Uncle Benjamin 'BJ' Cruse's Decades-Long Fight for Justice After Alleged Historical Healthcare Abuse

Uncle Benjamin 'BJ' Cruse, a Yuin and Monaroo elder, has spent a lifetime grappling with the trauma of alleged historical healthcare abuse at Macleay District Hospital on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.

Mr. Cruse claims that as a young boy, he was physically and emotionally abused while being treated for dysentery at the hospital, now known as Kempsey District Hospital, in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Abuse Allegations

Mr. Cruse alleges that he was placed on a verandah with his siblings, where the rooms were partitioned with "hessian bag material", and that it was there that the abuse occurred.

"That's where Aboriginal people were kept," he said.

He claims that a nurse slapped him multiple times on the face, and forced him to hold apron strings in each hand while following her around the ward.

"When the nurse heard the books fall on the floor … she yanked me off the bed and slapped me on both sides of the face," he said.

Lasting Impact

The almost-week long ordeal left Mr. Cruse with psychological issues, he said.

His sister, Aunty Rhonda Cruse-Rawiri, also recalled being kept in a dark, separate room away from other patients.

"I could see out of that room where they had all the non-Aboriginal kids and it was really bright in there, all the toys and a big rocking horse," she said.

Seeking Justice

Now, Mr. Cruse is calling for an apology and "proper and just" compensation for his alleged abuse, taking his demands to the state government, as well as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

However, since engaging lawyers, Mr. Cruse said the local health district had now offered him compensation, but he deemed it insufficient.

"I would receive a payment of $30,000 in the hand and to me that is an insult," he said.

Historical Context

Former nurse, scholar and labour historian, Odette Best, said this was "a very thick and murky era" for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and patients.

"It was deemed the right thing to do that Indigenous people were not allowed to be nursed in the same ward as non-Indigenous people," Dr Best said.

National Justice Project CEO George Newhouse said there were still remnants of past policies within the healthcare system.

"People can die as a result of a doctor, or a nurse, or a clinician having a closed mind," he said.