FAY Clayton-Moseley says there could never be enough money in the world to make up for a lost childhood.
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Ms Clayton-Moseley is a former Leeton resident and daughter of a World War II veteran, taken from her parents’ home in Wattle Hill as part of successive state governments' forcible removal policies of Aboriginal children.
She was only 10 when her and her siblings were removed. Ms Clayton-Moseley has spoken of her terrifying experience after the state government last week announced a $73.8 million financial compensation package for survivors.
It includes a $59.5 million administrative scheme offering one-off financial payments of $75,000 to survivors "without the need for a lengthy and arduous legal process". Ms Clayton-Moseley said money would never bring back a childhood or a family broken apart.
“My mother and father were good parents … they didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
“It’s good to have something because it’s recognition that what happened was wrong, but it will never be enough. My father was a World War II veteran and he should never have had his kids taken from him. It was so scary at the time.”
Ms Clayton-Moseley and her siblings were taken to the Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Training Home where her education was limited. She was there for eight years and trained as a domestic servant.
She said it was often tedious and break-backing work and the family was split up soon after when her brothers were sent to live in Kempsey in northern NSW.
“All those years of working we were supposed to be getting paid, but we never were,” she said.
“When I was at school in Leeton I was in A class, but when I was taken they put me right at the bottom. It made you feel really stupid.”
Ms Clayton-Moseley was able to reunite with her parents when she was older. “I’ve heard after it happened that mum would just sit outside and cry all the time,” she said.
“That’s something no parent should have to go through … it caused the break up of my parents marriage.” Ms Clayton-Moseley did go on to become a nurse and start her own family.
She said she had fond memories of Leeton and tries to come back often to visit a cousin that still lives in town.