The National Library of Australia in Canberra has collected hundreds of interviews with Forgotten Australians and child migrants.
Today marks three years since the Federal Government's National Apology to Forgotten Australians and former child migrants.
Since the apology library staff have been collecting oral histories from across the country, recording the stories of people in care from the 1920s to 1980s.
The oldest interviewee was 98 while the youngest was 34.
Their stories are now available online and in a commemorative booklet.
Curator of oral history and folklore Kevin Bradley says staff have been deeply affected by the pain, power and poignancy of the oral histories.
"This oral history project, featuring more than 200 interviews, brought a diverse range of memories into a single collection," he said.
"The interviews allow those people who lived the experience to tell their stories in their own words. The recordings put flesh on the bones of other forms of historical records and present a deep and complex picture of the experience, and show the scars."
More than 50 Forgotten Australians and child migrants attended today's launch at the National Library.
Many were teary-eyed as snippets of their stories of cruelty, psychological torment, deprivation and hard work were replayed.
Some called for the Federal Government's royal commission into child sexual abuse to include all abuse and torture of children in care.
The Alliance for Forgotten Australians says the oral histories should form part of the terms of reference for the inquiry.
Forgotten Australian Gabrielle Short was among those also calling for compensation, greater support and punishment of perpetrators.
"Redress we need in Victoria. Redress we need in New South Wales. I know there is nothing set up in Canberra at all. They have no services, no nothing," she said.
"We are also after a gold card. When I say a gold card I mean a health card. More or less like the Vietnam veterans have. You know because we were tortured. We lived in a war zone."
Michael Snell, 77, suffered abuse in British and Australian orphanages but says he is not seeking compensation.
"I'm not a real revengeful person but personally, all the ones involved I'd like to see them in jail and stay there," he said.
"Children are the most important asset that we got and to have them destroyed like that they suffer for the rest of their lives. I can tell you that."
He says it was a relief to publicly document his experiences.
"I couldn't sit down quick enough. I have been waiting 62 years for this," he said.