prayed the Lord would heal the boy, from the oldest to the youngest, and when I took him back the next week the doctor examined, him bent down to the desk and wrote something then looking up said, 'There's nothing wrong with his eye!' He threw the pen down on the desk when I said we had been praying and wouldn't accept it, saying they must have been mistaken, but he knew and so did we all. It didn't seem to be of any importance to the boy which bothered me because by that time of their own free will, although we encouraged it, the boys were reading a verse from the Bible every night and putting down their thoughts in a little note book for me to look at when I came down to check the room after they had gone to sleep and there was no indication in his book of any change in his thinking.

      It was frustrating and one day as he was helping me set up cartons which were later to be burnt I said. 'What do you think about your eye being healed son?' [48]

      He said. 'I suppose it was because you and Mrs. Finck and all the kids prayed for me.' That was all he said and, disturbed, I asked. 'But doesn't it tell you something about God, son?' And when he said he didn't know, I picked up one side of a carton, took a piece of charcoal which was on the ground near by and said 'Here's what it means.' I then wrote in large capitals. 'I was healed because God loves me.'

      It didn't seem to impress him nor did I see any great change in him. He still did his little study at night though and one thing -------- had was that when he wrote he wrote a lot. This night it was not that long but it was to the point, it read, Jesus wept drops of blood in the Garden and it was for me.

      It changed him and we really had cause to praise the Lord. He was quiet, efficient, and fair and therefore it was a delight when he won the equivalent of the Magarey Medal one year in the Sturt Junior Football team. A representative came to tell us and later John Halbert who won the Magarey Medal in the Senior Division presented him with it at a local public function. He left us to live with Mr. Hill in 1962.

* * * * * * * * * *

      This older girl, because of an accident of some kind at Gerard, require treatment for a skin graft several times a year. She came for that reason and also because at her age it was thought, because she was an attractive girl and knew it she might well have some problems coping with some of the older boys.

      She certainly knew she was attractive to them and I'll not forget her telling the girls a few days after her arrival how one of the older boys there had spoken of her 'twinkling brown eyes'. The girls were enthralled by the experience and couldn't keep it a secret and she took it as a compliment when teased about it.

      She was never any trouble to us in fact her coming to the home was a catalyst which changed the whole nature of approach to the other children and enabled us to begin in earnest the plan we had for the home of making it a family. Up to her arrival it had been a real struggle just to keep up with the daily routine of getting them off to school in time, with a proper lunch. Also impossible with my wife busy doing the sandwiches with our two girls and at the same time trying to see that things were going smoothly with the other children. [49]

      It meant rising at 5.30 each day and when most of the days finished at 11 or sometimes midnight the early mornings had become a burden. We could have asked or rostered the children but we wanted the approach to come from them and it finally began when the boy who had laughingly threatened us with the water pistol put his head in the kitchen and said. 'Would you like me to help?' He was a great help and gradually another and then another joined him.

      But no girls offered until this girl came and asked if she could help with the sandwiches. Her offer to help and her very efficient help inspired others to ask, in fact some of them complained it wasn't fair that they didn't get a turn and in the end we asked them to make up their own roster and our Staff helper got together with one or two other girls and did that.

      The boys weren't that interested but there were other things they began to do such as having a competition to see whose room was the best and several of the boys shone in that direction when they were put in charge.

      But it was this girl from Gerard who encouraged the girls and that arrangement continued all the time we were there. She only stayed for 15 months but she was a great help.

      She left the home 1.6.58 to live with a couple at Netherby and we saw her later that year at the Christmas Pageant and often met her when shopping at Windsor Gardens. She was always pleasant. [50]

THE CHILDREN.

      This boy from our West Coast was a solitary lad, not lonely but somehow apart from every other boy or girl in the home. He was the boy Norman McGowan had been helping when I looked out of our door at the commotion that early morning. The others didn't ignore him but they too were distant from him and one of the boys, when he was put in charge of the dormitory, took advantage of his weakness of bed wetting, (not deliberately or cruelly) but simply because it existed. The boy never complained even when the boy in charge made him wash the blankets of each bed in turn.

      He was a brilliant football player but only when and if he wanted to play and he could get bored with the game half way through the match and just not bother any more. He won the medal for most brilliant player the year another boy the best and fairest in his team and still another the equivalent of the Magarey Medal. John Halbert who won the Magarey Medal that year presented him with his medal at a public function.

