Background

Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

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Records

Timely and culturally appropriate access to records is essential to healing for many Stolen Generations survivors, but access is inconsistent and inequitable, particularly across state and territory borders. 

Records Connect Stolen Generations survivors with their family histories and identities 

Contemporary and historical records held by various governments and agencies — such as archives, libraries, and registries (births, deaths, and marriages) — as well as in private collections are vital resources for Stolen Generations survivors and their families.

These records can give survivors information they need to identify and (re)connect with family, culture, and Country, and can help shed light on often-missing context to peoples personal and family histories.

Timely and culturally appropriate access to records is an essential component of healing for many Stolen Generations survivors. The Healing Foundation outlines a best practice approach to records access that prioritises survivor needs and cultural safety.  

Culturally safe and prioritised access 

Stolen Generations survivors and their families often face challenges and barriers when accessing records. This includes inconsistent application and search processes, different access forms, fees, viewing conditions, and access conditions. Navigating these processes can be made more difficult with the lack of clear information and culturally safe support, leading to many being retraumatised.

To address these barriers and ensure survivors are able to locate and access their family history information, a permissive access framework is needed. Permissive access looks like:

Consistent and prioritised access across jurisdictions and agencies, including: standardised application processes, expedited timeframes, waiving of fees, access to restricted records, transparent redactions, and trauma-informed return of records   

  • Access to private collections
  • A trauma-informed and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led workforce  
  • Social and Emotional Wellbeing support throughout the records access journey
  • Investment in and prioritised access for Link-Ups and other Stolen Generations organisations that support survivors to access family history information  
  • A right of reply to correct offensive, inaccurate, disparaging, and/or culturally inappropriate records.

Our initiatives

The Healing Foundation works with Stolen Generations organisations and governments to support culturally safe and prioritised access to records for Stolen Generations survivors.  

Better Access to Stolen Generations Research Project

The Healing Foundation is partnering with the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney to deliver a national research project focused on improving access to records for Stolen Generations survivors and their descendants.

This project seeks to understand the challenges survivors face when trying to access personal and historical records, and to identify opportunities for greater control and use of these records in healing, truth-telling, and advocacy by identifying areas of support for both records holders and records users. These findings will be used to inform an update to the ‘Better Access to Stolen Generations Records’ training package that was developed to build capacity across the records management workforce.

Key project outcomes includes:

  • Surveys of records holding institutions and Stolen Generations Organisations to identify lived experiences and sector insights that will inform research output
  • Updated ‘Better Access to Stolen Generations Records’ training package to reflect current needs and best practice
  •  Interviews with Stolen Generations survivors to ensure their voices inform understandings of working with Stolen Generations records.
National Records Symposium 

In November 2025, The Healing Foundation hosted a national Records Symposium in partnership with the National Archives of Australia (NAA), National Library of Australia (NLA), Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander Studies (AIASIS) and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).

The Symposium brought together key stakeholders across the records sector, including representatives from state based archives, national collecting institutions, and Link Up researchers, to identify ongoing barriers and workshop actionable priorities to address them.

Discussions were informed by a background paper that included input from sector stakeholders and summaries of work undertaken by The Healing Foundation. 

The key discussions and recommendations are summarised in the final report. 

Historical Records Taskforce 

The Historical Records Taskforce was convened by The Healing Foundation from 2018-2025. It was established following a knowledge circle that was held in Canberra, with the objective of progressing four identified priority areas: improving access to birth, death, and marriage records; trauma-informed training for records holders; avenues for private collections; support state and territory forums.

Two key outputs were produced through the taskforce, which are critical resources to supporting access to Stolen Generations records:

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.