Talking about orphanage experience in a private Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has helped

But talking about them in a private Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse hearing changed his life.

“It was on my thoughts all day and through the night but it’s eased it off a lot,” Mr Coon said.

“By saying about these things, I’ve opened up a lot and it’s made things a little bit easier. I don’t get as many nightmares now.”

In 2011, Ryan Carlisle Thomas Lawyers negotiated an out of court settlement on Mr Coon’s behalf against the state government and Child and Family Services.

The firm’s institutional abuse lawyer Penny Savidis, who has represented 61 former Ballarat Orphanage wards, is now calling for royal commission public hearings to be heard in regional areas.

“The commission has been doing an outstanding job. But because so many of the worst institutions were based in country areas, especially in western Victoria, it would really help some survivors deal with their anguish if they were allowed to speak up publicly in their local communities,” Ms Savidis said.

“Private commission sessions have been held in Ballarat and Bendigo, along with a few public information meetings, but there’s no indication yet if the commission will actually hold public hearings in country areas of Victoria, like it has in other states.”

Mr Coon said he wanted to give public evidence to encourage other former abuse survivors to come forward.

“It might help some other kids to come out.” 

Mr Coon was first sent to the Victoria Street orphanage between March 1945 and April 1948, where he was force fed tripe and, when he wouldn’t eat it, was beaten around the head so badly he now wears a hearing aid.

He was readmitted to the orphanage in 1953 where he was punished for wetting the bed by being made to walk around the breakfast dining hall while being called names by other children, often while wearing the soiled sheets on his head.

An electric device was also fitted to his penis to administer an electric shock if he wet his bed, and an orphanage doctor regularly exposed himself to Mr Coon before beating him.

“Not a day goes past where the Ballarat Orphanage does not come up in my mind. I often recall my experiences there and unfortunately they are usually not pleasant.”

fiona.henderson@fairfaxmedia.com.au