Bringing Them Home

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bringing Them Home is the title of the Australian "Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families".

The enquiry was established by the federal Attorney-General, Michael Lavarch, on 11 May 1995, in response to efforts made by key Indigenous agencies and communities concerned that the general public's ignorance of the history of forcible removal was hindering the recognition of the needs of its victims and their families and the provision of services^[1]. The 700 page report was tabled in Federal Parliament on 26 May 1997^[2].

Contents 1 Background 2 Commissioners 3 Hearings and Submissions 4 Report summary 5 Recommendations 6 Government apologies 6.1 Federal 6.2 New South Wales 6.3 South Australia 6.4 Queensland 6.5 Western Australia 6.6 Australian Capital Territory 6.7 Victoria 6.8 Tasmania 7 References 8 See Also 9 External links

[edit] Background

Aboriginal organisations pushed for a national enquiry as early as 1990. The Secretariat of the National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (‘SNAICC’) resolved at its national conference in 1990 to demand a national enquiry. Other state Aboriginal organisations were also active during this period.

In 1994 the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA) began soliciting statements from Aboriginal people who had been removed from their families as children or who were parents of removed children. The service interviewed over 600 people during this time and produced a report titled "Telling our Story".^[3]

[edit] Commissioners

The enquiry was primarily conducted by Sir Ronald Wilson, President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and Mick Dodson, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner^[4].

Indigenous women, appointed as co-commissioners, provided support to the people who gave evidence in each region the enquiry visited. The co-commissioners were: Annette Peardon, Marjorie Thorpe, Dr Maryanne Bin Salik, Sadie Canning, Olive Knight, Kathy Mills, Anne Louis, Laurel Williams, Jackie Huggins, Josephine Ptero-David and Professor Marcia Langton. The co-commissioners also assisted in the development of the report and its recommendations^[4]

The enquiry also appointed an Indigenous Advisory Council made up of members from all the major regions of Australia. Members of the Council were: Annette Peardon, Brian Butler, Yami Lester, Irene Stainton, Floyd Chermside, Barbara Cummings, Grant Dradge, Carol Kendall, Lola McNaughton, Isabel Coe, Peter Rotimah, Nigel D'Souza, Maureen Abbott, Margaret Ah Kee, Bill Lowah, Matilda House and Jim Wright^[4]

[edit] Hearings and Submissions

The enquiry undertook an extensive programme of hearings in every capital city and in many regional and smaller centres.

New South Wales	Redfern, Campbelltown, Nowra, Sydney, Grafton, Dubbo, Broken Hill and Wilcannia.
Australian Capital Territory	Canberra.
Victoria	Melbourne, Lake Tyers, Bairnsdale, Morwell, Ballarat, Geelong, Framlingham, Portland, Mildura, Swan Hill and Echuca.
Queensland	Brisbane, Rockhampton, Palm Island, Townsville, Cairns and Thursday Island.
South Australia	Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and Berri.
Western Australia	Perth, Halls Creek, Broome, Bunbury, and Katunning.
Northern Territory	Darwin and Alice Springs.
Tasmania	Hobart, Flinders Island, Cape Barren Island, Wybalenna, Launceston and Burnie.

The first hearings took place on 4 December 1995 on Flinders Island with the last round of hearings ending on 3 October 1996 in Sydney.^[1]

During the course of the enquiry 777 submissions were received,^[1] which included:

• 535 Indigenous individual and group submissions;
• 49 church submissions; and
• 7 government submissions

500 of the submissions were made confidentially.

[edit] Report summary

Main article: Stolen Generation

Two reports were produced^[2]:

• a formal 700 page report titled "Bringing them Home" and subtitled "Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families".
• a less formal and shorter Community Guide titled "Bringing them Home - Community Guide" and subtitled "A guide to the findings and recommendations of the National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families"

The report concluded among other things that "Indigenous families and communities have endured gross violations of their human rights. These violations continue to affect Indigenous people's daily lives. They were an act of genocide, aimed at wiping out Indigenous families, communities and cultures, vital to the precious and inalienable heritage of Australia."^[5]

[edit] Recommendations

The report made many recommendations, including that:

• funding be made available to Indigenous agencies to allow Indigenous people affected by the forcible removal policies to record their history
• reparations be made to people forcibly removed from their families, and that the van Boven principles^[6] guide the reparation measures
• Australian Parliaments offer official apologies and officially acknowledge the responsibility of their predecessors for the laws, policies and practices of forcible removal

[edit] Government apologies

Formal apologies have been tabled and passed by the state parliaments of Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania^[7] and the territory parliament of the Northern Territory. It may be that all states have done this because Senator Aden Ridgeway was quoted in 1999 as saying that "every State Parliament has passed an apology".^[8]. The Prime Minister, John Howard issued a statement of regret, stopping short of a formal apology. He has been quoted many times as refusing to take a black armband view of history.^[9]

[edit] Federal

On Thursday 26 August 1999 the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, moved a Motion of Reconciliation, which included an expression of "deep and sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practices of past generations, and for the hurt and trauma that many indigenous people continue to feel as a consequence of those practices." The opposition leader, Kim Beazley, moved to replace Mr Howard's motion of regret with an unreserved apology, but was unsuccessful.^[10]

[edit] New South Wales

On 18 June 1997 Bob Carr, Premier of New South Wales issued an apology on behalf of the people of NSW that included the words: "apologises unreservedly to the Aboriginal people of Australia for the systematic separation of generations of Aboriginal children from their parents, families and communities"^[11].

[edit] South Australia

On 28 May 1997 the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Dean Brown, issued a parliamentary apology on behalf of the people of South Australia that included the words: "the South Australian Parliament expresses its deep and sincere regret at the forced separation of some Aboriginal children from their families and homes which occurred prior to 1964, apologises to these Aboriginal people for these past actions and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians."^[11].

[edit] Queensland

On 26 May 1999 the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, issued a parliamentary statement that included the following words: "This house recognises the critical importance to Indigenous Australians and the wider community of a continuing reconciliation process, based on an understanding of, and frank apologies for, what has gone wrong in the past and total commitment to equal respect in the future."^[11]

[edit] Western Australia

On 27 May 1997 the Western Australian Premier, Richard Court, issued a parliamentary statement using the words: ""It is appropriate that this House show respect for Aboriginal families that have been forcibly separated as a consequence of government policy in the past, by observing a period of silence." Members stood for one minute silence. The next day the leader of the Western Australian opposition moved: "that this House apologises to the Aboriginal people on behalf of all Western Australians for the past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families and expresses deep regret at the hurt and distress that this caused"^[11]

[edit] Australian Capital Territory

On 17 June 1997 the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, Kate Carnell, moved a motion in the Territory Assembly that included the words: "that this Assembly apologises to the Ngunawal people and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT for the hurt and distress inflicted upon any people as a result of the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families."^[11]

[edit] Victoria

On 17 September 1997 the Premier of Victoria, Mr Jeff Kennett, moved a parliamentary motion that included the words: ""That this House apologises to the Aboriginal people on behalf of all Victorians for the past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families and expresses deep regret at the hurt and distress this has caused and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians."^[11]

[edit] Tasmania

On 13 August 1997 the Tasmanian Premier, Tony Rundle, moved a parliamentary motion that included the words: "That this Parliament, on behalf of all Tasmanians, expresses its deep and sincere regrets at the hurt and distress caused by past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families and homes, apologies to the Aboriginal people for those past actions and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians."^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] See Also

• Stolen Generation

[edit] External links

• Bringing Them Home Report
• Bringing them home: The 'Stolen Children' report