      It was a great year for the boys, another won the goal kicking trophy and another a trophy at Lacrosse. This boy had a visit from his uncle in 1960 and I asked him if he wanted to take him back with him. He showed me a photo of the camp and pointing to a tin but said, 'To this?' 'Not when he can stay here. Can't he?'

      The lad didn't want to go anyway. He had one fear, if it was a fear. Every full moon he would go and hide somewhere and I would have to find him. He would be crouched under a blanket or a bush and each time I found him he would look at me with wide open eyes take my hand without a word and go back to his room with me. This little boy was the youngest member of the family when we arrived. His mother was having a difficult time caring for her two children one six year old and a baby and when the U.A.M offered her the position of Christian Helper at Colebrook she accepted bringing her two children with her.

      They lived together as a family in one of the larger rooms at the Home until his sister moved to the girls dormitory and stayed with his mother all the time we were at Colebrook. He was a joy to have in the Home and his outspoken comments such as, "I've been to church to day. Have you' to a visitor brought many to the realisation they were missing some of the best things in life. [51]

      He entered into all things enthusiastically and was never afraid of showing his love of life and love for others. One of the most important was a young man so determined to do anticipation of better things who took on the work of picking up the food left overs.

      The little boy called him 'piggy man' which the young man took gracefully and they became good friends especially after he was invited him to share in our slide evenings where we would show the children and our selves in various activities, such as a day down at the Sturt Creek or a day out which had been arranged for us. We always finished the evening with a set of Bible stories which I had cut from film strips and put into half frames. One day when the young man came, the boy said. 'I love you piggy man.'

      It touched the young man deeply and he confided to us that he was about to be married shortly to a lovely girl and also that he would like to become a Christian and have a Christian marriage. He had one more trip to make up country before his marriage and promised to bring his fiancee who he said was extremely shy to visit us all before they were married. He died on that trip as his car struck an emu and overturned but the beautiful letter from his young lady who told of his Christian experience and her own part in it because of a little boy's love has lived in our memory ever since.

      When the first little girl came to live at the Home, he had a wonderful companion and later, when two more girls and two boys arrived, they had a glorious time together. They loved to explore the seven acre grounds with my wife trying to find new flowers the Lord had planted for them. They enjoyed dressing up and imagining they were bringing up a family and singing together.

      It was a blow when the mother who had asked us personally to care for her daughter until she got established in the world came and took her away and for some weeks we, and the other boys and girls, mourned with us at her loss even though more children had joined us by this time. [52]

      He was a-fine looking young man when we saw him at his mother's funeral. We were disappointed in 1997 when he was interviewed on National television when the 'stolen children' issue was prominent because in answer to a direct question about his mother he answered that she had been 'taken' and made a domestic when the truth of the matter was that she had been in difficult circumstances and been offered the position of missionary helper, a position my wife held later also and further, when asked 'who cared for you then?' he replied. 'The superintendent at the time.'

      We hold no rancour at the response from the lips of a man who has apparently forgotten the childhood memories of his mother's personal care during those years when he and his sister shared that special room with her but it is difficult to understand his reply to the question, 'who cared for you then?' and the readiness with which it was accepted without further inquiry. It is even worse when the young lady who interviewed him added. 'Now all this has been documented.'

      It means it has been accepted as fact and, as there is no opportunity given for a response, it remains on the record as an undisputable truth, which it is not. Neither is it an isolated instance because one could give several instances of blurred memories which unwittingly distort the true facts and caused distress to many men and women who gave up all they had in the world so that they could help the less fortunate.

      It does nothing for reconciliation either which will only be an accomplished fact when absolute truth prevails, and recriminations cease. Only then will we begin to share the heritage available freely to us all.

      We had a special interest in Doris because of an incident which had occurred some thirty years before.

* * * * * * * * * *

      My sister and her husband had accepted the challenge of managing a Post Office and General store at a remote town on the River Murray and I visited them several times in the 1920's. [53]

      I still remember the isolated buildings and recall my friendship with an aboriginal boy who lived on the banks of the River Murray with his parents and recall the horse rides we took together on his obedient mare who was not always obedient to me but by a strange co-incidence my sister knew this girl because her grandmother had nursed her when she took ill on the lonely outpost.

