LONG WAIT: Frank Golding beside the wall he used to sit on, during his time at the Ballarat Orphan Asylum, waiting for his parents to come for him. Picture: Lachlan Bence
FRANK Golding spent hours as a child sitting on the red brick wall of the Ballarat Orphan Asylum waiting for his parents to come for him.
It was to be more than 10 years - his entire childhood - before they eventually did.
"We (Frank and his two brothers) spent a lot of time sitting on that brick wall in Stawell St, waiting to see if our parents would get off the tram at that last stop on the line," he said.
Mr Golding, now 68, has published the story of his years as an "orphan of the living" in a book titled An Orphan's Escape: Memories of a Lost Childhood.
He returned to "the wall", now part of Damascus College, yesterday to launch the book, which details his childhood experiences as well as his reunion with his parents and the subsequent piecing together of his family jigsaw.
"We weren't orphans; we knew our parents were alive. We didn't know why we were there," he said.
The book also examines Mr Golding's 10-year search for answers to the mysteries of his childhood.
"An extraordinary story slowly unravelled about events outside the (orphanage) walls," he said.
"It involved coroner's reports, prison records in four states, army records ... and the discovery of a `beastly crime' that my father was said to have committed."
He also discovered that his parents had tried for many years to have their sons returned to them, but were blocked repeatedly by authorities.
"The main thing for me was discovering that my parents did want us."
"They never expressed their love in words, but I know by their actions how they felt about us," he said.
Mr Golding said the jigsaw was not yet complete, but enew information had surfaced since the book's publication and publicity surrounding it.
Orphan's Escape is published by Lothian and sells for $24.95.