Free Our Australian Girl by Lucia Masciullo Page A

to the carpark, holding firmly to Daisy’s arm, and soon she and Edith were bundled in the back of a police car and on their way back to the orphanage.
    â€˜But Bluey, please, you’ve got to take us back to the track!
Please
. I think I saw my dad there and he can explain everything. He’ll tell you I don’t belong in an orphanage. I told you before – I’m not really an orphan. My sister’s living in Gertrude Street with my aunt and uncle, and I was just on my way there, honest.’
    â€˜Oh, really, is that so?’ Bluey answered, and turned from the driver’s seat to look at her. ‘So what the devil were you doing at the Melbourne Cup all by yourselves? And what do you mean you
think
you saw your dad? Surely you know your own dad when you see him?’
    â€˜It was just for a second and I couldn’t be sure, but if you take us back I can find him.’
    â€˜And I want to find my brother,’ Edith said, her voice tight. ‘Please don’t make us go back to the orphanage. If I go back I’ll never see him again.’
    â€˜Sorry, girls,’ Bluey said. ‘Daisy, we can’t go wandering through thousands of people at the Cup in the hope that one of them might be your dad. It’s my job to follow the law and that means taking you back right now.’
    To have been so close and not to know if she really had seen Dad was too much for Daisy. She rested her head back on the seat and began to cry, quietly at first, but then louder. She wasn’t just crying for Dad, and Flora, and Jimmy, and Amelia, and the life she would never get back. She was crying for Edith, and Freddy, and all the children whose lives were so sad and loveless.

    Half an hour later, the car pulled up outside the orphanage. Daisy and Edith stumbled up the stairs.
    â€˜She’s going to murder us,’ Daisy said quietly, wiping her eyes.
    â€˜Yep,’ Edith sighed.
    Miss Dunham met them at the door. ‘Well, if it isn’t our little runaways,’ she said, her voice as cold as steel. ‘And where’s the other one?’ She looked over at the police car. ‘There was a boy as well.’
    â€˜We just found these two,’ Bluey said. ‘But I don’t think they’ve done any real harm, Miss. They just wanted to find their families.’
    Daisy shot him a grateful look.
    â€˜Thank you, Officer, but I will be the judge of that,’ Miss Dunham snapped.
    Bluey gave Daisy a rueful look and went back to his car. Daisy and Edith followed Miss Dunham back to their dormitory.
    â€˜Now,’ she said, ‘here are your toothbrushes to scrub with. As you can see, the washroom floor is a disgrace. The lavatories also need a thorough clean. You will not go to bed until you’re finished, and you can forget about having any dinner. You will be on double chores for the rest of the month and you will not be allowed to leave this dormitory except for meals and chores.’
    â€˜What about school?’ Daisy asked.
    â€˜You will no longer go to school,’ Miss Dunham answered. ‘From now on, you will both do the work of Day Girls. An education would clearly be wasted on you.’
    With that, she stomped out of the room. Daisy and Edith reluctantly picked up their toothbrushes and started cleaning.

D AISY’S bottom had gone numb on the hard wooden bench. Her eyes were drooping and she had to keep shaking herself awake. She’d only had a few hours sleep after yet another long night scrubbing the washroom floor. My hands are still as wrinkly as prunes, she thought, looking at her aching red fingers. She felt Edith’s body start to slump beside her and wiggled in her seat to wake her friend up.
    Another stupid Sunday morning waiting for visitors who never come, Daisy thought. I know Mabel and Elsie won’t be here, not after the last time when Miss Dunham refused to let them see me. She sighed loudly.
    Two weeks had passed