{"id":365454,"date":"2025-10-03T15:43:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T05:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=365454"},"modified":"2025-10-06T20:56:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:56:06","slug":"domo-girls-share-their-truths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/10\/03\/domo-girls-share-their-truths\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Domo Girls’ Share Their Truths"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Guest speaker Dr Ruth Hegarty has written about her Dormitory experiences in her award-winning memoir “Is That You Ruthie?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

October 3, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many “Domo Girls” – the women who grew up (and survived) the Cherbourg dormitory system – feel they are the forgotten people.<\/p>\n

Taken from their families, they were placed into a strict regime which controlled every minute of their lives.<\/p>\n

Their fellow Domo Girls became their “family” … so an event held in Cherbourg on Thursday felt a lot like a family reunion.<\/p>\n

The occasion was the unveiling of the new “Girls Dormitory” centenary exhibition at The Ration Shed Museum.<\/p>\n

The Girls Dormitory, officially known as the “Stopford Home For Aboriginal Girls”, was opened by Home Secretary James Stopford in 1925.<\/p>\n

The centenary provided the perfect opportunity for former residents to share memories and speak their individual truths defiantly, without being filtered through history books.<\/p>\n

Guest speakers at the “Truth Telling” were award-winning author Dr Ruth Hegarty and Aunty Joanne Willmott, who travelled from Adelaide for the occasion, and Aunty Andrea Collins, whose late mother Nan Eva Collins was a supervisor in the Babies Quarters and later the Girls Dormitory.<\/p>\n

There were lots of laughs alongside sad memories of harsh punishments and friends lost, and some singing (by Aunty Andrea).<\/p>\n

Ironically, the event was held inside the former Boys Dormitory building, which forms part of The Ration Shed historic precinct, as the Girls Dormitory building burnt down in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Cherbourg Mayor Bruce Simpson said he was humbled to be with the “deadly Cherbourg matriarchs” at the event.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He reminded the audience that in three weeks’ time it would be the 12-month anniversary of the dismantling of the Truth Telling process by the State Government.<\/p>\n

Mayor Simpson thanked former Treaty Minister Leeanne Enoch – now Shadow Minister for Closing The Gap and Reconciliation – for coming to the exhibition opening.<\/p>\n

And he promised that Cherbourg Council would continue advocating for Truth Telling in Queensland.<\/p>\n

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