On 17 September 1997, Premier Kennett issued an apology in the Legislative Assembly to the Aboriginal people for the past policies leading to the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and communities. The apology began with the words: That this house apologises to the Aboriginal people on behalf of all Victorians for the past…
The McLean Inquiry was established in December 1955, to ascertain the population of Aboriginal Victorians; report on their self-maintenance prospects; comment on factors affecting Aboriginal ‘absorption’ into mainstream society, and on the viability of maintaining a separate Aboriginal administration. The Inquiry was also to advise on the future of the Lake Tyers mission in East…
The Royal Commission into Charitable Institutions was established on 18 March 1890, and presented its final report to the Victorian Parliament in August 1895. The findings included the removal of city-based institutions to less expensive rural locations. The concentration of female rescue work onto one site and orphans to be boarded out in rural locations.
The Care of Children Committee, chaired by Dame Myra Curtis, reported to the British House of Commons in 1946. The Committee had investigated Children’s Homes in the United Kingdom and its landmark Report (commonly known as the Curtis Report), focused on the ‘remote and impersonal’ way of ‘caring’ for children. It recommended significant changes to…
On 20 June 2000, on the motion of Senator Andrew Murray, the Senate referred the issue of child migration to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report. An estimated five to ten thousand child migrants from both Britain and Malta came to Australia between1922 and 1967, most of whom were sent to charitable…
The Stolen Generations Reparation Package was announced by the Victorian government in 2022. The aim of the package is to “help address the trauma and suffering caused by the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, community, culture, identity and language”. The package is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were removed…
The Inquiry into Responses to Historical Forced Adoptions in Victoria began in 2019 when the Victorian Legislative Assembly agreed to an inquiry into support services and responses to the issues of historical forced adoptions in Victoria by the Legal and Social Issues Committee. The report was tabled in Parliament on 8 September 2021. According to…
Case Study 42: Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, was a public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, held in Newcastle and Sydney in August and November, 2016. It inquired into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and included the experiences of former child residents at St Alban’s Boys’ Home, St Alban’s…
The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory was set up on 1 August 2016, to look into the youth detention and welfare system over 10 years from 1 August 2006. Its report was delivered on 17 November 2017. The Royal Commission identified a number of failures within the…
Children from the Northern Territory were moved interstate by the government from the 1930s through to the late 1970s. Aboriginal children considered at the time to be of mixed descent were transferred interstate for training. During World War II many children from mission stations and other residential care facilities were evacuated to southern states. After…
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