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The crumbling vestiges of the former Saint John's orphanage rekindle mixed feelings for Alan Gilroy.

The 86-year-old Goulburn man spent almost seven years in the 1940s at the Mundy Street facility, operated by the Sisters of Mercy from 1912 to 1978.

He told The Post last week that he agreed with the council's decision to order the fire-ravaged building's demolition.

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But he also reflected on his time at the institution after being sent there aged four and a half.

Put simply, his mother "had too many children," 10 in fact. His father, a war veteran, spent years at Concord Hospital recovering form his injuries.

While some of his siblings went to other families, Alan was sent from Sydney, where he was born, to Saint John's orphanage.

"As far as I was concerned the nuns were my carers...I was treated well," he said.

"...It was a life you had to go with...I have nothing against the Sisters or the men who helped look after me."

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It was cold but the boys kept busy, playing rounders on the gravel, football and other organised sport, climbing the downpipes and running along fences.

If a dispute erupted between two boys, they'd settle it boxing in the onsite gym, "because the nuns couldn't control all our shenanigans." Boxing tournaments were also held there and Alan recalled a NSW middleweight champion visiting on one occasion to provide instruction.

Life was regimented and the children were given set chores in the dairy and poultry farms, tending the vegetable garden or polishing dormitory floors.

"We started work as soon as we got out of bed," Mr Gilroy said.

In the afternoons, a Mr Naughton would help the Sisters and occasionally took the boys walking. They ate pies and cakes from "old man Bryant" and a Mrs Sullivan from Taralga did all the cooking at the orphanage.

Not everyone had the same experience and Mr Gilroy said several children tried to escape, most often to Rocky Hill but were returned by police.

Five Sisters looked after up to 200 boys who were educated in classrooms in the building. If they were "lucky" they progressed to Saint Patrick's Technical School in Bourke Street.

"The nuns did the best they could. I was treated well and I have nothing against them," Mr Gilroy said.

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There was Mother Dorothea, Sister Eugenie, Sister Columbus and Sister Elizabeth, whom he remember as a "beautiful singer." He kept in touch with some of them for years afterwards.

At age 10 or 11 he left to live with the McCabe family on a Pomeroy farm. The young Alan had spent some of his school holidays there as part of a billeting program. At the property, he was charged with reading to old Mrs McCabe who was blind and "crippled."

Later, the Reverend Mother at Saint John's secured him a job at a dairy farm at Menangle. Mr Gilroy completed his national service and finally returned to Goulburn at age fifty-five.

"It was the only other area that I knew," he said.

The move proved fortuitous. He met his future wife, Joan, at a Collector dance. They married in 1969 and had three daughters and a son. One daughter tragically lost her life in a Sydney car accident.

Without the benefit of Technical School, Mr Gilroy taught himself to work. After his move back to Goulburn he became the cook at Inveralochy Agricultural College near Lake Bathurst, working there for 18 years. He was affectionately known as 'Shorty' owing to his diminutive height. The name somehow stuck.

Now retired, Mr Gilroy has more time to spend with his six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren but also stays fit.

He conceded he didn't like returning to Saint John's, given its current appearance.

"There used to be a circular drive there with a statue of Saint John in the middle," he said, glancing through security fencing.

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The statue is long gone together with any hope of restoring the building.

"I think the best thing is to put a bulldozer right through it," Mr Gilroy said.

"If it had been looked after it could have been the same as Saint Joseph's (girls) orphanage (on Taralga Road). A lot of boys certainly went through Saint John's."

The council is negotiating a timeframe for the main building's demolition with the owner, John Ferrara. One condition is that he retain items such as the crucifix on the facade, the boundary fence, foundation plaque and other features reflecting its history. The building will also be professionally recorded through drawings and photographs.

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If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.

If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.

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