WARNING: This website contains confronting and disturbing content, and names and images of deceased people. It may not be suitable for children under 15 years. Many of the historical images show an official, sanitised view which did not reflect reality. The faces of some adolescents have been blurred to protect privacy.
Bedtime
What does bedtime mean to a child? Is it safety, being tucked in, told a story?
Is it being put to bed by a staff member, in a room with rows of beds?
Here are some bedtime stories from those who spent all or some of their childhood in Children's Homes or institutions.
'There was no-one ... to cuddle, to read us bedtime stories'
![A cloth doll with a length of orange cord attached to the top of the head with a safety pin. There is a piece of crepe bandage stretched across the forehead and attached on either side by a piece of packing tape. On this are the words 'NOT HARM [?]'. The features of the doll are drawn on the calico in felt pen. On one side are the words 'you all / ignored /us' and on the body 'we fight / for / our / Rights'. A small 'x' in packing tape is on the lower side of the torso. The reverse also has a figure drawn on it with a piece of crepe bandage attached across the forehead with packing tape at either end. On the body are the following words 'NOT / HAPPY / PETER / BE GOOD' and 'COMPO / MUST / REC 39'.](http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0006/346182/syed_doll_685w.jpg "Lana Syed's cloth protest doll")
![Exhibition text panel in handwritten white text on a grey background reads: 'I used to think if only I could stay awake all night I wouldn't wet the bed, but of course I couldn't ... [they called me] a](http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0007/346174/filthy_creature-685w2.jpg "Margaret Chandler bed wetting quote")
Audio: Dilys Budd on bedtime routines
Recorded in 2010
Duration: 5 minutes, 20 seconds
National Library of Australia
Read a transcript of Dilys Budd's talk
Download the full interview with Dilys Budd on the National Library of Australia website
Main image: Mittagong Boys Home, New South Wales (detail). Courtesy State Library of New South Wales.
