European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights: news

Stolen generations
Debunker of myths 11 July 2009 - PETER Sutton has been immersed in grief. Recently he returned to his adopted Aurukun community on Cape York to attend a "housing opening" ceremony for a "sweet woman" allegedly slain by her boyfriend.
Indigenous community 'pleased' with Baz's Australia 19 November 2008 - The $150 million epic had its world premiere in Sydney last night, as well as screenings in Darwin, Queensland's Bowen and Western Australia's Kununurra.
Aboriginal Australia's Comedy Queen 25 September 2008 - Guardian UK - Mark Bin Bakar, child of Muslim father and Aboriginal mother, is both a campaigner for Australian Aboriginal rights, and also Mary G, star of 'her' own radio show. Broadcast to more than 100 stations across Australia, Bin Bakar's matriarchal alter-ego is adored by far more than an Aboriginal audience. He shares the story of his rise to cross-dressing fame.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement of apology 11 June 2008 \|- CBC News - Here are excerpts from the text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement of apology on Wednesday, as released by the Prime Minister's Office.
Canada: through the dark past 7 June 2008 - Canada's government attempts to draw a line under the most blemished chapter in the country's history this week.
Saying Sorry: Australia’s journey of healing 5 June 2008 - Australian Times UK - As Australia marked its tenth National Sorry Day, Esme McAvoy spoke to John Bond, former Secretary of the National Sorry Day Committee. British-born Bond was one of the leading campaigners for a formal apology and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his work with the National Sorry Day Committee.
Canada hears pain of Indian abuse 1 June 2008 - BBC UK - A truth and reconciliation commission examining what Indian leaders call one of the most tragic and racist chapters in Canada's history has begun.
Indigenous leader calls for greater effort 28 May 2008 - INDIGENOUS leader Lowitja O'Donoghue last night called on churches to play a bigger role in reconciliation with the Stolen Generations.
Public Lecture and Prayers for Reconciliation 27 May 2008 - Thank you very much. It is a great honour to be here tonight to kickstart Reconciliation Week for 2008. I would like to thank, especially, the Very Reverend Dr Steven Ogden, Dean of St Peter's Anglican Cathedral, for inviting me to present this lecture.
Sorry Day provides a chance to turn sentiment into action 23 May 2008 - Media release HREOC - National Sorry Day is the perfect catalyst to turn sentiment into action for members of the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today.
Sorry Day 2008 20 May 2008 - Australian Times UK - ENIAR will mark Sorry Day 2008 in London with a celebratory event, including a screening of Australian Prime Minister Rudd’s Apology to the Stolen Generations and a documentary made especially to commemorate this momentous event (The Apology).
Sorry Day 2008 – ENIAR celebrates with Indigenous Australia 12 May 2008 - Media Release - ENIAR will mark Sorry Day 2008 in London with a celebratory event, including a screening of Australian Prime Minister Rudd’s Apology to the Stolen Generations and a documentary made especially to commemorate this momentous event (The Apology – see below). After decades of hard work, Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous supporters have achieved a monumental milestone in the fight for recognition of the truth of the Stolen Generations, and this is worth celebrating, says ENIAR.
In Australia, From Apology, a Hit Song Grows 29 April 2008 - The New York Times - A song about racial reconciliation with the Aboriginal minority has become the fourth-biggest-selling recording in Australia, even though it is available only as a download from the Web.
Aboriginal stolen children 'were used in leprosy tests' 17 April 2008 - The Australian government has launched an investigation into claims that aboriginal children seized from their parents during the 1920s and 1930s were secretly used as guinea pigs for leprosy treatments.
Stolen generation compo 'not expensive' 16 April 2008 - Compensating the stolen generations would not cost the federal government "billions of US dollars" and was preferable to forcing Aboriginal people through the courts, a Senate committee has been told.
Sorry, What About the Stolen Generations? 29 February 2008 - On February 13, in the flush of the nation's new-found sense of momentum and generosity, there wasn't a lot of scrutiny of what the national apology meant in policy terms for the Stolen Generations.
Financial services sector unites around reconciliation agenda 26 February 2008 - media release - In an industry where competition rules, Australia’s four big banks along with credit unions and building societies are working side by side to make their own unique contribution to reconciliation.
