Daryl TeNadii - The Orphaned Soldier

Author: Daryl TeNadii

ABN: 25719012481

Website: www.The Orphaned Soldier.com.au

Email: daryltenadii11@gmail.com

Facebook: The Orphaned Soldier

Copyright 2021

First Published April 2021

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored, posted on the internet or transmitted in any form or by any means, whether electronically, mechanically, or by photocopying, recording, sharing or any other means, without written permission from the author and publisher of the book. Please feel free to email me for permission Im usually obliging. All content found on or offline without written permission from me will be breaking the copyright law and therefore, render you liable and at risk of persecution. Some names have been changed to protect the author or characters privacy or that of the authors family.

ISBN: 978-0-9873024-6-5

In memory

Of my two brothers and sisterBrian Leslie TeNadii,
Dale Lee TeNadii, Teena Lynette TeNadii,
and my half brother - Darren Lewis

A tribute

To my beautiful wife, Janet Fiona TeNadii; loving children,
Damien Travis TeNadii,
Casie J. TeNadii and Baila Rae TeNadii.

Along with my nephews and nieces,

Heidi, Tammy, Tamika, Mathew and Robbie,
Adam, Lauren.
Also, Jarrod, Troy and Sarah.

Nothing could have prepared me for what was going to become my life, or the loss of so many loved ones.

Contents

They would sexually assault us, beat us near to death, and take away any dignity we had left as humans, just to satisfy their sick and perverted ways.

This was a normal day, and how I will always remember my life under their care as an orphaned boy at Hodderville Boys home in New Zealand.

Daryl TeNadii

Prologue

The Unwanted Generation

In Australia, they called it the STOLEN GENERATIONThe forced removal of Indigenous children from their families. This is a reminder that the wound is deep, in every way, in the hearts of millions of people around the world. Accepting we were wrong is something that is recognised in Australian today. We respect those who suffered the indignity, shame, and loss of their children, when many indigenous children around Australia were forcibly removed from their families, between 1910 and 1970, because of a government policy.

Stolen Aboriginal children were often deprived of education and exploited. They lived in strictly controlled institutions. Scared, lost, lonely and grieving for their families, they suffered frequent bouts of harsh punishment and neglectand were left wet, cold, hungry and in despair. Children were wrongly told that their parents had died or had abandoned them, and many never knew why they were taken, or why they were passed on to families theyd never met before.

Most children were forced to work as manual labourers and domestic servants for their adoptive families, and were often subjected to psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, while under their care. Efforts were made to make these stolen children reject their culture, which often made them feel ashamed of their Indigenous heritage.

Since then, medical experts have reported high incidences of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and suicide among the Stolen Generations.

Finally, investigations were undertaken, thanks to those who believed what they were told had taken place, and efforts were made to find and reunite families, where possible. This was a criminal act, for which Australia accepted responsibility, and compensation was offered. A national public apology was made to indigenous parents and children, around Australia, as well as the numerous indigenous community groups.

It was little comfort for the families whose lives had been destroyed.

In New Zealand, between 6000 and 8000 children had their own hell. For ten years, thousands of children in New Zealand, including me, suffered the same atrocities as our indigenous counterparts; not at the hands of our government but from one of the most trusted organisations in the Pacific; the Salvation Army. This occurred in the fifteen centres that they operated, between 1903 and 1993.

We were called THE UNWANTED GENERATION.

As I read the many articles, which tried to understand how the Australian government had allowed such despicable acts to continue for so long among their indigenous people, and why it took over sixty years to acknowledge what took place, I found it was beyond my comprehension.

When you read my story, it may be hard for you to comprehend how a supposedly reputable organisation that was known and loved for its work, could inflict similar psychological, physical, and sexually abuse on children, as young as babies, while they were living in state care with the Salvation Army in New Zealand.

Both of these appalling historical events are not included in Australian or New Zealand history booksbut they should be.

I hope my story will help to change that.

My two brothers, my older sister, and I are only four voices out of the thousands of children who suffered painful atrocities and torment while institutionalised as wards of the state, in various Salvation Army orphanages in New Zealand. The acts that occurred were so severe, so appalling that many died prematurely, cloaked in memories of horrors, which plagued them and from which they couldnt escape. I am the last living member of my family, from my biological father and mothers side; the sole survivor of my generation to share our story.

Preface

Reasons

This is my life story; all sixty-three years of it, the truth and pain of which I have carried every day for all those years.

Do I blame any one person? No. There are many who will never escape the responsibility I place upon them, for their part in forcing us into a life that we should never have had to live. I lay the blame for not being wanted, of being robbed of my innocence and of a childs growing up with his family without a valid reason, squarely at the feet of my biological FATHER AND MOTHER.

For being abused, beaten, and having any remaining dignity taken from me as a child, right up to my teenage years, I blame the SALVATION ARMY, along with my mother.

For carrying so much hurt and pain for so long without standing up to what was wrong, I blame MYSELF

For twelve years, I have painfully recalled moments I wish to God I couldnt, to complete this book. I have written them out and laid my life out on the blank pages until they were full. You may wonder why? Ive asked myself that same question hundreds of times, as I wrote, feeling intense heartache, grief, pain and deep sadness as well as the light, happy, and joyful moments with which I tried to relieve the former. I wrote my story to answer my question, and maybe yours. I wrote in the hope that I can finally release some of the hurt that has weighted me down for the better part of sixty years. I wrote to be the voice for the thousands who never got the chance to tell their story, and to share my familys story for my children and those of my brothers and sister.

Ive battled shame, guilt, and fear of judgment, to release this book. I know that by putting this book out there, I may be questioned by many, including friends and people Ive met, but who dont know my story. It is my hope that those who abused me and the thousands of other orphans under the Salvation Armys care stand upfinally, and say SORRY to usthe LOST GENERATION, and our families, just as has been done for the indigenous people of Australia.