      A most important thing happened to her when she came home from school one day. She looked at the grey roof, now even more splendid with the gleaming white chimney, and said. "It's like the story of the 'clean slate' you told the other night Mr. Finck. Everything is clean and new.' She walked towards the house, hesitated a moment then turning back to me said. "I'd like a clean slate too Mr. Finck like the girl in the story. Could I?" I looked at her for a moment wondering just what she felt had been wrong in her life because she didn't really have the kind of nature which tended to put her in a situation that might lead her amiss.

      But when I questioned her she said quietly, "I would like to follow Jesus like the girl did and be baptised." I felt a thrill go through me and when I said "That's wonderful dear. I'll talk to you later about it" she walked into the house. She must have spoken to the new girl who had just come because the next day she also came to both of us and said. "I'd like to be baptised into Jesus but not with a cap on I want to be baptised all over!"

      After we had spoken with the two girls together we arranged for the baptisms to be carried out at Grote Street Church of Christ. As well as its importance to the two girls it was the means of convincing a husband of one of that body of christians that it was real and he began attending the fellowship there and later became an active member there and later also a great friend and helper at the Home.

      It was an unexpected partnership for the two girls to have formed though because the first girl had come to the Home as a child and had known little of the outside world and our new girl had grown up in circumstances which had revealed a different world to her, a world with most of its unpleasant aspects clearly visible even though they were not understood.

      Not that she was worldly or had an unpleasant character. On the contrary she was always pleasant, had an inquiring mind, and was always tidy in contrast to the girl who had been there for some years and who, sometimes, was careless about her appearance. [54]

      Perhaps it has this which drew them together. Our present girl wanting to know more of the life the recent arrival knew and she, keen to learn about the different atmosphere she had suddenly entered. In any case something they had shared together brought one to a place where she wanted freedom from some guilt she had and the other to a point where she wanted to enter into a new life different from the one she had experienced before.

      Our 'old' girl got her 'clean slate' and the 'new' girl rid herself of ways which did not fit into the new life she had found. The baptism did not seem to bring any great change in the life of our older girl which was disappointing because, in a strange way, we had a link with her as I wrote in the beginning.

      Soon after her baptism she spent a few days with Lorna Adams and when Lorna called Doctor Harold Stewart because -------- had severe stomach pains he diagnosed acute appendicitis so I went to Lorna's and took her to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

      In the meantime the whole Home prayed for her. However after examination in casualty the doctor told me he could find no evidence of appendicitis. This was a surprise to me and when I told the doctor that Doctor Harold Stewart had said it was acute appendicitis he examined her again and when he came back again he affirmed there was no sign of appendicitis. She had no recurrence.

      My wife tried to be a mother to her but she was shy about it although she had some affection for us and I still treasure a gift she gave me which she had made at school when she went to the Asser's. It is a leather key holder and inside she has a note reading, 'To dear Mr. Finck wishing you a happy Christmas and new year thanking you for all you've done for me. With Christian love from -------- P.S. I'll miss you and Mrs. Finck very much.

      She fitted into the Asser household much better than one of the other girls who had misbehaved, although we lost contact after her marriage. However in the 70's when we heard she was having family problems we went to Murray Bridge to her home and although we didn't see her family we were able to help her financially which was a part of her problem.

      We think she had two children but we never met them even when she came to live near us later. We understood she had a nervous breakdown but although we rang and made tentative arrangements to meet her that meeting never eventuated, and we lost touch. She was at the Unley Technical School when she left the home to be in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Asser 6.2.61 [55]

      One of the older girls became like a sister to Trish albeit a mischievous one. She was likeable too but always had a tendency to get up to some mischief initially designed to upset our Helper Rita Lovibond and sometimes she overdid her efforts which unwittingly caused trouble for others. She was always repentant but she never changed.

      She had a fondness for my wife and I but she teased our daughter Trish whenever she got the chance. However she was never unpleasant and we used to watch the contest between them with great amusement.

      She would often make out she was our daughter and one day as she was emptying the teapot she wrote on the ground with the tea the name.  . . Finck. She sometimes did the most foolish things mainly to draw attention to herself but it didn't always turn out the way she had thought.

      She took great delight in imagining herself in other circumstances to the extent she once asked could she leave the home and after a lot of searching we found her a place with a Baptist minister. It did not suit her and she caused so much mischief he rang me to ask what he should do and when he finally got her to talk to me she pleaded to come back. Although I refused at first with the promise from her she would be a different girl we took her back but after a little while she was back to her old self.

