13 FEB 2025
VACCA and Link-Up Victoria, in partnership with Connecting Home and Darebin City Council, today hosted an event commemorating the Anniversary of the National Apology to Stolen Generations.
On this day 17 years ago, the Australian Government said sorry to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in parliament, acknowledging the pain and suffering caused by the forced removal of their children from family, community, culture and Country.
Speaking at the event, VACCA CEO Muriel Bamblett said “today is about bringing the truth out into the light. For Aboriginal people having the right to speak out, to express how we feel, to share our experiences and those of our families and our communities. We seek understanding and acknowledgement - not guilt and pity.”
Events which commemorate the Anniversary of the Apology provide us all the opportunity to pay respects to Stolen Generations survivors, and those who have passed on to the Dreaming. They provide a voice for Stolen Generations survivors, ensures their stories are heard, and tells them that they have not been forgotten.
“Today we reflect on the shared, true history of Australia in remembrance of the magnitude of what happened to our parents, families, and to us as a people; of the culture that has been stripped away from us,” says Ms Bamblett. “It is a day that acknowledges the damage caused, and recognition of how far there is to go to restore and fully repair what was taken from us.”
The journey to national apology in 2008 began with the findings of an inquiry instigated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1995. The Bringing Them Home report was tabled in Parliament in 1997, outlining 54 recommendations to redress the impacts of the removal polices and address ongoing trauma.
“As a key recommendation from the Bringing Them Home report, the Apology represents a significant and necessary step in the truth-telling process. While we have made progress in Victoria, with the Stolen Generations marker project and a reparations scheme for those affected by forced adoptions, it’s almost 30 years since the report was tabled and too many of the 54 recommendations have only been partially implemented,” said Ms Bamblett.
“Progress is slow, and time is running out to deliver on support services for Stolen Generations survivors in order to rightfully address the ongoing trauma experienced by survivors and their loved ones.”
Link-Up Victoria provides support for Stolen Generations and their families, helping survivors to reunite with family and reconnect with culture. It is the only service in Victoria to provide these reunions, which help to rebuild connections broken through government policies of forced child removals.
For more than 35 years, VACCA and Link-Up have supported Stolen Generations survivors to return home, to meet their living family, to pay respects to loved ones who have passed into the Dreaming, to listen to the stories of their people, and to stand on their traditional County and embrace their Aboriginal identity and culture with pride.
“The Stolen Generations are living proof of the strength and resilience of our people, but there is much to be done to correct the imbalance of equality across all Aboriginal communities,” said Ms Bamblett.
“We are still working towards bringing our people home. We will continue to ask questions, hold Government to account, and ensure that the stories of the Stolen Generations are told so that they are never forgotten.”
- ENDS -
FOR RELEASE –
Beth Cesarin - Senior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs
PH: 0439 117 408 E: bethc@vacca.org
Sarah Gafforini - Director, Office of the CEO VACCA
T: 0427 621 421/ E: sarahg@vacca.org
ABOUT VACCA - www.vacca.org
The Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) is Victoria’s Peak Voice for Aboriginal children. We are the leading provider of Aboriginal child and family services, and the largest provider of services for Aboriginal family violence and homelessness. We have been supporting children, young people, and families in the community for over 47 years as an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO).
Through our vision of self-determination – Live, Experience, and Be – we exist to support culturally strong, safe, and thriving Aboriginal communities. We deliver over 80 programs across Victoria including child and family services, family violence, support for stolen generations, child protection, cultural strengthening programs, mental health, financial services, justice and redress support, early years, and homelessness services.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we work. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and to their children and young people who are the future elders and caretakers of this great land.