The Stolen Generations are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed as children from their families and communities through race-based policies set up by both State and Federal Governments from 1910 to the 1970s.
If people don’t have the opportunity to heal from past trauma, they may unknowingly pass it on to others. Their children may experience difficulties with attachment, disconnection from their extended families and culture and high levels of stress from family and community members who are dealing with the impacts of trauma.
We work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing leadership, survivors, youth, therapists and academics to harness knowledge and co-design projects that combine ancient Indigenous healing knowledge with Western trauma knowledge.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, healing is a holistic process, which addresses mental, physical, emotional and spiritual needs and involves connections to culture, family and land. Healing works best when solutions are culturally strong, developed and driven at the local level, and led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We offer a wide range of resources on trauma and healing for Stolen Generations survivors, their descendants, families and communities, along with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Healing Foundation is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that partners with communities to address the ongoing trauma caused by actions like the forced removal of children from their families.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have been taken from their families since the start of colonisation in Australia. Children were stolen, taken for labour and removed from their families through government policies of the day.
This timeline looks at some of the events, trauma and healing that’s taken place in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities over the last two and a half centuries. The dates in this timeline are a selection representing the breadth of events that have occurred. This is not intended to be a complete list.
Captain James Cook declares possession of the east coast.
The British Government does not recognise the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their special connection with the land. They claim the land terra nullius – belonging to nobody.
The beginning of the Black Wars in Tasmania.
Governor George Arthur orders Tasmanian settlers to create 'the black line' moving south in an attempt to intimidate, capture, displace and relocate the state's remaining Aboriginal people.
28 Aboriginal people, mostly women and children, are shot and killed at Myall Creek. This is first time white settlers were punished in a court for their crimes.
The Point McLeay Mission Station is set up, with dormitories for orphan Aboriginal children.
Ebenezer Mission opens in Western Victoria. Children were regularly separated from their parents and disciplined by mission managers against their parents’ wishes.
The Corranderrk Children’s Asylum and Dormitory is established as part of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve near Healesville.
Ramahyuck Aboriginal Mission is set up in Gippsland.
The Ballarat District Orphan Asylum is established. It hosted thousands of ‘neglected’ children. It was later renamed Ballarat Orphanage and remained open until 1968.
Victoria becomes the first state to pass a law to authorise child removal from Aboriginal parents. Similar policies and legislation are later adopted by other states and territories.
The Royal Park Depot in Parkville, Victoria, is established as the sole reception centre for children committed to State care (The Depot operated as a 'clearing house' for boys and girls before they were boarded out, sent out to service or committed to a reformatory school.)
The Swan Native and Half-Caste Mission is set up.
Parramatta Girls Industrial School opens, accommodating around 160-200 girls at a time, many who had been charged with crimes or committed for welfare reasons.
The Deebing Creek Mission is founded in Queensland by the Aboriginal Protection Society of Ipswich.
Warangesda Dormitory is developed, on an Aborigines Protection Association station in New South Wales, to isolate girls and young women from other members of their community and concentrate on ‘training’ them to work in domestic service.
The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act was introduced in Queensland, allowing the removal of Aboriginal people from their land and taking children from their families.
The Bayswater Boys’ Homes are established by the Salvation Army at The Basin, Victoria. (The three homes accommodated boys who had been placed in legal custody.)
Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Queensland Aboriginal Protection Act. Their islands become reserves.
St Mary’s Mission of Hope opens in Adelaide. During the 1940s Aboriginal girls from the Northern Territory were transferred here.
Cherbourg Mission is established in Queensland, but known as Barambah until 1931
The Invalid and Old Age Pension Act is introduced, providing social security for all Australians except Aboriginal people.
The Bomaderry Aboriginal Children’s Home opens near Nowra, New South Wales.
The Aborigines Protect Act is introduced in New South Wales, giving the Aborigines Protection Board power to take ‘neglected’ children from their families.
Dulhi Gunyah Orphanage opens, run by the Western Australian State Council of the Australian Aborigines Mission for Aboriginal children, even if they weren’t orphans.
Bathurst Island Mission is established in the Northern Territory by the Roman Catholic Church.
Moola Bulla, a government-run station, opens near Wyndham in Western Australia.
South Australia and the Northern Territory create laws to remove Aboriginal people from their land and separate families.
Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls is established in a disused hospital building. (It housed Aboriginal girls, and was designed to train girls for domestic service.)