      I think it was only because she needed attention she did all these things but she finally left to go to Tanderra where I'm afraid she did all the same things and almost got her self into real trouble. She made a decision for Christ many times each one with the words 'I mean it this time Chilpi' but she never persevered.

      She often rings us with the words 'love you Kunka or Chilpi' and once came to visit us with her husband Tom but she was still unreliable to change as much as she wanted to. We still have happy memories of -------- for all her foolish ways.

* * * * * * * * * *

      One of the girls had some difficulty in settling down and an operation to her ear left her with a slight twitch which bothered her until it returned to normal. She had good instincts but was often muddled by the different things she had been taught over her early years.

      We were concerned about her but we never heard from her for a long time until she wrote us a letter a few years after we had left the Mission. [56]

      We had been in Queensland with our daughter Fran for three months and the letter was waiting for us when we arrived home. We did not know when she wrote it because it only had the date of the day and although the address was there when we went to the house we couldn't obtain any information about her which would help to find her. The letter was as follows.

Dear Friends,

      I hope you are all well and I am writing to tell you how I am getting on. Give my love to my friends when you see them. I have more wonderful news to tell you. I am going through the waters of baptism Wednesday night at the Unley Brethren and so are a few other young folk. I hope you will pray for us as on Wednesday night we follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and obey His voice.

      I still remember you at my quiet time and we will continue to pray for the children of Colebrook and the wonderful work being done by the staff. I received a letter from my mum and children. Could you please try and get my brother's address and send it to me so that I can pass it on to my mother.

      The baptismal service is on the 27th of June Wednesday night. I hope you will be able to come and see. Pass my Christian greetings on to the children.

            Yours in Christ Jesus.

      When we arrived at the home in 1957 we found this girl one of the most unco-operative girls we had ever met. She was sullen, obstinate, surly, the only redeeming virtue she seemed to possess was that she was completely honest. She never responded to either of us outwardly for a long time but one day instead of walking away from a minor problem she had caused she paused and said she was sorry. It was a shock to both my wife and I and the beginning of a new relationship with us all. She was like a daughter and grew to love the Lord even though she didn't express it openly.

      Therefore it was both a blessing and a surprise when she returned from a brief holiday with a christian family to learn she had made a decision for Christ.

      I have a slide of her during these difficult times with her which typifies far better than words her attitude towards life and an equally as convincing slide of her just after her conversion. [57]

      Her mother who we judged to be a very nice person came to the home soon after this and said she would like her to go home with her for a few days but she never returned nor did we hear from her again.

      Her mother did come to see me later and said she was sorry it had turned out like it had and told me she had attempted to make her way back to us several times but whether that was to help us get over her loss or not we cannot tell. We heard she took up nursing and was well spoken of and we believe that. She was a gem.

* * * * * * * * * *

      She was a remarkable girl and her baptism made an enormous difference to her who saw in this new atmosphere a new beginning and, with her ready mind she settled down to her studies and her place in the Home and became a real encourager to the other children and her two brothers.

      Her mother had re-married and, although they had enjoyed a family life for some years, difficult circumstances caused them to be heavy drinkers leading them from one disaster to another. We knew nothing of this until a department representative came to us one day and said, "We have a problem and wonder if you can help."

      She went on to tell me they were anxious about four children who they had found a day or so before in difficult circumstances because their parents, who were heavy drinkers had left them at home to look after themselves and gone on an extended drinking bout. They had not been able to locate them and at that very moment the eldest, a young girl, was caring for the three boys one three year old, one 18 months, and a baby.

      They needed to put the baby in hospital until they found their parents but had nowhere for the others and when they asked us if we would care for them until they found the parents we agreed to have them. They never were able to locate them and it was not until her mother died a year or so after that we heard anything more.

      It was a difficult time for the young girl who fretted a little among the older girls but she drew a little closer to my wife and acted much like a daughter to her at times and joined our family evenings where we enjoyed each others company in a Christian atmosphere. She read the Bible for herself and when she found something she could not understand she wrote out the questions, not always clearly, and we looked at them together as a family. Here are a few. [58]

      What will the people who don't love Christ when the animals and children are friends. I mean where will they be?'

      Where do our spirits go when we die. Does it go straight to live with Jesus or is there a resting place?

      If the people who love Jesus turn away from God on the last day will God have them in His Lamb's Book of Life or will He blot them out?

