The punishment tree

A vast old Moreton Bay fig tree in the grounds of a former state-run children's home on the mid north coast of New South Wales has deep significance for the boys who were forcibly sent there.

The boys were chained to its trunk overnight - and worse - as brutal punishment and torture by a succession of sadistic managers who oversaw the notorious Kinchela Boys Home near Kempsey.

Like prisoners the boys were dehumanised and known by numbers.

The sexual and physical violence they experienced behind the iron gates of the home produced generations of rage-filled men - some of whom did not survive.

But as the rusted links of that chain are overgrown and disappear, literally swallowed by that tree, some of the former residents heal a little.

Features: Wailwan man, Michael Welshfrom (widdy) and Dhungutti and Gumbaynggir man, Richard Campbell, survivor's of the Kinchela Boys Home 

(Source: ABC RN 'Awaye': https://ab.co/3hxEhyZ)