May 26 – so what’s so special about this day?
May 26 – now known as Sorry Day.
A day that has taken on special significance.
A day to reflect, to commemorate.
A day to learn more – to listen, to hear with the heart.
It is the day – 26 years ago – that the Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in Federal Parliament.
This report was the result of a national inquiry into the forced removal of First Nations children from their families.
As Healing Foundation board chair Professor Steve Larkin reflected on Sorry Day 2022: “It (the Bringing Them Home Report) was a pivotal moment in the healing journey for many Stolen Generations survivors.”
They had been heard.
It was also a pivotal moment for the nation – a facing of the truth.
Of the impacts of successive, racist government policies.
Policies designed to separate children from their families, communities, language and Culture.
But the road leading to Sorry Day goes back a long time.
It goes back to the early days of colonisation when the first removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children began.
But it was the 20th century government policies of the new Nation, Australia, that led to the forcible removal of children from families, communities and Country in such numbers.
Removal in the name of governments.
Removal that would help with the assimilation of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children into white, colonial Australia.
To remove their Aboriginal identity and alienate them from their families and communities.
In the words spoken at the Initial Conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal Authorities in 1937: “The policy of the Commonwealth is to do everything possible to convert the half-caste into a white citizen.”
Removal also provided a supply of cheap labour – domestic servants and farm hands – to the growing nation.
The Bringing Them Home Report included harrowing stories of children being removed.
There are stories from every state and territory – and stories close to home.
In 1957, retired stipendiary magistrate Charles McLean was commissioned by the newly-elected Premier Henry Bolte, to review and recommend changes to Victoria’s Aboriginal Affairs policy.
Following his visit to The Flats, 24 young children were taken from their families and committed to the care of the Children’s Welfare Department by the Children’s Court.
Children torn from their community, their families.
Taken from a place of belonging, of Culture, of country, of community, of love, to a place of “care”.
To an institution – a place where they were abused, neglected and unloved.
Children were taken to over 480 institutions across the country – names such as Ballarat Orphanage, Cootamundra Girls Home, Kinchela Boys home.
Names that still echo loudly through communities.
Or they were adopted or fostered by non-Aboriginal families – separated from culture, growing up ‘white’.
Many of us know of some well-known members of the Stolen Generations.
Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta Nari Nari songman Kutcha Edwards, taken to Allambie Children’s Home in Burwood.
The late Uncle Archie Roach, removed from Framlingham Aboriginal Mission in south-west Victoria.
The late Uncle Jack Charles, taken from Daish’s Paddock, ending up in the Box Hill Boy’s Home.
But there were so many more.
So many more names, so many more families.
It is estimated that up to one in three First Nations children were removed from their families between 1910 and the 1970s.
Just think about this number.
Think about the families and communities left behind.
Think about the many who never found their way home.
The ongoing trauma of the removals has reverberated down the generations.
It has not gone away.
The trauma is ongoing, intergenerational.
And for the communities left behind, there is the ongoing deep anguish, pain and heartache of the loss of children.
But it was more.
There were no children to teach, to tell stories to.
No children to teach dances and songs.
No children to teach language and Culture.
The removal of successive generations – a gaping wound in communities.
A deliberate policy to expunge Aboriginal people from the land.
The Bringing Them Home Report – a testament to the resilience, strength, determination of so many who were affected by forcible removal – is an important part of truth-telling for our nation.
It is also a way to move forward – an invitation to work together to achieve change based on First Nations voices and community-led healing as core principles.
The report’s 54 recommendations detail the steps to be taken – steps that lead to intergenerational healing.
But of the 54 recommendations, fewer than five have been fully implemented.
Voices not heard. Voices ignored.
Since the Bringing Them Home Report, there is still no significant national approach to healing for Stolen Generations and their families.
It is shocking to realise that another generation has been impacted by intergenerational trauma without the necessary healing to deal with this.
The intention of the report was to right the wrongs of the past so there is justice and healing for Stolen Generation survivors.
In his comments last year, Prof Larkin went on to emphasise how essential it was, “to replace intergenerational trauma with intergenerational healing”.
Expanding on this he said: “Being honest about this is the start.
“Token gestures do not heal.
“Incremental change does not end trauma cycles or lead to intergenerational healing.
“Equity, fairness and inclusiveness requires big, bold steps to finally address discrepancies in health, justice and welfare outcomes for First Nations peoples.”
“We need all Australians, especially our leaders, to walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to build a stronger nation together.”
So, let’s all consider how we can take “the big, bold steps” to make change to build a stronger nation together.
We invite you to join with us for the 2023 Sorry Day commemoration as we bear witness to and acknowledge the voices and experiences of all those members of the Stolen Generations who have been removed from family and community.
The commemoration will be held on Friday, May 26, at 10.15am at Monash Park, Shepparton.
The Healing Foundation website has information and resources about the Stolen Generations and intergenerational trauma. https://healingfoundation.org.au/
To find out where the Stolen Generations Institutions were visit https://healingfoundation.org.au/map-stolen-generations-institutions/
To read the Bringing Them Home Report go to https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/bringing-them-home-report-1997