Her brothers were taken in by an aunt.

The boys had potential, the girls didnt, is how Mary remembers her aunts assessment of the situation.

The Sisters of St Joseph in 2009 confirmed Mary and her sister were admitted to the St Josephs Girls Home at Gore Hill on January 19, 1928 and didnt leave until two days before Christmas, 1933, when they travelled to Newcastle to live with their mother.

Kimmys* story: He was slowly breaking me, but he never broke me fully. Im out and Im going to make it. (June 14, 2018)

Mary, 96, who still lives in the Hunter, is most likely the oldest person in Australia to apply for redress under the National Redress Scheme to compensate victims of institutional child sexual abuse.

It is a settling of accounts, she said.

The nuns were so cruel. I dont think theyd heard of the word Christianity, she said.

Mary gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about the abuse she experienced at the home.

The one-page letter by the Sisters of St Joseph in 2009 was short on detail and long on finding excuses for the experiences children suffered at the orphanage, Mary said.

Samanthas* story: He thought being a woman was about being chained to the kitchen sink. It was like ownership, it wasnt normal. (June 17, 2018)

The order acknowledged the trauma of being placed in the home and said the loss of both parents was a difficult thing with lifelong impacts.

Mary doesnt dispute that. Her father wasnt a very good man. Her mother abandoned her children once and when she took the girls back in, she was a reluctant parent.

She wasnt very happy to have us. It wasnt a very happy home.

But the letter spoke too much about the hardships the nuns experienced during the Depression, and their reliance on generous benefactors and what the Sisters could beg, Mary said.

They were adults and we were children. We had no power. The letter presents the nuns as victims. We were the real victims.

The National Redress Scheme acknowledged that institutions beyond churches failed children. Although her parents abandoned them and failed, the church compounded the failure when crimes were committed against her while in care, Mary said.

Natasha's* story: "I was sold to a drug house" (July 20, 2018)

She had nightmares many decades later because of it.

I feel a lot of grief that I missed my childhood. It still brings tears. I guess we all have experiences in life that makes us what we are and who we are. Some kind of redress where the church has to pay gives you some sense of satisfaction that life hasnt been in vain. We were only little kids. It shouldnt have happened. Its so long ago but its finally being acknowledged. At least they recognise something did happen, Mary said.

She had little education and started working as a domestic help in Newcastle homes from the age of 14. She was married at 20 to a violent man and had five children with him. But after 16 years the marriage ended when he left.

Her second husband, Albert, was a lovely man who died in 2012 after more than 30 years marriage.

Mary was determined to educate her children, with three going on to become teachers.

I sacrificed everything to educate my kids and theyve never looked back. My brother once asked me why I put so much into raising my children, and I said it was the satisfaction of knowing Id done the right thing.

She relies on the support of family and the Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN), which represents Australians raised in homes and orphanages and is headed by Leonie Sheedy. Mary is the oldest CLAN member, Ms Sheedy said.

She was astonished when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established and pleased the National Redress Scheme was eventually supported by Australian governments, although a $150,000 cap on payments, a $79,000 average and the indexing of payments already received by some survivors were a blow.

She doesnt mind that she could be the oldest Australian to receive support, a financial payment and an apology from the Sisters of St Joseph under the scheme.

I never thought Id see the day but its here, so Ive registered. Ive got my papers in, she said.