British MPs’ motion to support Australia’s ‘sorry’ to Indigenous people welcome 23 February 2008 - Media Release - The European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR) has welcomed the British MPs’ motion acknowledging responsibility for ill-treatment of Indigenous Australians. The motion supports the Australian government’s recent apology to the stolen generations of Indigenous children and their families and communities, and comes at a significant and moving time in Australian history, says ENIAR.
The hardest word 20 February 2008 - Israel News - Newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized last week to tens of thousands of Aboriginals known as the ’stolen generation’, who as children were forcibly removed from their families by the government until as recently as the early 1970s.
The Big Question: After three months in power, how has Kevin Rudd changed Australia? 20 February 2008 - The Independent UK - Elected nearly three months ago, Mr Rudd is Australia's most popular prime minister for 20 years, according to a Newspoll survey published yesterday.
Australia's apology is the right decision 20 February 2008 -Jakarta Post - Australia officially apologized to the Aboriginal stolen generation on Wednesday, in a long-waited landmark occasion. As its first action on the second day of sitting, the 42nd Parliament, represented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologized to Aboriginal citizens who were taken from their families by welfare officers, between approximately the late 1800s through to the 1960s, in compliance with the White Australia policy.
Australia finally says sorry for breaking Aborigine families 18 February 2008 - Daily Nation Kenya - Australia last week gave meaning to a concept politicians avoid: nations have historical responsibility and can say sorry. That’s thanks to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Australia - Aborigines finally get apology for injustices 18 February 2008 - Voice UK - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week made a historic public apology for the ‘indignity and degradation’ suffered by Aborigines.
UN rights experts welcome Australia's apology to indigenous peoples 18 February 2008 – UN - A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have welcomed Australia's recent apology to its indigenous peoples for the pain and indignity they endured under the Government's past laws and policies.
Mother England as much to blame 16 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - THE HISTORIC apology offered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the stolen generations was a crucial step for Australia, as novelist Richard Flanagan wrote this week. But it does not make amends for the role played by the British in the destruction and degradation of the Aboriginal race. Initially soldiers,convicts and settlers killed Aborigines as if they were animals threatening the crops.
UN Rights Experts Welcome Australia's Apology to Indigenous Peoples 16 February 2008 - NewsBlaze - A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have welcomed Australia's recent apology to its indigenous peoples for the pain and indignity they endured under the Government's past laws and policies.
"Sorry", the first step 15 February 2008 - The Gazette Canada - Where does hope begin? Can it emerge from language alone? How about from a single word?
Beloved Australians 14 February 2008 - South Africa - Institute for Healing of Memories - With people of goodwill all over the world, I want to congratulate you as a people for the unequivocal apology to indigenous Australians made today in your national parliament by your Prime Minister.
In praise of ... apologies 14 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - Saying sorry is in vogue. Public expressions of regret are an irritating substitute for action, as any train passenger will testify.
We should say sorry, too 14 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - The historic apology offered by prime minister Kevin Rudd to the "stolen generations" was a crucial step for Australia, as Richard Flanagan wrote on these pages this week. But it does not make amends for the role played by the British in the destruction and degradation of the Aboriginal race.
Response to government to the national apology to the Stolen Generations 13 February 2008 - HREOC Tom Calma - I have been asked by the National Sorry Day Committee and the Stolen Generations Alliance; the two national bodies that represent the Stolen Generations and their families, to respond to the Parliament’s Apology and to talk briefly about the importance of today’s events.
Australian Government apology sincere; important step in reconciliation process 13 February 2008 - Media release ENIAR - The apology by the recently elected Australian Government to the ‘Stolen Generations’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,* delivered at 8.55am (AEST), 13 February 2008 marks an exciting turning point in Australian history and should be used as momentum to carry forward the enormous task of remedying the severe inequalities in health, education, employment and the general exclusion from Australian society, facing Indigenous people today, say the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR).
Removing the ‘Stain’ on Australia’s Soul 13 February 2008 - The New York Times - Bravo to Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for boldly leading the effort to ease ancient tensions by organizing an official apology to his country’s indigenous people, the Aborigines.
Australia's stolen generation: 'To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, we say sorry' 13 February 2008 - The Telegraph Belfast - It has been a long time coming, but at last Australia has said the word its Aboriginal population wanted to hear. It was uttered three times, early this morning, when the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, addressed the Australian Parliament. That word was "sorry".
'Britain should apologise to Aborigines' 13 February 2008 - The Telegraph UK - Britain is facing demands to join Australia in apologising to Aborigines who were snatched from their families as children, after Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, spoke of removing a "great stain from the nation’s soul”.
