Born in inner-Sydney to an alcoholic mother and an absent father, Carl Beauchamp and his brother Neville ran wild until they were taken into care. That care turned out to be a nightmare, with the boys placed in separate boys’ homes, and in Carl’s case in the hands of sexual predators.
The boys survived, but Carl kept the horrors he had endured secret, even from his brother, for decades. When Carl found the strength to speak out, he discovered the tragic aftermath of life in the Christian Charlton Boys’ Home for many of his fellow inmates.
Despite the adversity and the pain, Carl’s story is overwhelmingly optimistic and heartwarming. It contains recollections of 1940s and ’50s Sydney that will intrigue anyone who loves Newtown, Glebe and surrounding suburbs, and is told in his own authentic voice.