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Unseen orphanage photos capture lighter moments in dark part of Australia's history

ABC net Au

By Margaret Burin

PHOTO: Unknown children play in a sandpit in a Victorian orphanage, taken by nurse Annie Woods around the 1960s. (Supplied)

A Victorian woman hopes to reconnect people with their childhood photos, after discovering dozens of her aunt's priceless pictures taken in orphanages more than 50 years ago.

PHOTO: Mothercraft nurse Annie Woods kept an album of photos that captured children in Ballarat and Melbourne orphanages around the 1960s.

Sofia Fiusco found the old box of photos and negatives, belonging to her deceased aunt Annie Woods, while cleaning out her Ballarat home.

Ms Woods was a mothercraft nurse around the 1960s and worked at several orphanages - including the Methodist Babies Home in South Yarra and the Alexandra Babies Home in Ballarat.

Her album not only captures the small children she cared for, but a moment that is a part of Australia's dark past - a period that is now associated with the Stolen Generation, forced adoption and child sex abuse.

"There was something about these photos that we found that had a really nice sense of belonging to them; it's like they've captured time where it's all about play," Ms Fuscio said.

"And then it was a bit sad that, do these people in these photos have a belonging, and do they know?

"I think it's interesting to see the photos of Indigenous children which made me think about the Stolen Generation and what that meant for them."

'It might bring something to their life in terms of closure'

PHOTO: When Sofia Fiusco was cleaning up her deceased aunt's home, she came across dozens of images from her time as an orphanage mothercraft nurse. (ABC News: Margaret Burin )

Many people who grew up in Australian orphanages do not have any photos of their childhood.

Ms Fiusco will now hand the albums over to Open Place - a Victorian organisation that provides assistance to people who were once wards of the state.

While they are not dated or captioned, she hopes members of the public will recognise themself in the images.

"I would love these photos to be somewhere where the people who were in them could make a choice to access them," Ms Fiusco said.

"If you were in one of these homes and you have no record of what life was like, it might be a nice memory.

"Because they'd be in their 50s now, and even if they can't remember all of the people in there, there is a sense of 'this is where I was'.

"For people who maybe don't have these images, it might bring something to their life in terms of closure."

bron Peter Fox