Sorry Timeline

THE ROAD TO “SORRY�

1788-mid 1800s

• Early child removals occur through the establishment of church-run missions.
• There are also reports of European settlers kidnapping Indigenous women and children to use as cheap domestic labour.

1837 

• The British Select Committee recommends the appointment of government “Protectors of Aboriginesâ€? in Australia.

1869-1935

Indigenous child removal legislation is enacted in every Australian State and Territory

All states and territories passed laws giving Chief Protectors or Protection Boards power to “manage� the interests of Indigenous people. This included wide-ranging powers to remove Indigenous children from their families and place them in state care on the grounds of race alone. Although some early Acts required proof of neglect, in practice simply being Indigenous was often proof enough.

At first, these removals were part of protection and segregation policies, which believed that Indigenous children were part of a dying race.

These policies gave way to assimilation in the late 19th century. The main aim of removals during this period was to control the reproduction of Indigenous people, so that they could be gradually “absorbed� into the non-Indigenous population.

The main laws were:

• The Aborigines Protection Act 1869 in Victoria
• The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 in Queensland
• The Aborigines Act 1905 in Western Australia
• The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 in New South Wales
• The Aborigines Act 1911 in South Australia
• The Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance 1911
• The Infants Welfare Act 1935 in Tasmania.

1937

• The first Commonwealth/State Conference on Native Welfare adopts assimilation as the official national Indigenous affairs policy. This policy approach is confirmed at the 1951 conference.

1969

• All States and Territories have repealed Indigenous child removal legislation.

1980 

• The first Link-Up Aboriginal Corporation is established in New South Wales, designed to provide family tracing, reunion and support services to Stolen Generation members. Link-Ups are opened in the other States and the Northern Territory between 1984 and 2001.

1991 

• The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody reports to the Australian Government. It finds that 43 of the 99 deaths investigated were of people who were separated from their families as children.

1994 

• The Going Home conference in Darwin brings together over 600 members of the Stolen Generations for a think-tank on reparations.

1995

• The Commonwealth government establishes the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.

1997 

• The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission releases Bringing Them Home, its report on the findings of the national inquiry into the Stolen Generations. The report made 54 recommendations, including a formal government apology, monetary compensation and other reparations to members of the Stolen Generations.
• The parliaments and governments of all States and the ACT issue statements recognising and publicly apologising to the Stolen Generations.
• The Australian Government unveils its response to Bringing Them Home, featuring a $63 million practical assistance package.
• The Australian Government rejects the recommendations for an apology or compensation scheme, arguing that Australians should not be asked to "accept responsibility for the acts of earlier generations, sanctioned by the law of the times".
• The High Court finds that the Northern Territory child-removal laws are constitutionally valid and do not fall within the definition of genocide under international law in the case of Kruger v the Commonwealth

1998

• The National Archives of Australia launches its Bringing Them Home indexing project to identify and preserve records about Indigenous people and communities.
• The National Sorry Day Committee is formed to organise an annual National Sorry Day on 26 May to commemorate the history of forcible removals and their effects. The first Sorry Day is held in 1998.

1999 

• The Federal Parliament passes a Motion of Reconciliation expressing “deep and sincere regret over the removal of Aboriginal children from their parentsâ€? but stops short of apologising.

2000

• Over 250,000 people participate in the Corroboree 2000 “Sorryâ€? Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge on 28 May. Similar walks are held in the other State and Territory capitals.
• The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expresses concern about the Australian Government’s decision not to make a national apology or consider monetary compensation
• The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee undertakes an inquiry into the Australian Government’s implementation of the Bringing Them Home recommendations. The Committee makes 10 recommendations, concentrating on the need for a formal apology, monetary compensation and processes for the ongoing monitoring and reporting of the Government’s progress.
• Stolen Generations member Joy Williams loses her action against the New South Wales Government seeking compensation for the harm and mental illness she suffered as a result of forcible removal from her family.
• Stolen Generations members Lorna Cubillo and Peter Gunner lose their actions against the Commonwealth in the Federal Court, seeking compensation for serious assaults during their time in institutions in the Northern Territory.

2001

• The Northern Territory Parliament makes a motion of apology to the Stolen Generations and abolishes its mandatory sentencing laws.
• HREOC and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) host the Moving Forward conference which explores ways of providing reparations to the Stolen Generations.

2002

• PIAC releases Restoring Identity – its report on the Moving Forward conference.
• The National Library of Australia’s oral history project with members of the Stolen Generations is published.
• The New South Wales Victims Compensation Tribunal awards compensation to Stolen Generations member Valerie Linow for sexual abuse suffered while in State care.

2003

• The Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (MCATSIA) commissions and releases an independent evaluation of responses to the Bringing Them Home report.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner publicly criticises the Australian Government’s failure to apologise and make reparations to the Stolen Generations.
• The Victorian Stolen Generations Taskforce delivers its report to the Victorian Government about implementing the recommendations in Bringing Them Home.

2004

• The Australian Government unveils a Stolen Generations memorial at Reconciliation Place in Canberra.
• 461 “Sorry Booksâ€?, recording the reflections of Australians on the Stolen Generations on National Sorry Days, are entered on the Australian Memory of the World Register as part of UNESCO’s program to preserve and promote historically important material.

2005

• The organisation Stolen Generations Victoria is established on the recommendation of the Victorian Stolen Generations Taskforce, to assist members of the Stolen Generations reconnect with their family, community, culture and land.
• The National Sorry Day Committee announces that Sorry Day will become a “National Day of Healing for All Australiansâ€?.
• The UN Commission on Human Rights adopts the van Boven/Bassiouni Principles, which declare a right to a remedy and reparations for victims of gross violations of international human rights law. The recommendations in Bringing Them Home were based on these principles.

2006

• The Tasmanian Government sets up Australia’s first Stolen Generations compensation scheme.

2007 

• The South Australian Supreme Court awards $525,000 in damages to Stolen Generations member Bruce Trevorrow for mental illness and suffering caused by his wrongful removal from his family.
• South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced that the government would not contest the decision, and that the government would consider the possibility of a Stolen Generations compensation scheme.
• The Australian Labor Party releases its election platform which includes a pledge to “provide a comprehensive response to the Bringing Them Home report, including a formal apologyâ€?.
• Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett introduces a Stolen Generations Compensation Bill into Federal Parliament, modelled on the Tasmanian legislation. The Bill lapses due to the adjournment of Parliament prior to the election.
• The Western Australian Government sets up the Redress WA program to provide monetary and emotional support to people who were abused as children in State care, including members of the Stolen Generations.

2008 

• On 13th of February 2008 the Prime Minister moved the apology.
• The Rudd Government confirmed to make an apology to members of the Stolen Generation early in the first term of Parliament, and that to use the word “sorryâ€?.
• The Rudd Government said it will not establish a compensation scheme, stating that it will back the apology with a concerted effort to close the 17-year gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, while providing "targeted assistance" to members of the Stolen Generations.
• The Northern Territory Minister for Indigenous Policy, Marion Scrymgour, supported the Federal Government’s decision not to establish a compensation fund for individual members of the Stolen Generations
• The Queensland and New South Wales governments ruled out Stolen Generations compensation schemes.

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