      I can't understand some parts of my Bible. I mean the place where it tells us about the coming of Jesus. I want to understand as much as I could when I am young for when I am tempted by Satan I will read him a verse from the Bible then know what to do.'

      She came to believe she should be baptised and one day said to us, 'Could you arrange for me to be baptised?' and when we said yes after we saw she meant it she added, 'And I want to be baptised without a cap on my head. I want to be baptised all over.' This was so when she and -------- were baptised at Grote Street Church of Christ together.

      Her studies in the Scriptures were mature and original. I still recall an incident when she amazed a young man, destined for the ministry, doing voluntary work amongst us, because when I suggested to the older children they bring me a study on 'wheat' next time, he thought it was a task beyond their capabilities.

      He had come to me after the children had left and said, 'just what do you think any of them will make of that?' and when I said he should do the study himself he shook his head, not as much as he did later, when one of the girls compared the parable about the sower, another to the bread from heaven and this girl to the challenge which lay in the words 'the fields are white unto harvest.'

      We found it difficult to find out anything through the department but when she wrote letters to them they forwarded them on although they let her know about her aunty to whom she wrote.

      'Dear Aunty I am writing this letter to you hoping you are alright. One of the boys wasn't too good last week because he had his tonsils out and became very ill. Mr. Finck took him down to the Children's Hospital. His temperature was very high so last night the family asked the Father in Jesus' Name that the temperature would go down. This morning Mrs. Finck rang the hospital and they said his temperature dropped to normal. So there's another prayer answered. The Lord has been very good to us up here. I must close. Give my love to the family.'

      She later received a letter from her mother and father through the department to whom she wrote. [59]

'Dear Mum and Dad.

      I am very glad to receive a letter from you Mum, will you please accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour because Mum I can't accept Him for you? Mum I tell you, you will have the most wonderful time because my life has been changed a lot. Here is a prayer which means I have accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour.

      Don't swear. Please don't drink wine or smoke. Please tell Papa I am praying at my bed for both of you. Mum. You and Papa can say this prayer from your heart and mean it. Dear Heavenly Father. Please speak to our hearts. Please take away our black sin and cleanse us. Watch over our children and those who care for them. Christ sake. Amen.

      Goodbye for now. Love from us all. Hoping to hear from you soon.'

      There was no response and it was only after the department had notified us of the death of her mother we managed to trace the last address of her father. However it was not a great help and the only reply we received back was a note which accompanied some of his personal papers which had no address on them other than the one we already had.

      It was not a good time for her and although my wife tried to be a mother to her and the girl would spend a lot of her time at the family evenings we shared with the others, boys one night and girls the other, she spent more time with the older girls and as much as possible with her two brothers. She did well at school and when the department made a career opportunity available we entered her name there.

      We never heard any more of the baby though.

      She went to live with our friends and when she married she moved to Murray Bridge, where she was involved in social work with the Aboriginal Department, strangely enough near the girl who had been baptised with her a few years before. We met them both once when her friend had her financial difficulties and again when we were able to help her in her work because of a generous gift of money from a friend to help her with a bus ministry, in which she was involved. She was grateful but when she wrote a year or so later seeking money to help with the maintenance of the bus and we were unable to help her we never heard from her again.

* * * * * * * * * * [60]

      This boy and his brother were brothers to this last girl and had another brother, a baby, who went to a different home after he left the hospital where he received care for a time. Both boys were malnourished and covered in boils which had to be attended at the Adelaide Children's Hospital two or three times a week. I can still remember carrying first one and then the other down the hill to the railway station knowing another painful boil had broken.

      I remember the long walk back up the hill also.

      He was a lovable boy who had the habit when he had done something wrong, of coming to me with a story about someone else and we recognised this and usually while he was right, looked to see what he had done wrong.

      When finally caught out he would come say 'Sorry daddy' but when telling on someone else would always call me Mr. Finck. He generally sought for a vantage point on which to bargain his position which was quite amusing although some times he carried this to an extreme. His sister was very caring for him as she was with her other brother.

      An interesting thing happened just before Christmas in 1996. The phone rang and when I said 'Good Morning' a voice said 'it's young --------' Nonplussed I said. "Young who?" And the answer came back. 'Young -------- you know from Colebrook.'

      Surprised and pleased I said so and he went on. 'It would be good to see you again and talk over old times. Those were the days weren't they. I hear you have a beautiful garden.' And when I said we thought so he said. 'I'd like to come and see you. My wife died some time ago but I have a lady friend.'

