Defence lawyer Steve Winter asked last week for a temporary suppression order so Corkran could tell his family, but said he "would not fight this in the shadows".
Court documents say Corkran injected the boys with drugs for reasons including them running away; calling him a bastard; "being smart"; and because a boy was "enjoying himself too much, laughing and having jokes with friends".
Six alleged victims are named in court documents, while another charge refers to an unidentified child.
The ill-treatment charges have a maximum penalty of 10 years jail.
Corkran is on bail. His case will be called for an administrative hearing in March, but he may not attend.
Police announced earlier this month they had charged a person after their latest investigation into ill-treatment allegations at Lake Alice, which operated near Marton until the late 1990s.
They said the unit's head psychiatrist, Dr Selwyn Leeks, and another former staff member were medically unfit to stand trial, although there was enough evidence to lay charges.
Leeks, 92, lives in Australia and suffers from dementia and cancer.
No one was charged after previous police investigations in 1977-78 and from 2002-2010.
At the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care this year, police apologised for shortcomings in the 2002-2010 investigation.