The courage to right a historic wrong 13 February 2008 - The Independent UK - Politicians who match their words to their deeds are hardly ten a penny these days. And, even when they do appear on our horizon, their words and deeds are all too often designed to court cheap popularity.
Australia apologizes to Aborigines 13 February 2008 - Internatinal Herald Tribune - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened a new chapter in Australia's tortured relations with its indigenous peoples Wednesday with a comprehensive and moving apology for past wrongs and a call for bipartisan action to improve the lives of Australia's Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
Australian PM Rudd says sorry to Aborigines' stolen generations 13 February 2008 - The Guardian UK - The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, yesterday issued the text of the long-awaited apology to the country's Aboriginal population citing the "profound suffering, grief and loss" inflicted on them by decades of abuse and mistreatment.
Anguish of the Stolen Generations 13 February 2008 - BBC - With torment still in his voice, Frank Byrne recalls the day six decades ago when he was taken from his mother and their community in Christmas Creek, Western Australia.
Australia: ‘Sorry’ for the Indigenous 12 February 2008 - Cafebabel France - On 13 February. Big screens, daytrips to Canberra, and a historical ‘apology’ by the new Labor government, to the 13, 000 Indigenous children taken from their Aboriginal parents after British colonisation in Australia.
Flags fly to mark apology 12 February 2008 - THE Australian High Commission in London will mark federal parliament's formal apology to the stolen generations by flying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands flags on Wednesday.
Imminent Australian Government apology to Stolen Generations ‘historic’ and ‘exciting’ 12 February 2008 - Media Release eniar - The apology on 13 February 2008 (EST) from the recently elected Australian Government to the ‘Stolen Generations’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an exciting turning point in Australian history and most importantly in the healing process for stolen children and their families and communities. Heralded as a huge step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the apology is strongly supported by the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR).
Australia offers landmark apology to aboriginal people 12 February 2008 - The Canadian Press - Aborigines organized breakfast barbecues in the outback, giant TV screens went up in state capitals and schools allowed students to watch the telecast of Australia's apology Wednesday for policies that degraded its indigenous people.
Australia's Rudd to apologise to Aborigines 10 February 2008 - Reuters South Africa - The Australian government will on Wednesday apologise to Aborigines who were taken from their families as children, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying on Sunday the apology was unfinished business for the nation.
Rudd says apology to Aborigines will remove 'blight on nation's soul' 9 February 2008 - CanadaEast - Many Australians will disagree with a national apology to Aborigines for past mistreatment, but it will remove a "blight on the nation's soul," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday.
Nelson treads sorry path between whispers 6 February 2008 - Brendan Nelson goes into today's party meetings struggling to assert his authority over the Opposition, as he faces a whispering campaign by those wanting a change of leadership.
Coalition to support indigenous apology 6 February 2008 - Coalition MPs have agreed in principle to support Labor's apology to the stolen generations, paving the way for a bipartisan resolution by parliament.
Much more than a simple gesture 5 February 2008 - Some people think that saying sorry is merely a gesture. The evidence shows it is in fact much more than that. I believe that forced removal from family or land is one of the most important factors leading to the modern indigenous circumstance.
Prime Minister Rudd's Apology To The Stolen Generations An Important Step, Australia 4 February 2008 - Medical News Today UK - The Federal Government's plan for a formal apology to the stolen generations - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were removed from their families and communities as part of the assimilation policies of the governments of the day, is a welcome and long overdue move, according to the Australian Psychological Society.
Australia's stolen generation 2 February 2008 - Fiji Times - IN 1909, the Aboriginal travelling protector James Isdell, who had formed the view that Aboriginal women were "prostitutes at heart", wrote in official correspondence: "The half-caste is intellectually above the aborigine, and it is the duty of the State that they be given a chance to lead a better and purer life than their brothers. I would not hesitate for one moment to separate any half-caste from its aboriginal mother, no matter how frantic her momentary grief may be at the time. They soon forget their offspring."
Rudd rules out compensation 2 February 2008 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has moved to ensure the Government's historic apology to the stolen generations is not misread as opening the way to compensation.
Australian court boosts compensation for Aborigine taken from family when child 1 February 2008 - International Herald Tribune France - An Australian judge increased the compensation that a state government must pay an Aborigine who was taken from his mother as a child in a decision Friday that contrasted with the prime minister's refusal to compensate members of the so-called "stolen generations."