      I said I'd love to see them but although we made one or two attempts before Christmas to fix a day they all fell through for some reason or the other and then a few weeks after Christmas and after re-apologising for not making a date to come said. 'I wonder if you could help me?' And when I said I would if it were possible he said. [61]

      'I'm quite well known as an artist now Mr. Finck and I have a chance of hanging one of my paintings for exhibition but I need help.'

      I thought he meant influence to get an introduction to an artist but when I said so he said. It's not so much that Mr. Finck it is just that I don't have quite enough money to enter it and I wondered if you could buy one of my paintings 'I could sell you one at a bargain price.' I said I would if I could and asked how much thinking of $50-- $100 dollars. He hesitated for a while and then said. 'Well it's worth $1,000 but you can have it for $500. It will be a good investment.'

      I had to laugh to myself because such a purchase was completely beyond us and when I said so adding we were only pensioners he hung up and I never heard from him again. [62]

THE CHILDREN.

      In complete contrast was this girl! She was a problem and sent to us as such and she had been in employment with a family in the South East. The mission had tried to get her a suitable home but had failed in every instance and now, hoping to find her a place nearer the city rather than in some remote situation they asked us to accept her until they could find someone willing to accommodate her.

      Others had disturbed the girls with their fanciful stories, many we recognised as imagined rather than factual but she was much different and she held group after group enthralled.

      It had the potential to cause a great deal of trouble with her supposed exploits and to counter the unrest we kept her as busy as possible helping in the kitchen. She was frustrating more than anything else because, not only did she have the ability to stir the imagination of the other girls, but she also had a way of pretending to misunderstand any simple task which might be given to her. An instance of this was when my wife and I had to take someone to the hospital. The fire had been well alight in the stove and the roast in the oven and believing all was well, she asked the girl to watch the fire. The fire was out when we came home and the roast half cooked but at my wife's remonstrations that she had not watched the fire, she, wide eyed, said with an innocent voice, 'But I did Mrs. Finck until it went out.'

      It was amusing as well but the obvious studied innocence was as false as all of her other promises and we were not at all unhappy when the mission found her a place about three weeks later with a family who sent her back 5 days later.

      Her next month with us followed the same pattern as her first stay and she obviously enjoyed all the company, the different events and was most unhappy when she was sent to Lochiel to help another family. It lasted 4 days this time and after a month with us was again discharged, this time to Pt. Augusta where she apparently settled down from a letter she wrote to us.

      After her departure Mr. Smith from the Department brought a singular young man to us to see if he would want to stay.

      He had been at the boys home run by the department at Meningie but although not violent in any way would not stay there. [63]

      He was the finest young man I had ever encountered with a presence which radiated from him. He had a positive royal personality and although he had no authority as such he exuded it in a positive way that was impressive to say the least. He never said so or intimated it was so but we were obviously in his eyes an inferior group of people.

      He just walked away from us all and although we were anxious about him and contacted Mr. Smith we heard no more of him except a word from our problem girl to say she had seen him.

      She wrote again later telling us he was her brother but we find that difficult to believe as she added some details about his life which we could not reconcile with the young man we had met and we assumed it was another one of her flights of fancy.

* * * * * * * * * *

      He had a time in the Children's Hospital for appendicitis in 1956 and was transferred from Escort House and back to Colebrook again. He was slight in build and often left out of the other boys activities because of this. He had a quick and inventive mind however and his ability to think things out before they could gave him an advantage they tolerated because it was an asset to them.

* * * * * * * * * *

      Nevertheless he was not universally liked nor trusted because every thing he devised had his own benefit in mind. He was one of the reasons locks were on the doors and cupboards for he had an impulse to take things which did not belong to him, a habit he found difficult to shake off and even after the locks had been removed he got pleasure out of taking something rather than ask for it.

      This came to a sudden stop though because one day although sweets were plentiful he took a bag of boiled sweets from the office intending to be a 'good fellow' and give them to his friends. However we were determined that neither he nor anyone else was going to profit from any such activity because we wanted to establish a family sharing attitude and see it prosper the home and the children alike and as soon as I found out I called all the children together and then told them how we felt about taking things which did not belong to them because we wanted them to trust us and each other closing with the words:- [64]

      'Today a bag of sweets arrived to be shared amongst you all. Unfortunately one of you has taken the bag intending to give it to one of his or her friends when it should be for all. Now we are going to be here and try to be as near as possible your father and mother in this family and we are going to see each one has a proper share of whatever arrives here for you. I don't want to know who took the sweets but it is a bad mistake and leads me to say this. Unless the sweets are put back on the door step of my office before you all retire for the night there will never be another sweet accepted by us at the home at all. Now we shall go to the staff room and have a meeting there for the next hour and I suggest if you know who it was you encourage that person to return the sweets before we are finished.'

