In 1937, at the age of 14 months, Geoff Meyer appeared before a NSW
magistrate, who made him a ward of the state and handed him over to
carers at a state-run orphanage called Bidura.
Meyer stayed at Bidura until he was four, when he was sent to the Royleston Boys’ Depot in Glebe Point Road. Built in the 1880s, the Royleston mansion is a Victorian hybrid of grand and delicate, featuring a graceful verandah and soaring windows. When the heavy iron gate first opened for Meyer, he was terrified by its squeal. Royleston housed 30 to 50 boys at a time until they were fostered, though many were repeatedly fostered, returned, and fostered again. Meyer never learned any other boys’ names. “We weren’t allowed to talk to each other,” he said, “and the staff always said ‘Hey you’ or used terrible words.”
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2012/august/1354057131/christine-kenneally/forgotten-ones
Meyer stayed at Bidura until he was four, when he was sent to the Royleston Boys’ Depot in Glebe Point Road. Built in the 1880s, the Royleston mansion is a Victorian hybrid of grand and delicate, featuring a graceful verandah and soaring windows. When the heavy iron gate first opened for Meyer, he was terrified by its squeal. Royleston housed 30 to 50 boys at a time until they were fostered, though many were repeatedly fostered, returned, and fostered again. Meyer never learned any other boys’ names. “We weren’t allowed to talk to each other,” he said, “and the staff always said ‘Hey you’ or used terrible words.”
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2012/august/1354057131/christine-kenneally/forgotten-ones