What were the Stolen Generations?

The Stolen Generations are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families and placed in missions, institutions, or non-Aboriginal foster families between about 1910 and 1970 under federal, state, and territory government policies of Aboriginal protection and assimilation. The 1997 Bringing Them Home report estimated that between one in three and one in ten Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed during the period.

Removals operated under specific state and territory legislation that gave Protectors of Aborigines, missions, and child welfare authorities broad discretion to remove children. The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW), the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT), and equivalents in other jurisdictions allowed removals on grounds including child welfare (sometimes with little evidence), education, or the explicit assimilationist purpose of biological absorption. Lighter-skinned children of mixed Aboriginal and European descent were particularly targeted under the explicit policy of absorbing them into the white population through marriage and assimilation. A. O. Neville (Western Australia's Chief Protector 1915 to 1936) and Cecil Cook (NT Chief Protector 1927 to 1939) were particularly explicit about this approach.

The consequences for individuals, families, and communities were devastating. Removed children lost contact with families, country, language, and culture. Many suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in the institutions and foster homes where they were placed. Mental health problems, substance abuse, incarceration, and intergenerational trauma have continued at high rates among the survivors and their descendants. The 1997 Bringing Them Home report documented these consequences in extensive detail through hundreds of personal testimonies.

Recognition and redress have built up over recent decades. The 1997 Bringing Them Home report made 54 recommendations including a formal apology, reparations, and support services. The first state apologies were delivered in 1997 and 1998. Prime Minister John Howard refused to apologise on behalf of the federal government during his time in office (1996 to 2007), preferring expressions of regret. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the National Apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008 as the first item of business of the new Labor Parliament, watched live by millions of Australians. The Healing Foundation, established in 2009, supports Stolen Generations survivors and their descendants. State-based reparation schemes have operated in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT, and the Northern Territory. National Sorry Day on 26 May (the anniversary of the report's tabling) commemorates the Stolen Generations each year.