      The sweets were there and we never had any such trouble again.

      It had one side effect because after the sweets were returned I told then I knew of their visits to the store room pantry and kitchen and they knew the locks had been removed. I told them if they wanted something in future from these areas they could ask but no one did until Trish asked me for some condensed milk.

      When they saw her enjoying something they had previously taken for themselves without asking, the most obvious being the one who called her 'whitey' after she went to her room, came to me and said it wasn't fair and how did she get it.

      When I said it was because she asked, a right they all had, he grumbled saying, 'how did they know you meant it,' and when I said next time he should try as should anyone else he grudgingly accepted the reason.

      But the other boy had the same trouble at school and after the third time came a complaint he had stolen money we made an issue of it until he really understood the gravity of it all himself. We settled the issue at school and he did not offend again.

      Notwithstanding, his quick mind still got him into trouble when he teased others, and we got tired of hearing a voice saying in complaint, "his name", particularly when the magpie picked up the tone and called it out incessantly.

      We were strict with him but when he began to use his quick mind and wiry body to better advantage we were thankful that the matter ended that way.

      He took up football winning the goal kicking trophy the same year one boy won best and fairest in the men's team, another the best and fairest at junior level, and yet another the trophy for the most brilliant. [65]

      He was discharged to Mrs. Hughes 5.2.63 to join another boy with a family at Blackwood where he complained about his treatment at Colebrook but when I went to see them at her request it was only another attempt by him to gain an advantage and the other boy never supported him.

      He never complained again but when I met him in the 60's when he was driving a truck for the Water Department and I the same for Dunlops and his first words after he said hello were 'You were tough on me you know.'

      I don't know how much he absorbed when I told him it was because we wanted him to have the right values in life but when I met him again about a month later he took my hand and said, 'Boy am I glad you did teach us what you did. Did you hear on the news about a few guys who had an argument and one of them stabbed another boy?' and when I said yes he said he was supposed to be with them that night and thinking things over he decided not to. He said 'Thank you.' and then said he was to be married shortly and was but I have not met him since.

      It might be appropriate to add something about the man who brought the sweets although I believe I have made reference to him on the audiotape which explores some of the blessings we enjoyed because of others.

      The man who brought the sweets was Mr. Mitchell whom the children knew as the lolly man. He had been bringing sweets to the Home at various times before we arrived and continued in this gracious act until his death a few years later. They greeted him warmly as they came to know him better and we were all astounded by his knowledge of the Royal family although he described this as a useless attribute.

      He worked at a grain store on the Main North Road and we became good friends. He lived near his work and we visited him once or twice when we had to take the children to the hospital. They had a tremendous fig tree and when the figs were ripe he invited us to come and pick them and all enjoyed the jam my wife made from them.

* * * * * * * * * *

      This little boy was a roly poly boy all his life and never really knew what life was all about. He was small in stature and simply copied all the things the bigger boys of his own age did without thought. He stayed away from school quite often I believe, although the teacher never ever told me. He considered himself to be my special friend, which he was, although I temporarily lost favour with him when I found him by accident far from the school yard. [66]

      He was obviously the one who arranged the 'holiday' from school with his two companions and when I said he might be late for school probably lost face when he turned away from them and went back to school.

      I still treasure a Christmas card from him which reads,

      'From your loving fiend.'

      He never could spell or was he trying to tell me something?

      He suffered a great disappointment in 1961 when his parents came to take him home and failed to do so. We thought it was because he was still so small although we may be wrong but the occasion was a bad one for the little chap and he misbehaved outside the Home rather badly and the mission sent him to Mt. Barker.

* * * * * * * * * *

      This older boy was a quiet boy somewhat dominated by the other boys but not unduly. He often left things undone because he was lazy and we always knew when he thought he was wrong because we would find him chopping wood or some task which drew attention to himself.

      He had a sympathetic attitude towards the younger boys when they came to the home and was an excellent footballer one year winning the best and fairest in the local team. Before we came he had been released to Escort House 23.10.56 and returned to Colebrook 7.11.56.