St Joseph's Home is set up near Ballarat to accommodate boys aged between 6 and 16, and some girls until the age of 6 when they were transferred to Nazareth House, Ballarat.
The Church of England Girls' Home opens in Carlingford, New South Wales.
The Kahlin Compound is established in Darwin to segregate Aboriginal people from the rest of the population.
Koonibba Children’s Home is set up by the Lutheran Church in South Australia.
Forrest River Mission is established by the Anglican Church, separating children from their parents in dormitories.
The Aborigines Protection Board in New South Wales is given powers to take children from their families without having to prove neglect.
The Catherine Booth Girls’ Home is established by the Salvation Army in ‘Blackhall’ mansion, East Kew. It accommodated girls aged between four and 16.
Carrolup set up as a government-run ‘native settlement’.
The Church of England Boys Home opens in Cronulla for boys aged six to eighteen.
Yarra Bay House, at Phillip Bay, becomes the site of a number of government-run children’s homes, running until the mid 1980s.
The Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement is set up in Queensland.
The Moore River Native Settlement is established by the WA Government.
The Salvation Army Boys' Home is established in Nedlands (West Subiaco). From at least the 1930s, it houses boys aged under 6 to 16 years, including wards of the state.
Milleewa Home for Boys is established by the Anglican Homes for Children Association. For six months during World War II a portion of the home houses Aboriginal women and children evacuated from Croker Island in the Northern Territory.
Bidura, an historic house in Sydney, is acquired by the New South Wales Government to become a depot and receiving home for children while they await foster placements or transfers to other establishments. Many children stayed for extended periods.
Groote Eylandt Mission is established in the Northern Territory.
Mount Margaret Mission is established in Western Australia, housing children and parents separately from around 1928. By 1942 several hundred Aboriginal families lived here.
Myilly Point Home, also known as the Darwin Half-Caste Home, is established near the Kahlin Compound. It separates children from adults in the compound.
The Oodnadatta Children’s Home opens.
Between 11 and 30 people are massacred and their bodies burned in the East Kimberleys, in what becomes known as the Forrest River massacre. The killings were believed to have been carried out by local police.
More than 60 Aboriginal women, men and children are killed over several months and across a number of sites in the Central Desert during the Coniston Massacre, Australia's last documented massacre.
The East Perth Girls' Home is set up by the Aborigines Department to train young women for domestic service. It later houses pregnant women from as far away as the Kimberley and becomes a reception centre for 'half-caste' children before they are placed elsewhere.
The Arnhem Land Reserve is declared.
Sister Kate’s Children’s Cottage Home is established in Perth to house ‘fair skinned’ Aboriginal children. It remains open until 1980.
The Australian Government convenes first ‘native welfare’ conference and states adopt assimilation policies for Aboriginal people.
Umeewarra Mission Children’s Home opens as a school and home for Aboriginal children in South Australia.
Day of Mourning held in Sydney to mark the 150th anniversary of colonisation.
Roelands Native Mission Farm is set up for Aboriginal families. By the 1940s it is just for children.
The South Australian Aborigines Protection Board is established.
1939 Carrolup Native Settlement is reopened by the Department of Native Affairs and by 1944 houses 129 boys, girls and older children.
The Aborigines Protection Board in New South Wales is renamed Aborigines Welfare Board and loses power to remove Aboriginal children.
Croker Island Mission is established. (Children from Darwin and Alice Springs were accommodated in temporary cottages until they were evacuated to NSW in 1942. They later returned in 1946.)
The Crusaders Camp Mission Hostel opens in Sydney. It housed 98 ‘half-caste’ Aboriginal children evacuated from Croker Island, north of Darwin, as wards of the Commonwealth Government.
Pine Creek Home in the Northern Territory is reopened for Aboriginal children being transferred from government institutions to missions. It had previously operated from 1931 to 1932 to relieve overcrowding at the 'Half-Caste Home'.
The Child Endowment Act is passed but declares no endowment should be paid to dependent Aboriginal children.
The Garden Point Mission is established on Melville Island to take charge of all Catholic Aboriginal children from The Bungalow, Alice Springs and Kahlin Compound in Darwin.
The Holy Children Orphanage is set up in Broome for school aged Aboriginal girls and young women up to the age of 20.
Darwin is bombed by the Japanese and many Aboriginal people are moved to ‘control camps’.
The Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes at Mulgoa in NSW is established. (It housed Aboriginal children who had been evacuated under military orders, mainly from South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. They were aged 1 to 14.)