Stolen birthrights- An apology but no compensation 31 January 2008 - The Economist UK -SINCE he was elected Australia's prime minister in November, Kevin Rudd has moved swiftly to set his Labor government apart from the former conservative coalition's more controversial stands.
Australia to Apologize to Aborigines for Past Mistreatment 31 January 2008 - New York Times - The new government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says it will apologize for past mistreatment of Australia’s Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in the country for years.
Aboriginal leaders welcome Australian Govt's apology 31 january 2008 - The Hindu India - Aborigines have long been fringe-dwellers of Australian society, but will take center stage when Parliament resumes with a historic ceremony to acknowledge the nation's capital is built on their land. The government also plans to apologize for past injustices.
Australia apology to Aborigines 30 January 2008 - BBC UK - The Australian government has announced it will issue its first formal apology to Aboriginal people when parliament resumes next month.
Australian Government to Apologise to Members of the Stolen Generations 30 January 2008 - Media release - JENNY MACKLIN MP - The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, today announced that a formal apology to members of the Stolen Generations would be made on Wednesday, 13 February, 2008.
Cash is a mere gesture 29 January 2008 - When 25,000 Tasmanians turned out on a bleak Hobart winter day in 2000 to march in support of Aboriginal reconciliation, it was a turning point for our community. I was among those who braved the wind and rain to walk across the Tasman Bridge that day.
Indigenous appeal: sorry is not hard to say 27 January 2008 - "IT'S BEEN a tough year." Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service chief executive Julie Tongs knows a little about doing it tough.
Tasmania to pay 'stolen generation' of Aborigines £2.2m in reparations 23 January 2008 - The Guardian UK - Tasmania approved yesterday millions of pounds in compensation for more than 100 members of the "stolen generation" of Aborigines, with the state premier describing the move as an attempt to right a shameful wrong in the island's history.
Calma pushes all states to set up Stolen Generation funds 23 January 2008 - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner says all states should set up a compensation fund for members of the stolen generation.
Stolen Generation compensation achieved via tripartisan support 22 January 2008 - Tasmanian Greens Media release - The Tasmanian Greens today supported the completion of the process of delivering compensation to members of the stolen generation of Tasmanian Aborigines and their children, reiterating the Greens’ strong commitment to this important gesture of healing and reconciliation, first initiated with a tripartisan apology in Tasmania’s House of Assembly during the balance of power Parliament in 1997, at the suggestion of the Greens to the minority Liberal government, and continued during the Labor era.
Australia's 'stolen' children get apology but no cash 13 January 2008 - The Observer - As one of Australia's 'stolen generation', John Moriarty was only four when he was taken away from his mother: loaded on to an army truck and sent thousands of kilometres away from his home in the Gulf of Carpentaria to be raised in a series of bleak institutions. He was given a birth date - April Fool's Day - forbidden to speak his Yanyuwa language and did not see his mother again for 10 years.
Don't just say sorry- Fulfill the whole apology recommendation 10 January 2008 - Media Release NSDC - “Recommendation 5a of the Bringing them home Report is the proper place to start on the way forward to the formal apology to the Stolen Generations”, said National Sorry Day Committee Indigenous Co-Chair, Helen Moran.
Mansell predicts stolen generation compensation fund this year 10 January 2008 - Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Inc Media Release - Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell predicts that the Rudd Government will establish a $1b national compensation fund for the stolen generations early this year.
Rudd Government abandons Labor platform over Stolen Generations 9 January 2008 - ANTaR Media release - The Rudd Government’s decision to rule out compensation for members of the Stolen Generations flies in the face of the policy platform it took to the recent federal election.
An apology is the first step on a long road 20 December 2007 - Economic progress is vital to ensure better lives for Aboriginal people.
Labor should consider all recommendations from Bringing Them Home Report 12 December 2007 - The Australian Democrats Media Release - Queensland Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett says the new Labor government must consider all the unimplemented recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report.
Essentials for social justice start with saying sorry 11 December 2007- HREOC Media Release - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma will today join federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, The Hon. Jenny Macklin MP, when she officially launches Us Taken-Away Kids, a magazine commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the ‘Bringing them home’ report.
Working Together Towards Reconciliation 11 December 2007 - Jenny Macklin MP Media Release - Real progress on the path towards reconciliation took a step forward today with the first consultations to develop a national apology to the Stolen Generation.
Lucky country can say sorry, and mean it 6 December 2007 - Every day since Kevin Rudd gave his acceptance speech, there has been growing conjecture and disquiet amongst journalists and Indigenous leaders on whether he will say 'sorry'.
Sorry business more than a word 30 November 2007 - media release - Indigenous Co-Chair of the National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) and Stolen Generations Survivor Helen Moran today said: “The apology to Indigenous Australians needs to be powerful and retain the original intent of Recommendation 5a of the Bringing Them Home Report which calls for Consultation, Acknowledgement and Responsibility.”
Rudd promises apology to Aborigines 27 November 2007 - Press TV Iran - Australia's new government has promised to issue a formal apology to indigenous Aborigines for the abuses they suffered in the past.
Australia's PM-elect to say sorry to Aborigines 26 November 2007 - Reuters UK - Australia's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd is set to repair race relations with Aborigines by saying "sorry" for past injustices, ending more than a decade of bitter division over racial reconciliation.
Australian PM makes work of Kyoto Treaty 26 November 2007 - Radio Netherlands - On his first day in office, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd started work on plans to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
A call for action on an apology to the Stolen Generations 26 November 2007 - Media release - The National Sorry Day Committee congratulates the ALP on its election victory and in welcoming the advent of a Federal Labor Government, calls on Prime Minister Elect, Kevin Rudd, to honour his pre-election promises for an Apology, towards Reconciliation, and about Human Rights.
Rudd vows formal apology 26 November 2007 - Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says his government will make a formal apology to indigenous Australians early in its first term.
The Stolen Generation 22 November 2007 - Apologising to the Stolen Generation has become an important issue for Indigenous people in the upcoming election.
A call for action on stolen generations issues 20 November 2007 - As the Federal Election looms when the result yet may see Australian voters close the Gap between the major parties, the National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) urges whatever Federal Government is elected to action a whole of government approach in its first 100 days of office that commits to the following recommendations
Saying sorry is a necessary step to reconciliation 19 November 2007 - On the eve of the election campaign Prime Minister John Howard made a dramatic confession, with a promise of amends.
Promises, promises November 2007 - The National Sorry Day Committee, commends the attempt by Prime Minister John Howard to promise to deliver what he and his government of eleven years has manage to fail to deliver whilst in power.
Stolen Generations speak of cycle of violence 28 September 2007 - MARK COLVIN: Members of the Aboriginal Stolen Generation say there's a link between what many of them went through and the violence seen in many remote Aboriginal communities today.
Stolen Aboriginal man wins payout 2 August 2007 - BBC (UK) - An Aboriginal man taken from his family as a baby has been awarded compensation in a landmark case in Australia.
Too Little, Too Late for Lost Generation Aborigines 13 June 2007 - IPS Italy - A decade after the release of the landmark 'Bringing Them Home Report' on the forced removal of indigenous children from their families -- known as the Stolen Generations -- the situation for indigenous Australians remains desperate.
'Stolen' Aborigine apology demand 1 June 2007 - BBC UK - A woman from Cwmbran is demanding an apology after discovering she was separated from her parents as a baby by the Australian government.
Tenth Anniversary of the Bringing Them Home Report 24th May 2007 - hosted by Stolen Generations Alliance: Australians for Healing, Truth and Justice, Great Hall of Parliament, Canberra
Sorry Day Event - London UK 25 May 2007 19 May 2007 - European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR) - Press Release - Come celebrate Australian Indigenous culture and remember the Stolen Generations on Friday 25 May at Victoria Embankment Gardens from 6pm to 8pm.
Aborigines say little done to help stolen children 27 April 2007 - The Scotsman - Ten years after a report detailed the "attempted genocide" of Australian Aborigines and demanded a government apology and compensation, black leaders are still waiting to hear the word "sorry" or see any compensation.
Compensate Stolen Generation - Fraser 26 April 2007 - Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has called on the Federal Government to pay compensation to members of the Stolen Generation.
New group forms for tenth Sorry Day 17 January 2007 - "We still have high respect and regard for the Sorry Day Committee, but I think that for the healing of this country, if we're going to be held up by one person refusing to give an apology, then it's holding us all back." Debra Hocking, former Chair of the NSDC and convenor of the new group due to be launched next month
Tasmanian stolen generation Act a substantial step towards justice for Aboriginal peoples 29 November 2006 - HREOC - The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has congratulated the Tasmanian Parliament for passing the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 today, saying it was a substantial step towards justice for Aboriginal peoples and would significantly enhance the reconciliation process in Tasmania.
'Stolen Generation' of Aborigines wins apology and payout in Tasmania 6 October 2006 - The Independent (UK) - Eddie Thomas was just a few months old when the white people came and took him away. They took his brother and sister, too. The children's grandmother had been looking after them, following the death of their mother after Eddie's birth.
Stolen legacy pledge 6 March 2006 - PREMIER Paul Lennon yesterday committed to reconciliation with Tasmania's Aboriginal people by resolving the Stolen Generation issue. "The legacy of the Stolen Generation is still being felt today," Mr Lennon said. "It is up to us to address the wrongs of the past and to formally offer the hand of reconciliation."
Australia's 'Sorry Day' marked 26 May 2005 - BBC (UK) - Ceremonies across Australia have marked National Sorry Day, which remembers the government's removal of Aboriginal children from their families.
Stolen forever: Tamara, 14, gives dead mother's speech 25 May 2005 - Tamara Jacobs speaking in place of her mother Christine at the National Healing Day launch in Canberra today.
Sorry in London 20 May 2005 - TNT (UK) - Australian day of reconciliation spreads north. When the first Sorry Day was held in Australia in 1998, thousands of people took to the streets in an act of protest, in solidarity with the stolen generations and in the spirit of reconciliation.
A didgeridoo for Lincoln's Inn Fields 20 May 2005 - An annual day when Australians remember the 'stolen generations' of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families will be commemorated in London for the first time next week.
A decleration by Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Stolen Generations 18 May 2005 - We, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations, our families and communities, still experience grief and trauma as a result of Government policies and practices. We remember those who have passed on without receiving justice.
Avoiding another stolen generation 24 August 2004 - EDITORIAL - The words of Lowitja O'Donoghue, a Yankunytjatjara woman from South Australia's far north and a distinguished Australian, have found new echoes. "Nothing, absolutely nothing could ever compensate for taking me away from my mother, family, culture and belonging," she once said. The mere suggestion that Victoria is fostering another stolen generation of Aboriginal children is cause for genuine alarm. That a reprise of such a divisive social injustice is being played out in this state in the 21st century - albeit with good intentions - seems astounding. Yet even more disturbing is the reason: a spiralling crisis in indigenous child abuse and neglect. • Seeds of another stolen generation • Young deaths a backdrop to bitter power play • An inter-racial success story • Neglect of Aboriginal children shames us all
'Sorry Books' registered as historic documents 19 August 2004 - UNESCO - A collection of 461 Sorry Books recording the thoughts of thousands of Australians on the unfolding history of the Stolen Generations has been formally recognized as having powerful historical and social significance. The books are among nine significant documentary heritage items recently inscribed on the Australian Memory of the World Register – part of UNESCO’s Programme to protect and promote documentary material- that records or reflects significant milestones and events in Australia’s history.
Liberation, word for word 22 July 2004 - Some called the institution a social experiment, others a training school. Playwright Alana Valentine believes it was “a house of horrors”, a place of consistent “mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse” for the girls who were forced to live there. The “house” is the Parramatta Girls Training School, which operated from the early 1900s to the late 1970s, and is now the subject of a new play by Valentine. Like her last play Run, Rabbit, Run, the work is “verbatim theatre” – a drama based on interviews with those involved.
Lois Olney 6 July 2004 - Lois Olney was eight months old when she was taken from her birth mother in Roebourne in 1963 and adopted by a family in Perth. She was the second youngest of five children in the Olney household. She talks lovingly of her childhood and admits that it was only in later life that she started to think about her Aboriginal family. She expresses the discovery of her Aboriginal family with delight but as one that has brought with it cultural responsibilities that she's still learning about. Lois believes her discovery simply makes her family circle bigger and better.
Stolen Generations case may go before UN 7 June 2004 - Legal avenues are being explored to take the case of the Stolen Generations to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Finding home amid the stolen memories 8 May 2004 - Larissa Behrendt greets me at her office in the University of Technology, Sydney, carrying a bundle of legal documents. There's no room on the desk and she sighs at the stacks of papers. Behrendt, 35, appears both confident (especially when discussing complex legal arguments) and slightly guarded. She is nervous, she says, about how her debut novel, Home, winner of the 2002 David Unaipon award, will be received.
