2000

1. March

   Australia appears before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The committee criticises the government’s inadequate response to recommendations from the Bringing Them Home Report.

2002

1. The first member of the Stolen Generations is awarded compensation in the NSW Victims Compensation Tribunal for the sexual assault and injuries she suffered after authorities removed her from her family.

2004

1. The Commonwealth government establishes a memorial to the Stolen Generations at Reconciliation Place in Canberra.

2005

1. The first official Sorry Day ceremony outside Australia is hosted in Lincoln Fields, London, on 25 May 2005.

2006

1. October

   The first Stolen Generations compensation scheme in Australia is set up in Tasmania by the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 (Tas).

2007

1. 1 August

   Bruce Trevorrow is the first person to receive Stolen Generations compensation by a court. A court awards him $525,000 for ‘pain, suffering and false imprisonment’ ^[1].

2. 24 November

   John Howard loses the federal election in a landslide (‘Ruddslide’) defeat against the Australian Labor Party’s candidate Kevin Rudd. Rudd promises to say sorry to the Stolen Generations and to consult with Aboriginal people.

2012

1. 14 February

   Three former Aboriginal children’s homes are added to the NSW State Heritage RegisterCootamundra, Bomaderry Aboriginal Children’s Home and Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home.

1869

1. Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines is established. The Governor can order the removal of any child to a reformatory or industrial school. The Protection Board can remove children from station families to be housed in dormitories.

   Later similar legislation is passed in other colonies: New South Wales (1883), Queensland (1897), Western Australia (1905) and South Australia (1911). The Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance makes the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' person under 18. Boards are progressively empowered to remove children from their families.

1897

1. The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act (Qld) allows the ‘Chief Protector’ to remove local Aboriginal people onto and between reserves and hold children in dormitories. From 1939 until 1971 this power is held by the Director of Native Welfare; the Director is the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children, whether or not their parents are living, until 1965. The legislation is subsequently imitated by South Australia and the Northern Territory. Under the legislation, Aboriginal people are effectively confined to reserves and banned from towns. Reserves are administered by government agencies or missionaries and every aspect of life is controlled, including the right to marry, guardianship of children, the right to work outside reserves and management of assets.

1915

1. The NSW Aborigines Protection Board is given powers to remove Aboriginal children without a court hearing. This power is repealed in 1940, when the Board is renamed the Aborigines Welfare Board.
   

   Four generations of my family went without parently (sic) love, without mother or father. I myself found it very hard to show any love to my children because I wasn't given that, so was my mother and grandmother.

   — Carol, personal story in the Bringing Them Home Report

1994

1. Going Home Conference in Darwin. Over 600 people removed as children, from every state and territory, meet to share experiences and expose the history of the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and the effects of this policy on Aboriginal people. They discuss common goals of access to archives, compensation, rights to land and social justice.

1995

1. 11 May

   The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families is established in response to efforts made by key Aboriginal agencies and communities. It examines the effects of separation, identify what should be done in response, find justification for any compensation and look at the laws of that time affecting child separation.

   The inquiry holds hearings in all states between December 1995 and October 1996 and received 777 submissions, 69% of those from Indigenous people, 6% from churches and 1% from government.

1997

1. 26 May

   Publication of the Report Into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, more commonly known as the Bringing Them Home Report. An abbreviated version is called 'Bringing them Home - Community Guide'. The inquiry made 54 recommendations, e.g. reparations and an apology to Aboriginal peoples.

   Key findings:

   • 10 to 33% of the Aboriginal children were removed from their families between 1910 and 1970.
   • The stolen Aboriginal children often suffered physical and sexual abuse and official bodies failed to protect them.
   • Many Aboriginal children were never paid for the work they did ('Stolen Wages').
   • Under international law, from approximately 1946 the policies of forcible removal amount to genocide.
   • The removal of Indigenous children continues today.

   However, there was no process established to monitor, evaluate or review each recommendation (which was the Report's 2nd recommendation).
   

   I know of no Indigenous person who told their story to the inquiry who wanted non-Indigenous Australians to feel guilty—they just wanted people to know the truth.

   — Mick Dodson ^[2]

2. The state governments of Australia formally apologise to the Aboriginal people ^[3]:

   • 27 May 1997: Western Australia (Richard Court, Premier; Geoff Gallop, Leader of the Opposition)
   • 28 May 1997: South Australia (Dean Brown, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs)
   • 3 June 1997: Queensland (K.R.Lingard, Minister for Families, Youth and Community Care)
   • 17 June 1997: Australian Capital Territory (Kate Carnell, Chief Minister)
   • 18 June 1997: New South Wales (Bob Carr, Premier)
   • 13 August 1997: Tasmania (Tony Rundle, Premier)
   • 17 September 1997: Victoria (Jeff Kennett, Premier)
   • 24 October 2001: Northern Territory (Claire Martin, Premier)

   On a national level, prime minister John Howard refuses to apologise to the Stolen Generations for another ten years. He is forced out of office in the federal election in 2007, never having apologised.
   

   They can't give me back my mother, my lost childhood... but when Bob Carr gave his apology it was a removal of all my mother's guilt, the secret she bore alone... the apology set her free.

   — Aunty Nancy de Vries, taken at 14 months ^[4]

1998

1. 26 May

   HREOC releases the Social Justice Report 1998, which includes a summary of responses from the churches, and non-Indigenous community to the inquiry's recommendations plus an Implementation Progress Report.

2. National Archives Australia - Bringing Them Home Indexing Project is launched. The project is focussed on the identification and preservation of Commonwealth records related to Indigenous people and communities.

3. Inaugural Sorry Day. The Bringing Them Home Report had suggested "to commemorate the history of forcible removals and its effects" on May 26 (recommendation #7a). Sorry Day offered the community the opportunity to be involved in activities to acknowledge the impact of the policies of forcible removal on Australia's Indigenous populations.

   Sorry Day has been an annual event since.

   

4. Aboriginal people across Australia hear with shock the comments of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Senator John Herron as he says stories of widespread removal of Aboriginal children from their families were exaggerated and that the removals that did occur were for lawful reasons "as occurs under child welfare policies today."

1999

1. 26 August

   Federal Parliament issues a statement of deep and sincere regret over the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

References