“Sad death of a child”: Researching the Death of Children in State Care as an Act of Remembrance

Abstract

This paper examines the role that surviving archival records can play in revealing the stories of children who died while in institutional and foster care. It shares the stories of a number of children who died in care in South Australia from the 1860s to the middle of the twentieth century. It argues that the act of researching these children’s histories is a form of remembrance and memorialisation. It outlines how research significantly led to the establishment of a permanent memorial to these children in West Terrace Cemetery in the city of Adelaide.