A statement from The Healing Foundation Board Chair, Professor Steve Larkin
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With news of further investigations at Stolen Generations institutions we must own the truth.
With news of further investigations at Stolen Generations institutions we must own the truth.
It is with sadness, but hope to uncover the truth, that The Healing Foundation welcomes news of funding to expand investigations into high priority anomalies at Stolen Generations institutions.
We must listen to Stolen Generations survivors and learn about our shared history to understand the impacts it still has today.
Funding by the NSW government to extend the investigation undertaken at Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home to further sites, can only bring us closer to truth.
This work shows us why national and local truth-telling must remain a priority for all levels of government who are committed to building a better Australia.
Truth-telling and healing are reliant on adequate support and funding. The Guardian series on Buried lives has highlighted that there is more to know about unmarked burial sites and unrecorded deaths. But truth requires investment, it requires access to historical records, it requires oral histories, and it requires modern archaeology tools.
Identification of burial sites and unmarked graves must be part of wider redress for Stolen Generations survivors and descendants. It is an opportunity for survivor-led healing. For many survivors this work is traumatic, and we must put the right supports in place.
We must stand with the survivors of Kinchela. More than anomalies, these are our children, our brothers, our aunties. We can’t let their truth be forgotten.
