Background
The Inquiry was established in 1995 by the former Attorney-General, the Hon. Michael Lavarch MP, in response to increasing concern among key Indigenous agencies and communities 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. The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care and Link-Up (NSW) campaigned for a national inquiry into the issue.
A key turning point was the 1994 Going Home Conference in Darwin. Representatives from every State and Territory met to share experiences, to bring to light the history and its effects in each jurisdiction and to devise strategies to meet the needs of those children and their families who survive. A determination to make governments accountable for their actions led to the initiation of two civil compensation claims (Williams in New South Wales and Kruger and Bray in the Northern Territory). Further claims are in preparation as the decisions in those already heard are awaited.
On 11 May 1995 the then Attorney-General referred the issue of past and present practices of separation of Indigenous children from their families to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), committed a budget of $1.5 million over two years and required a report by December 1996. On 2 August 1995 the terms of reference were extended by including new term of reference (c) requesting advice on principles relevant to compensation for people affected by separation. On 24 November 1996 the reporting date was extended to 31 March 1997.
Appointment of Commissioners
The HREOC President, Sir Ronald Wilson, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Dodson, took primary responsibility for conducting the hearings of the Inquiry. They were assisted by other HREOC Commissioners and by the Queensland Discrimination Commissioner. In each region visited the Commission appointed an Indigenous woman as a Co-Commissioner (see acknowledgments).
A small secretariat was established to publicise the Inquiry, encourage contributions by way of evidence and submissions and organise the hearings (refer to acknowledgments). An information booklet, explanatory video and posters were produced and widely distributed.
Hearings
The terms of reference required the Commission `to consult widely among the Australian community ...'. The Inquiry undertook an extensive program of hearings in every capital city and in many regional and smaller centres (refer to hearing schedule). The Inquiry's limited resources precluded visits to every centre where Indigenous people and others wished to give evidence.
Public evidence was taken from Indigenous organisations and individuals, State and Territory Government representatives, church representatives, other non-government agencies, former mission and government employees and individual members of the community. Confidential evidence was taken in private from Indigenous people affected by forcible removal and from adoptive and foster parents. Many people and organisations made written submissions to the Inquiry, including many who also gave oral evidence (refer to list of submissions and evidence).
Support for witnesses
Indigenous witnesses giving confidential evidence of their experiences of forcible removal required personal and psychological support during that process and afterwards because of the traumatic nature of their memories and the inevitably confronting task of relating them to strangers.
I know people who have become extremely distraught at the thought of this inquiry, because a lot of people psychologically have put that - a lot of what happened - to the back of their minds. Something like this inquiry, where it is expected that you will tell your story, means that it comes to the front of their minds, even if they do not want it to. I have had over the past few weeks, as the inquiry has become closer, many people getting in contact with me, some who are giving evidence, some who are not, who have been very, very distressed. If people have been traumatised and are still suffering from the effects of that trauma, they are re-traumatised every time something reminds them of the trauma, even people who have made some degree of recovery. And that is the case in any situation where there is a post-traumatic stress disorder. Things that remind people of the trauma will bring back memories of the trauma and severe distress (Dr Jane McKendrick, Victorian Aboriginal Mental Health Network, evidence 310).
An Indigenous social worker was appointed to the Inquiry's staff to provide support to witnesses before and during their evidence. In June 1996 the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University in Perth was successful in obtaining funding to provide an Indigenous psychologist to offer follow-up counselling to Inquiry witnesses. We also acknowledge the counselling support offered by Aboriginal medical and health services during Inquiry visits.
In spite of the difficulties of giving evidence, most witnesses appreciated the opportunity and many said that giving testimony had contributed to their healing.
There is some good news I would like to pass on to you. Everyone I have spoken to has said it is like the world has been lifted off their shoulders, because at last we have been heard. For me I have grown stronger and now am able to move forward. You have played a significant part in my journey back ... (letter of thanks from a witness).
Indigenous Advisory Council
To provide advice on the hearing process, the solicitation of evidence and submissions and the analysis of the material presented, the Inquiry appointed a representative Indigenous Advisory Council constituted by members from all the major regions of Australia (refer to acknowledgments). The Council was convened on seven occasions through telephone conferencing and met together on three occasions. On the last of these occasions the Council met over a day and a half to consider the Inquiry's draft report and provided detailed comments on proposed recommendations.
Summary report and video
In addition to preparing this report to the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Inquiry recognised the importance of reporting directly and in an accessible form or forms to Indigenous Australians, particularly those who gave evidence or made submissions to the Inquiry. A summary report and video have been prepared for distribution free of charge to every Indigenous witness (individual and organisation) and others.
Evidence and submissions
Throughout this report we have remained faithful to the language used by the witnesses quoted. The names and other identifying details have been changed in the case of Indigenous witnesses who provided evidence or submissions in confidence to protect their privacy and that of the people of whom they spoke. Where witnesses have named institutions or other places, however, the names have generally been retained.