George Brown College opens, housing 20 Aboriginal children evacuated from Croker Island in the Northern Territory.
The Salvation Army Boys’ Home, Mount Barker and the Salvation Army Girls’ Home, Fullarton open in South Australia.
Carnarvon Mission in Western Australia is established by the Churches of Christ. It housed Aboriginal children removed from their families.
Torres Strait Islanders are allowed to travel to mainland Australia to pursue employment.
St Mary’s Hostel near Alice Springs provides accommodation and schooling for Aboriginal children placed by their parents or committed to the hostel by the Director of Native Affairs.
All Australians, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are given ‘Australian citizenship’ for the first time.
Marella Mission Farm opens, accommodating Aboriginal foster children in Kellyville, New South Wales.
1952 Marribank is taken over by the Baptist Aborigines Mission and begins accommodating boys aged 14 to 18 and state wards including younger boys from Moore River Native Settlement.
1954 Kate Cocks Memorial Babies' Home in South Australia accommodates single pregnant women and mothers and other children, including Aboriginal children. Many babies were adopted from the Methodist Church-run home.
Large nuclear tests are carried out at Maralinga, forcing hundreds of Aboriginal people to relocate because of radiation poisoning.
Winlaton, in Nunawading, set up as Victoria’s main state run institution for adolescent girls.
Lochiel Park Boys' Training Centre opens in Adelaide as the first government institution to provide accommodation and training for boys with mild intellectual disabilities. From the 1970s it also housed young offenders.
The Allambie Reception Centre opens in Burwood, on the former site of Kildonan Children's Home. It was the Victorian Government's main reception centre for children.
The Commonwealth Electoral Act is amended to give the vote to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in federal elections.
The Gables opens as a state-run children’s home in Victoria, mostly for children with physical, behavioural or learning difficulties. It was closed by the mid 1980s.
Berry Street Babies’ Home and Hospital, in East Melbourne, starts operating as a maternity home and adoption agency.
Umeewarra Mission Home, Davenport Reserve replaces Umeewarra Mission Children's Home. It accommodates a small number of Aboriginal children.
More than 90 per cent of Australians vote yes in a referendum to give the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mungo Lady is discovered by a geologist in south-western New South Wales. The human remains are found to be between 40,000 and 42,000 years old, the oldest uncovered in Australia and some of the oldest remains of a modern human outside Africa.
The New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board is abolished.
Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls.
St Joseph's Children's Home begins admitting girls and changes its name from St Joseph's Junior Boys' Home, an institution that had housed boys between the ages of three and twelve since 1941.
Aboriginal people are counted in the Census for the first time. The Oodnadatta Hostel opens in South Australia, funded by the Commonwealth Government and run by Save the Children.
Bomaderry Aboriginal Children’s Home closes in New South Wales.
The first Link-Up organisation is set up in New South Wales, providing support for Stolen Generations members and their families.
The High Court hands down the Mabo decision, recognising the special relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have with the land.
Paul Keating delivers historic Redfern Speech acknowledging the negative impact of European settlement.
The United Nations declares 1993 the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People.
Government-run reception centre Turana (formerly the Royal Park Depot) closes in Melbourne. It was the sole reception centre for children committed to state ‘care’ between 1955 and 1961.
Northern Territory Government apologies to Stolen Generations.
BoysTown closes a Beaudesert facility that housed more than 1000 boys over 40 years.
St Joseph's Refuge in Adelaide changes its name to Louise Place. Established in 1868, around 6000 unmarried mothers and young children had reportedly passed through the refuge by the early 1930s.
The Healing Foundation is established.
Australia supports the United National Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. (Previously Australia had been one of only four nations to oppose the Declaration.)
Bedford Hostel, set up in the early 1970s in Western Australia for young Aboriginal women, closes.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report, The Healing Foundation presents an Action Plan for Healing to the Prime Minister, calling for major reform.
Tenth anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations takes place in Canberra.
Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre, mentioned in the Bringing them Home report, still operating in Wagga Wagga.
Barrunga near Katherine still operating. Under its former name Bamyili (1965 - 1984) ‘native’ children were brought to the settlement against their will.
Disclaimer
The information contained here has been compiled from a range of reputable sources and while we have attempted to verify it, we cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies or other errors
Message: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.
The Healing Foundation is currently updating this website with new data from the Make Healing Happen report. Please see the full report for the most up-to-date data.
