Stolen children tell of sex abuse and beatings at Retta Dixon home

STOLEN Generations children at the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin were chained, sexually abused and beaten, an inquiry has heard.

IN a horseshoe of eight cottages on the outskirts of Darwin, Stolen Generations children were chained, sexually abused and beaten till they bled, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

In a day of horrific evidence, the commission was told of half-caste Aboriginal children who had been snatched from their parents, later being forced to endure punishments such as eating their own vomit, being kicked “like a dog” and hit with leather belts, a broomstick or a selection of canes.

The alleged abuse took place at the Retta Dixon Home for children and young women, which ­operated inside a fenced compound at Darwin’s Bagot Aboriginal community.

Several witnesses who testified yesterday spoke of a culture of sexualisation and physical intimidation, in which kids often didn’t know that sexual abuse and sexual behaviour were wrong — or if they did, felt there was no one to tell.

Former resident Sandra Kitching said she had been brutally punished for trying try to stop her “house parent” Mr Pounder force-feed a baby, which later died.

“He chained me up and took my clothes off me, and he said, ‘that’s what Aboriginal people ­deserve’,” Ms Kitching said.

Another witness, referred to as AKU, spoke of years of sexual abuse and violent intimidation by a man called Don Henderson, who the commission was told was still alive.

“Don Henderson started sexually abusing me from when I was about five years old until I was about 13 years old. It would happen, on average, about twice a week,” AKU said. “When I was 12 years old, I accidentally slammed the car door. Don Henderson swung around and backhanded me across the face and broke my nose.”

AKU described Mr Henderson’s alleged particular fetish, which involved young children’s feet. She said Mr Henderson had a habit of sodomising boys near his chook pen, and in public toilets.

Kenneth Stagg, another former resident, said he had learned “everything” about sex from the other children at the home, in particular one boy who was “always trying to root” the other boys.

“That fellow would come in and try to have sex with us when we were trying to shower,” Mr Stagg said. “I was so young when it all started and the sexual behaviour was so prominent that I never considered that it was wrong.”

Mr Stagg said it was well known that Mr Henderson was a serial abuser. Mr Henderson was prosecuted twice for sexual offences, first in 1975 and then again in 2002. The prosecutions were dropped. The commission looks set to examine the circumstances surrounding those decisions.

The commission will inquire into the response of the Australian Indigenous Ministries and the NT and federal governments to allegations of child sexual abuse. It will also investigate the conduct of the NT Police Force and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to past investigations, and into current laws and policies governing out-of-home care in the NT.