Cecil Bowden was placed in Bomaderry United Aboriginal Mission at the age of two years, and at the age of ten he was sent to Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home. On returning from World War II, Bowden's father was not permitted to take his children out of State care.
Bowden's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).
