King Charles issued a surprising but brilliant three-word response to an emotional man during his and Queen Camilla’s trip to Australia.
The King embraced a survivor of the “stolen generation” of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They were children removed from their families by federal and state government and church missions and placed in children’s homes.
The government has estimated that between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their homes between 1910 and 1970.
King Charles met with Uncle James Michael “Widdy” Welsh, 72, who survived the traumatic ordeal. He told the monarch he wasn’t keen on handshakes, to which Charles replied with just three words: “Hugs are fine”.
Welsh was taken from his family when he was just eight years old and moved from Coonamble in central New South Wales to Kinchela Boys Home, where he was given the number 36.
He was all smiles as he shared a big hug with the King at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Sydney.
He said: “I told him I was there from the Kinchela Boys organisation and one of the so-called ‘stolen generation’ and he put his hand out to shake my hand. I said to him ‘I’m not much of a hand shaker, I’m more of a hugger or cuddler.’
“He said ‘hugs are good’. So I went in for the hug and he gave me one back. That’s my way of making a sense of feeling between people. Shaking hands is not a good way to understand people. A hug is a way of connecting with someone’s aura.
“He made me feel comfortable, it was really good. It was a welcome hug. I welcomed him there and let him know. I’m a survivor of Kinchela Boys school, I was taken away from my parents.
“It was good he was there and he appreciated the hug as he hugged me back. I had a really good feeling about him. I got the feeling he is somebody who genuinely cares.
“I wouldn’t mind sitting down and having a yarn with him to be honest and tell him everything that has happened and how to help the children coming up for a better future. There is too much anger around. It was a genuinely good cuddle.”
Welsh, of the Wailwan Indigenous people, was one of seven siblings taken from their mother as part of the 60-year scandal throughout Australia.
Queen Camilla did not join her husband on his visit to the centre in Syndey. Instead, she visited the city’s Green Square Library to meet with authors and young people passionate about leaving.
She also met previous participants of the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition to bring attention to the importance of getting into reading from a young age – something she is passionate about.