The nature of the Inquiry process and of the information sought and provided meant that evidence and submissions could not be tested as thoroughly as would occur in a courtroom. This applies to all the evidence. Indeed, as this report indicates, much supporting evidence including records has been destroyed. The submissions from individuals, organisations and governments are important. We carefully report what we have heard so that the community generally will know the different perspectives on what has occurred. We also sought out independent sources where possible and include them in this report. We have ensured that our findings, conclusions and recommendations are supported by the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
Under Commonwealth Archives legislation HREOC is obliged to archive all submissions and evidence to the Inquiry. These materials, other than confidential evidence and submissions, will be available to enquirers subject to Australian Archives application procedures. To assist those wishing to research the submissions and evidence to the Inquiry, file numbers are supplied for evidence and submissions quoted or referred to in the text.
The Inquiry took evidence orally or in writing from 535 Indigenous people throughout Australia concerning their experiences of the removal policies. In this report we relay as many of those individual stories as possible.
Within the limited time and resources available to us we have been unable to take testimony from all who wished to provide it. The Inquiry was unable to visit every region, although extensive travelling was undertaken for the purpose of receiving testimonies (see Schedule of hearings). We are grateful to the law firms, Aboriginal legal services and other Indigenous organisations which recorded testimonies and forwarded them to the Inquiry. In Western Australia alone the Aboriginal Legal Service collected more than 600 testimonies.
The Inquiry is aware that many other people did not have the opportunity to tell their stories, were not ready to speak of their experiences or chose not to do so in the forum provided by the Inquiry. Healing and ultimately the reconciliation process require that testimonies continue to be received and recorded. This must be done in a culturally appropriate manner with recording and access determined in consultation with the person who wishes to provide his or her history.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) recommended to the Inquiry that, `Support be provided for the collection and culturally appropriate presentation of the stories with the approval of those who experienced separation policies' (submission 684 page 18). Link-Up (NSW) called for the establishment of an Aboriginal Oral History Archive. This Archive would be `modelled on the Shoah Foundation set up to record the oral histories of Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust' and would `fund and facilitate the collection of oral histories of Aboriginal survivors of our holocaust' (submission 186).
The Aboriginal Oral History Archive will testify to the atrocities committed against our people through separation laws, policies and practices, and will ensure that the genocide against our people cannot be denied (submission 186).
The Inquiry supports the establishment of such a national archive. In the immediate future, however, the primary need is to enable people to tell their stories, to have them recorded appropriately and to enable the survivors to receive counselling and compensation. The experience of the Shoah Foundation and of this Inquiry is that giving testimony, while extraordinarily painful for most, is often the beginning of the healing process. For this reason the recording of testimonies needs to be done in or near each individual's community and by expert Indigenous researchers. Counselling or ready referral to counselling services must be available. Therefore appropriate agencies are likely to include Indigenous family tracing and reunion agencies and the language, culture and history centres proposed elsewhere in this report.
Recording testimonies
| Recommendation 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. |
The Inquiry was urged to make recommendations for monitoring the implementation of our recommendations.
ATSIC believes it is important that the Inquiry recommend a process for monitoring the implementation of recommendations flowing from the Inquiry ... The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation recommended that there should be statutory avenues for monitoring implementation of RCIADIC [Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody], which will provide mechanisms for indigenous communities, organisation and individuals to drive the reform processes. ATSIC commends this approach to the Inquiry.
Alternatively, ATSIC recommends that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission consider a role for itself in the monitoring of the recommendations of the Inquiry, including the capacity to reconvene the Inquiry, if and when necessary (ATSIC submission 684 page 9).
The procedure we recommend adopts ATSIC's second proposal. This process will ensure that information on the progress of implementation is collected from all interested parties, evaluated and publicly presented and capable of further independent evaluation as desired by COAG.
Procedure for implementation
| Recommendation 2a: That the Council of Australian Governments
establish a working party to develop a process for the implementation of
the Inquiry's recommendations and to receive and respond to annual audit
reports on the progress of implementation.
Recommendation 2b: That the Commonwealth fund the establishment of a National Inquiry audit unit in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to monitor the implementation of the Inquiry's recommendations and report annually to the Council of Australian Governments on the progress of implementation of the recommendations. Recommendation 2c: That ATSIC fund the following peak Indigenous organisations to research, prepare and provide an annual submission to the National Inquiry audit unit evaluating the progress of implementation of the Inquiry's recommendations: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), Stolen Generations National Secretariat, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and National Aboriginal and Islander Legal Services Secretariat (NAILSS). Recommendation 2d: That Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments undertake to provide fully detailed and complete information to the National Inquiry audit unit annually on request concerning progress on implementation of the Inquiry's recommendations.
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| In the hard copy version of this report there is a reproduction
of the following item:
Biddy, nursemaid to Mr & Mrs J S Gordon of Brewon Station, with John Gordon, Walgett, NSW, 1887 Courtesy Bicentennial Copying Project, State Library of New South Wales.
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