Alf Drew was stolen from his family when he was seven and taken to the the Kinchela Boys' Home in Kempsey, New South Wales, where the children were never given enough to eat and physical punishment was harsh. Drew was trained in domestic service and then apprenticed out to Gunnedah for two years, and then on a sheep station in the Brewarrina area for two years. Later, Drew raised his family at Burnt Bridge Mission and supplemented rations with his home grown vegetables to keep them healthy.
