Case 442: The light of day

Title:

Case 442: The light of day

NFSA ID

747018

Year

2005

Warnings

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

Summary

Evelyn Grove (Graylands Hospital nurse), Frank Byrne and Justin Howard (Stolen Generations senior case worker) walk the corridors of Claremont Hospital. Evelyn talks about Maudie Yooringun, Frank’s mother, and how she loved going to the children’s ward to help look after the kids. Evelyn recalls when one day she asked Maudie if she had any family, Maudie became visibly upset. Evelyn says getting out of Claremont was an unlikely prospect for the inmates. Black-and-white reconstruction depicts a young Maudie, with Frank’s voice-over saying that once Maudie was taken to Claremont, she would never ever get out again. Maudie remained incarcerated in Claremont Hospital for the insane for 18 years. Pam Mikus, Community Liaison for Graylands, shows Frank and Evelyn hospital archives, some of the contents depicting Maudie. Summary by Romaine Moreton.

CURATOR'S NOTES

A powerful sequence that depicts a son’s heartfelt emotion for his mother. The pain of being separated from his mother is written on Frank Byrne’s face. This is the human face of what some may refer to as an inhumane policy. The Bringing Them Home Report holds the testimonies of the many aboriginal children – some 60,000 – that were forcibly removed from their parents.

Case 442 synopsis

Frank Byrne was stolen from his mother Maudie Yooringun at the age of five. Decades later, Frank searches for his mother’s burial site with the intention of taking her back to her country in the Kimberley, 42 years after she passed away.

Case 442 curator's notes

A personable and intimate portrayal of an Indigenous family whose lives are irreparably changed by the government removal policies. Case 442 is the story of Frank Byrne who was taken from Christmas Creek to Moola Bulla on the 20 November 1943, removed from his mother Maudie Yooringun. Frank pinpoints that moment of his life – when he was taken to Moola Bulla – as being when the struggle for survival began, not only for him but also for the other children removed from their parents. When Frank was taken from Moola Bulla to Beagle Bay Mission, he was told by a priest that his mother had died, but the details of where, when and how were unknown to him, and Frank would search for the answers to these questions all of his life.

Case 442 is a heart wrenching story of Frank Byrne, who as an old man finally finds his mother’s resting place at Perth’s Claremont Mental Institute, where she was incarcerated following a nervous breakdown she suffered after the forced removal of her small son. Frank Byrne’s search for his mother was one that was supported by Stolen Generations senior case workers Justin Howard and Heather Shearer, and Julie Hayden from the Department of Indigenous Affairs, who collectively located Maudie’s remains. Case 442 is a personal testimonial to the effects of Aboriginal child removal policies, and the lifelong consequences it has had upon people who have endured being separated from their families and communities. Witnessing the emotion of Frank Byrnes, now an elder, and the determination he has to find the remains of his mother and return her to her country, is a demonstration of the impact of child removal policies on an individual survivor.

A film from writer and director Mitch Torres, Case 442 is the human face of a government policy designed to assimilate Indigenous peoples into mainstream society, the intention being to indoctrinate half-caste children with western values and in the process, forget Indigenous cultural identity and connections.

This program has also screened on NITV, National Indigenous Television.

Notes by Romaine Moreton