As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said sorry for an "ugly chapter" of Australian history that left 500,000 children neglected and abused in state care last century, his image beamed into the top floor of Ballarat Child and Family Services' Lydiard St office from Parliament House via a big

screen, evoking tears, occasional cheers and a sense of relief.

Former Ballarat Orphanage resident Barry Walker, 70, was among the many wiping his eyes as he took in the Prime Minister's historic speech.

"It was quite emotional in the beginning because I thought of a lot of other kids I had known in there and felt like it was recognition of all of us," he said.

"It (the orphanage) wasn't too bad but it's hard to explain, you never really had a cuddle and everything was done as a group. He (Mr Rudd) was right when he said you were just a number," he said.

"All the kids supported each other but as you get older you realise what you missed out on.

"It's when you're spoiling your grandkids, you realise."

Mr Walker spent 13 years in the Ballarat Orphanage, entering at just four years of age with his two brothers and sister.

Like many other residents, Mr Walker and his siblings were not orphans but removed from the care of their parents, who were declared unfit to raise them by the state.

Mr Walker said the impact of life in state care extended well beyond being released.

"When you left you just dropped off and were forgotten. You didn't really have a clue how everything worked on the other side of that brick wall," he said.

A former resident of Ballarat's Nazareth House, Gabrielle Short, 53, travelled to Canberra to hear the apology in person.

Afterwards, she recalled years of abuse at the hands of her carers.

"If you wet the bed at the house, they'd rub your face into the sheets until it bled," Ms Short said.

"They had bed inspections every morning. They'd say, `Whoever wet the bed come down the front here'.

"Then you'd go down to the front, they'd have bowls of hot water and we had to stand in this hot water."

"I try to explain it to my children now: if you were to read the story Oliver Twist, you take away the music and the happy bits, and that's what it was like."

CAFS heritage co-ordinator Sharon Guy said it was too soon to gauge the difference the apology would make to countless lives.

"They have been waiting for such a long time, I don't think we will know for a while what the impact will be," she said.