As was shown in the Royal Commission, all the churches who ran these institutions were cruel, evil and treated children appallingly.

Although these were horrible times they were nevertheless part of Goulburn's history and Goulburn was the first city in Australia to acknowledge that and erect a memorial to remember approximately 50,000 children who lived all or part of their lives in Goulburn.

It is good that this has been remembered and that the memorial and memorial bench (which was donated by a Goulburn family) will become part of the new development.

I also want to thank The Goulburn Post. They have shown a real commitment to children who were in care. They have always been supportive and empathetic and I thank them for their considerable support and community spirit.

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to the NSW community for their support of The Smith Family's 2019 Winter Appeal.

In an inspiring display of empathy for the plight of Australian children living in poverty, we are deeply humbled by the generosity of people who donated more than $2 million in NSW, to help us deliver vital out-of-school learning and mentoring support, for thousands of students living in disadvantage.

This will be transformational for these children.

With one in six young Australians living below the poverty line today, it is heart-warming to see so many community members join us, to change the educational outcomes of these children.

Research tells us that one in four children from our most disadvantaged communities start school already behind in areas like literacy and numeracy. Without intervention, the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students continues to grow. But if a disadvantaged child has access to the right support at the right time during their studies, they will have a much more positive future.

The donations we received during our appeal will help us reach more than 12,000 students in need nationally through programs such as iTrack and student2student, which encourage children to stay in school and make the most of their education. And we know they're working. Four in five students leaving school after taking part in our Learning for Life programs, are now in the workforce or pursuing further education.

Crucially these programs also rely on volunteers who across Australia, are working day to support children's learning. So to everyone who has altruistically given their time and dollars to support us, we extend a heartfelt thank you.

To find out more about The Smith Family and our work changing Australian children's lives through education, visit thesmithfamily.com.au

The Australian Monarchist League has been silent on the matter of Indigenous Recognition and a Voice to the Parliament and are awaiting release of more detail on a formal government proposal. However, it is not helpful when we hear comments threatening the Australian Constitution such as: "We will dismiss the Constitution ... we will throw it out of Australia into the saltwater" he (Dr Yunupingu) said. (The Australian, Aug 3) Statements like this only give potency to the arguments of those speaking against recognition.

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