Thousands of children were forcibly removed by governments, churches and welfare bodies to be raised in institutions, fostered out or adopted by non-Indigenous families, nationally and internationally. They are known as the Stolen Generations.

The exact number of children who were removed may never be known but there are very few families who have been left unaffected — in some families children from three or more generations were taken. The removal of children broke important cultural, spiritual and family ties and has left a lasting and intergenerational impact on the lives and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Affecting anywhere from 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 children, there is not a single Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community who has not been forever changed.

54 Recommendations
Recording testimonies

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 700-page report of the 'Stolen Children' National Inquiry, Bringing them Home, was tabled in Federal Parliament on 26 May 1997.

WA taxpayers face multi-milliondollar bills from thousands of stolen generation claims in the wake of a landmark court ruling in South Australia.

The State Government faces a massive Stolen Generation compensation payout after law firm Lavan Legal yesterday joined forces with the Aboriginal Legal Service to challenge laws which prevent Aboriginals claiming damages for being removed from their families.

General counsel for Lavan, Martin Bennett, said the two groups would try to persuade the Government to set up a compensation scheme similar to the $114 million Redress WA fund established last year to compensate adults who, as children, were abused while in State care.

When will the struggle for justice for the Stolen Generation end? Will it be when everyone who was a victim of government-sanctioned policies of taking Aboriginal children from their parents and putting them in foster homes are dead? Perhaps it will last for several more generations, ending only when the relatives and families of the children of the Stolen Generation are themselves dead and history is reduced to archival files of stories about injustice. Or will it end with a belated apology from the Prime Minister, forced on him by circumstances not yet imaginable? Or a court case in which the survivors are awarded compensation and everyone writes finis to the affair?