Some people may find content on this website distressing. Read more
New South Wales - Glossary Term

Stolen Generations

  • Bringing them home

    Bringing them home, c. 1997, courtesy of Commonwealth of Australia: Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission.
    Details

The Stolen Generations are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who, when they were children, were taken away from their families and communities as the result of past government policies. Children were removed by governments, churches and welfare bodies to be brought up in institutions, fostered out or adopted by white families. The removal of Aboriginal children took place from the early days of British colonisation in Australia. It broke important cultural, spiritual and family ties and has left a lasting and intergenerational impact on the lives and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Details

Government policies concerning Aboriginal people were implemented under different laws in the different states and territories of Australia. These laws meant that the lives of Indigenous people were controlled by government: marriages, work, wages, housing, children and access to health care.

Records about the Stolen Generations and their families were kept by governments, as well as by churches and missions. But many records have been lost: fires, floods, poor recordkeeping and changes to government departments can make it very difficult to trace family connections.

Link-Up

Link-Up organisations around Australia provide family tracing and reunion services to members of the Stolen Generations, their families, and foster and adoptive families. These services include:

    - researching family and personal records
    - emotional support when accessing family and personal records
    - finding family members
    - assistance and support at family reunions
    - support and counselling before, during and after family reunion.

Link-Ups give priority to first generation members of the Stolen Generations who have directly experienced removal or separation from family and community, especially those who are elderly or have urgent health concerns.

Link-Ups also provide services to subsequent generations of family members who have been affected by intergenerational trauma related to removal, and to members of families and communities from whom children were removed.

Publications

Books

  • Bezant, Betty, Our river days : a reflection of childhood memories, 1942-1946 : children from Otford, New South Wales and Croker Island, Northern Territory, Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2008, 72 pp. Details

Journals

  • New South Wales. Aborigines Protection Board (ed.), Report of the Board, Government Printer, 1881-1941. Also available at http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-vn1447508. Details
  • New South Wales. Aborigines Welfare Board (ed.), Annual report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended …, Government Printer, 1949-1968. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • Olsson, Kristina, 'All the lost children', The Weekend Australian Magazine, 30-31 March 2013. Details

Reports

  • Bringing them home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, Commonwealth of Australia: Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, 1997, 689 pp. Also available at https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/bringing-them-home-stolen. Details
  • Berry, M; French, B; Roden, D, Inquiry into children and youth under institutional and other forms of care; submission by Department of Youth and Community Services, New South Wales, February, 1984, 1984. Details
  • Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare, Report of the Minister for Social Welfare on the working of the Aborigines Act, 1969., Government Printer, Sydney, 1970. Details

Resources

  • Director : Steven McGregor; Producers: Anna Grieve and Danielle MacLean., Croker Island exodus [videorecording (DVD)]., Jennifer Crone Productions; ABC Program Sales, 2012. Details

Online Resources

Photos

The Lost Children of Sydney [Aboriginal Children's Services]
Title
The Lost Children of Sydney [Aboriginal Children's Services]
Type
Image
Date
1978

Details

Bringing them home
Title
Bringing them home
Type
Image
Date
c. 1997
Publisher
Commonwealth of Australia: Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission

Details

Back to Cootamundra
Title
Back to Cootamundra
Type
Video
Date
9 June 2012
Source
YouTube

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Bringing them home [Image], Date: c. 1997; 'Stolen Generations', in Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies [website], http://aiatsis.gov.au/research/finding-your-family/before-you-start/stolen-generations.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry