Refine results
-
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 19
In most cases of forcible removal government officials and agents were responsible for the removal under legislation or regulations. However, there were early cases of removal of children by missionaries without the consent of the parents. In Victoria the absence of government oversight of welfare services enabled churches and other non-government agencies to remove children from their families without any court order or other official approval. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 25
State and Territory legislation, programs and policies in the areas of child welfare, adoption and juvenile justice are intended to provide a non-discriminatory framework for the administration of services. In many cases, programs are designed with the objective of reducing the extent of contemporary removals of Indigenous children and young people. In spite of this, the over-representation of Indigenous children among children living separately from their families and communities, temporarily or permanently, remains high. -
Education14 December 2012Publication
RightsED: Bringing them home (2010)
In 1997, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now the Australian Human Rights Commission) released its report Bringing them home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. Following this, the Commission received extensive requests from teachers for information about the report. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 9
In 1863 the area now known as the Northern Territory came under the control of South Australia. By 1903 the whole area was leased to non-Indigenous people. As there were few non-Indigenous women, relationships between the Indigenous women and non-Indigenous men were relatively common. The consequence was a growing population of children of mixed descent who were usually cared for by their mothers within the Aboriginal community. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 7
Following the founding of the Swan River Colony in 1829 relations between the British settlers and local Indigenous peoples in Western Australia became characterised by conflict. As a result of fierce fighting, -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 3
Within months of the `First Fleet' arrival at Sydney Cove in 1788 there was `open animosity' as Indigenous people protested against `the Europeans cutting down trees, taking their food and game, and driving them back into others' territories'. Bitter conflict followed as Aboriginal people engaged in `guerilla warfare - plundering crops, burning huts, and driving away stock' to be met by `punitive expeditions of great ferocity in which bands of Aborigines encountered were indiscriminately killed' (Bickford 1988 page 57). -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 8
The general opinion of station people is that it is a mistake to take these children out of the bush. They say that the aboriginal mothers are fond of their children and in their own way look after them and provide for them and that when they grow up they are more easily absorbed and employed than those who have been taken out of their natural environment and removed to towns. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 17
In each State and Territory with the exception of the ACT specific funding is made available for specialised assistance to Indigenous people seeking family information and reunion support. -
14 December 2012Book page
Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 'Bringing them home' report
‘This painting is the story of us children coming home’, Chris Mason, 2007 ‘Our totem is the goanna and is culturally significant with the black and white in the centre representing assimilation and how we have learnt to live within the framework of white society. The different shades of colour in the middle show no matter the colour of our skin we are one and do belong. The border represents Link-up who made this story possible and helped bring us home. The red represents our Aboriginal bloodline that links us together. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 4
From 1835, when the European occupation of Victoria commenced, until the 1880s government policy was one of segregation of Indigenous people on reserves. These were mainly controlled by missions. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 5
The colony of Moreton Bay was established as a penal outpost of New South Wales in 1825. Extreme violence accompanied the rapid expansion of European settlers, particularly in the north. This violence and the spread of introduced diseases resulted in a rapid decrease in the Indigenous population. Kidnapping Indigenous women and children for economic and sexual exploitation was common. -
Education14 December 2012Webpage
Bringing them home - Community Guide - 2007 update
A community guide to the findings and recommendations of the National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children From Their Families -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Appendix 9 Recommendations
1. That the Council of Australian Governments ensure the adequate funding of appropriate Indigenous agencies to record, preserve and administer access to the testimonies of Indigenous people affected by the forcible removal policies who wish to provide their histories in audio, audio-visual or written form. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 16
That's why I wanted the files brought down, so I could actually read it and find out why I was taken away and why these three here [siblings] were taken by [our] auntie ... Why didn't she take the lot of us instead of leaving two there? ... I'd like to get the files there and see why did these ones here go to the auntie and the other ones were fostered. Confidential evidence 161, Victoria. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 12
Just as there are many homes, there are many journeys home. Each one of us will have a different journey from anyone else. The journey home is mostly ongoing and in some ways never completed. It is a process of discovery and recovery, it is a process of (re)building relationships which have been disrupted, or broken or never allowed to begin because of separation (Link-Up (NSW) submission 186). -
14 December 2012Book page
Annual Report 2007-2008: Chapter 2 - Human Rights Education and Promotion
A central function of HREOC is to undertake education programs that increase public awareness and generate discussion of human rights and anti-discrimination issues within Australia. HREOC’s legislative responsibilities are: -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2008 - Chapter 1
In November 2007, Australia elected a new federal government. With the new government came new policies aimed at improving Aboriginal’s and Torres Strait Islander’s social and economic situation. In the new government’s National Platform and Constitution[1], the Australian Labor Party stated that it: -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 13
Lots of white kids do get taken away, but that's for a reason - not like us. We just got taken away because we was black kids, I suppose - half-caste kids. If they wouldn't like it, they shouldn't do it to Aboriginal families. Confidential evidence 357, South Australia. -
14 December 2012Book page
HREOC Annual Report 2003-2004 : Chapter 2: Human rights education and promotion
A central function of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is to undertake education programs that increase public awareness and generate discussion of human rights and anti-discrimination issues within Australia. -
Legal14 December 2012Webpage
Bill to remove Commissioner
I write to alert you to a Federal Government proposal to abolish the post of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (together with the posts of Race Discrimination Commissioner, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Disability Discrimination Commissioner and Human Rights Commissioner). Those interested in this matter may wish to make a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee inquiry into the government's bill before the closing date of 24 April 2003. Details follow.