00:02Uncle Benjamin B.J. Crews says he was abused at the one place that was meant to care for him.
00:08I forced myself not to cry.
00:11As a little boy, he was treated for a form of gastro with his siblings at the Maclay District Hospital,
00:17now known as Kempsey Hospital on the state's mid-north coast.
00:21He alleges he was slapped multiple times on the face by a nurse.
00:25Then they put a stack of books on me, and when the nurse heard the books fall,
00:34she slapped me on both sides of the face.
00:37The almost week-long ordeal left him with a lifetime of psychological trauma.
00:42This is my mum.
00:43His sister Rhonda remembers being in a dark room.
00:47I could see out of that room where they had all the non-Aboriginal kids,
00:51saying it was really bright and there, all the toys in the big rock and off there.
00:56And the gown, we added that abbo across the back, you know.
00:59People can die as a result of a doctor or nurse or clinician having a closed mind.
01:05So nursing has got this huge history of this really contested care
01:11that has really never been spoken about.
01:14We actually participated in some pretty horrendous acts against Indigenous people.
01:18Uncle BJ has gone to every level of government and even the UN to demand an apology and redress,
01:26only to be referred to schemes he isn't eligible for.
01:30But says since engaging lawyers, the local health district has offered compensation.
01:35I would only receive $30,000 in the hand.
01:39And to me, that's an insult.
01:42A spokesperson from the Mid-North Coast Local Health District says it doesn't comment on matters
01:47that are the subject of legal proceedings.
01:50The state government acknowledging the survivors of historical abuse and its past failures,
01:56though it's little comfort for Uncle BJ.
01:59I'd rather that they paid a proper and just amount, not only for us,
02:04but also for the many thousands of Aboriginal people.
02:08Continuing to fight for him and others.
02:11and the women who've lost the IPCC scores.
02:11At that point in the sight, I think the criminal can have been
02:12we've been able to keep previously to the equivalent of someone
02:13in the family.
02:13We've been so onto this colour lately.