The art of saying sorry 3 April 2004 - When we were growing up, my generation knew nothing and cared less about Aboriginal culture. Indeed, those two words - Aboriginal and culture - seemed a contradiction in terms, a classic oxymoron. The view from the Melbourne suburbs? Aborigines were a dying people and a dead issue.
Australian Journalist Questions ‘Stolen Generation’ 11 March 2004 - Cultural Survival - In Australia’s Sunday Mail on February 29, journalist Andrew Bolt, in what he claims is an innocent attempt at finding the truth, denounces the existence of the ‘Stolen Generation,’ a group of 50,000-100,000 children taken from their Aboriginal parents for racist purposes by racist governments in the early years of the twentieth century, supposedly in the peoples ‘best interests.’ Claiming that not one person who was stolen can be identified anywhere on the continent, Bolt’s naïve and misguided attempt at objective reporting is causing an uproar, particularly because Australian papers are prepared to print his inflammatory remarks.
Latham vows stolen generation apology 21 February 2004 - Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham has put the stolen generation on the election agenda, telling schoolchildren that a Labor government would apologise for breaking up Aboriginal families. Mr Latham said at the Leongatha Secondary College in Gippsland that the ALP would do more to recognise Aboriginal land rights and fight poverty. He told the students an apology was necessary to maintain basic family values.
PM approves stolen generations memorial 30 June 2003 - A memorial to the stolen generations has been agreed on by the Federal Government and National Sorry Day Committee after more than a year's delay. The memorial is the centrepiece of Reconciliation Place, a national landmark that was opened by Prime Minister John Howard last July.
Urgent steps towards healing - the NSDC view 13 November 2002 - National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) - Extract from a paper presented at a seminar entitled "Are We Bringing Them Home?" by Dr Peter O'Brien.
Govt accused of short-changing stolen generation 8 November, 2002 - The Central Australian Stolen Generation and Families Corporation says it wants to know what has happened to $63 million earmarked for members of the stolen generation.
Federal Government still needs to say sorry 4 November 2002 - ATSIC NT Central Zone Commissioner, Ms Alison Anderson - Speaking on CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) Radio in Alice Springs this morning, Mr Howard said he is "sorry as an individual" but he again ruled out a formal apology from his Federal CoalitionGovernment.
First compensation win for the stolen generation 16 October 2002 - Sydney woman Valerie Linow was shaking and overwhelmed yesterday after becoming the first member of the stolen generations to win monetary compensation for her cruel treatment after authorities removed her from her family.
Stolen generations fury at memorial `whitewash' 27 May 2002 - Representatives of the stolen generations will ask the Federal Government for land in Canberra to build their own memorial because they consider references to their history at the new Reconciliation Place to be a whitewash.
Genocide, Ethnocide, Or Hyperbole? Australia's "Stolen Generation" and Canada's "Hidden Holocaust" 25 April, 2002 - Cultural Survival - A decade awash in genocide and deadly conflict has passed since Jason Clay lamented that "it is impossible for concerned activists and scholars to agree on which cases constitute genocides, much less how interested people would go about documenting them." The learning curve when it comes to genocide, however, is conspicuously uneven. The challenge lies not in cultivating and maintaining an awareness of the phenomenon -- a task the mass media has demonstrated itself more than capable of handling -- but in recognizing its universal implications.
Aborigines' international hero unites warring parties 10 August 2001 - "Jack Beetson fights for the stolen generations," says the TV clip to be shown around the world about the Aboriginal leader the United Nations has named as one of only 12 Unsung Heroes.
Victim of Australia�s �Stolen Generations� appeals for reparations 18 May 2001 - Minority Rights (UK) - The UN Working Group on Minorities which is meeting in Geneva this week heard the testimony of Audrey Ngingali Kinnear, an Indigenous woman from Australia...�.
Right and wrong 31March 2001 - Conservative efforts to deny the existence of the stolen generations are a sinister cultural development, argues Robert Manne, and are designed to undermine the very notion of Aboriginal dispossession.
Only understanding will bring down the fence dividing a nation 21March 2002 - Organisations that support members of the stolen generations are crying out for proper funding, writes Doris Pilkington Garimara.
Dictionary recognises stolen generation July 12 2001 - The term "stolen generation" has made the latest edition of the world's best known lexicon, the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
Where did all the children go? 5 July 2000 - The Independent (UK) - Stolen, one of several Australian plays about the abduction of Aboriginal children, has caused audience members to have heart attacks. Why is it so powerful?
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