      His sister a strong minded girl of excellent character came to the home later and helped him but the effort was too much for him to sustain.

      A Mr. became interested in him in the 60's to the extent he wanted to care for him and -------- went there in 1962. It was a wonderful opportunity for the boy to have a home for life and when we went to see him a few weeks later he seemed content particularly as he knew he would probably have a personal interest in the farm.

      I remember Mr. -------- saying he wished the boy could show a little more initiative as there was a bright future for him if he persisted and then a week later -------- ran away leaving all his possessions in a dilly bag on the side of the road. We discovered it was through the influence of his father.

      His father had come to the home despite the fact a Department official had told him not to because they were not certain of his mental condition. [67]

      All seemed, well although it was upsetting for the boy but his father later found out where he was, contacted him and convinced -------- he was foolish to work so hard when he could have the same comforts or even more through the Aboriginal department. Later, idle, and realising the potential of his impressive build he became a 'stand-over' type and finished up in the Reformatory and later worse. He died quite young.

* * * * * * * * * *

      This boy was a leader and neither wanted us to stay or expected that we would and once said it verbally in front of the children. What followed convinced him that we were and he never offended again. We heard he had been sent to the home because he was becoming too friendly with the opposite sex but although it was rumoured we never saw any evidence of this.

      He was Captain of the Blackwood school football team in 1957 and extremely popular, a popularity which gave him an inflated view of his importance which he used to the full advantage it gave. However this was somewhat of a trap for him and having had his every wish granted amongst the children and sportsmen in the town he thought it gave him enough authority to ignore some of the things in the home.

      It was a rude shock to him and two other boys in the home when I stopped them playing sport one Saturday and he asked a member or two of the team to come and plead with me. However when they agreed that I had dealt with the boy fairly he made no more trouble in that direction.

      He was what we sometimes call a 'stirrer' and often encouraged and used others to ask for something he wanted because he really could not ask for himself. He 'backed away from confrontation' and would use any excuse to justify his position. One of the two boys from Gerard and Nepabunna encouraged him to stay away from school and when confronted both of them gave the excuse they did it because the other children avoided them or called them names.

      I remember it made me very cross at the time because he was so popular there and he had just toured the South East as Vice Captain of the school football team but it was an attitude we didn't want fostered either by the children in the home or those outside and he admitted it had been a lie when I challenged them both. It had obviously been a real experience of his companion though and it proved difficult to change his mind although he considered later the time he had spent there had been alright.

      It started a whole new train of events in him though and later he was transferred to Mt. Barker.

* * * * * * * * * * [68]

      He had been sent to Port Augusta but had run away. He was the strongest personality in the Home. A rugged individualist who was not prepared to give way to anyone and must have been a headache at school although I never heard so except by innuendo. He and I were always in confrontation and although he finally accepted authority it was grudgingly and with the obvious intent to flout it if he could.

      He was in a room with another boy but shared it mainly with an Alsatian more than anyone until the dog disappeared one day. At a loss how to occupy his energies I transferred him to the larger dormitory which held ten boys and put him in charge.

      He revelled in the position and his dormitory was the show place of the home. All beds made before breakfast. All clothes off the beds and into the lockers by school time and the floor polished until is shone on Saturdays.

      I thought after a visit from the head master who saw what he had done when put in charge of the dormitory that he took up the idea because he was made vice captain of the football team, and later in 1958, captain of a team which went to play on Kangaroo Island.

      However he never really changed, just conformed and was discharged in 1958 to Mount Barker. I met him at Port Adelaide as a grown man and with a delightful gleam in his eye he walked up to me, took my hand and said, 'Good to see you Eric.'

      It must have been a real delight to him perhaps something he had always wanted to say and he said it! It sounded better than Mr. Finck anyway. He died after a road accident of some kind a few years later.

* * * * * * * * * * [69]

      Two small boys came to us from a similar background and both had the same Christian name. The first one was completely uncertain of himself and he had many unpleasant habits which were difficult to eradicate. He had never been toilet trained and this was a bother at school when he began a short time after he arrived.

      He also had knowledge of things he never should have known about. He craved attention and his long eyelashes gave him plenty of that from visitors. He really was a lovable boy and when he became able to control these things he certainly improved although he never made much progress at school. He must have been tone deaf because his rendition of the song.