In Australia, Cruse seeks compensation over alleged hospital abuse — ABC News Australia
Benjamin “BJ” Cruse, 72, an elder of the Yuin and Monaro peoples, is seeking an apology and compensation from the New South Wales government in Australia over alleged physical and psychological abuse that he says he suffered as a child at Macleay District Hospital. This was reported by ABC News Australia.
According to Cruse, in the late 1950s or early 1960s, he, his brother and his sister were treated for dysentery at a hospital on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, now known as Kempsey District Hospital. He claims that Aboriginal children were kept separately on a veranda, with the area divided by hessian partitions.
Allegations of mistreatment
Cruse said that a nurse repeatedly slapped him in the face. According to him, he was made to kneel on a bed with books on his head and to hold the ties of a nurse’s apron while following her around the ward. He says that nearly a week of such treatment left him with lifelong psychological trauma.
His sister, Rhonda Cruse-Rawiri, also recalled being kept in a dark separate room, while the room for non-Aboriginal children had toys and a large rocking horse. She said that the hospital gowns worn by the children bore the inscription “A-B-O”. Their father, Ossie Cruse, now over 90, also remembered these gowns when he collected the children from the hospital.
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Compensation demands
Cruse has brought his demands to the state government and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He said he was referred to existing redress schemes, including the New South Wales Stolen Generations compensation program and the National Redress Scheme, established after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. However, he says he does not meet the eligibility criteria for these programs.
After lawyers became involved, the local health district, according to Cruse, offered him a payment of $30,000, which he described as insufficient. A spokesperson for the Mid North Coast Local Health District said it does not comment on matters that are subject to legal proceedings. At the same time, a statement said that the state government acknowledges the experiences of people who survived historical abuse and is committed to ensuring they receive appropriate support and justice.
According to the Macleay River Historical Society, segregation at the hospital ended in July 1964. Nursing history researcher Odette Best noted that at that time Indigenous Australians were not allowed to receive treatment in the same wards as non-Indigenous patients, and that the consequences of such treatment left deep trauma in many communities.
