The Stolen Generations refers to the Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families throughout much of the last century, under government policy aimed at assimilating them into western culture. The Governor-General Sir William Deane has called this our 'legacy of unutterable shame'.

In 1997 a government enquiry into this history produced the 680 page report 'Bringing them Home' which achieved unprecedented community response. It heard heart-rending evidence from 535 Indigenous people, and from governments, churches, agencies and individuals. The inquiry produced 54 recommendations.

Exact figures are impossible, but the inquriry concludes 'with confidence that between one in three and one in ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed... in the period approximately 1910 to 1970. In certain regions and in certain periods the figure was undoubtedly much greater than one in ten... most families have been affected'.

Many stolen children, their parents, families and communities are still scarred by their experiences. Children were often totally separated from family and removed to harsh, unloving, impoverished institutions. Abuse, including denigration, physical mistreatment and sexual abuse, was common. Many were forced to work virtually as slaves. Many lost language, culture, indigenous identity and rights to land, in addition to loss of contact with family and community. On average, stolen children fared worse than those left with parents. The report also identifies inter-generational effects, including loss of parenting and social skills, undermining of family roles and unresolved grief and trauma. Many suffered first as stolen children then as parents of stolen children.

Government documentation shows the policies clearly had their origin in dealing with the so-called 'half-caste problem'- the 'full-bloods' were believed to be dying out, and the others were to be assmiliated into a White Australia. The policy of disappearance of Indigenous people as a group is genocide- 'the forcible transferring of children of a group to another group' as defined by the UN Convention on Genocide, ratified by Australia in 1949. Some at risk children were removed, but the primary criterion was skin colour, and Indigenous foster parentswere rare. The good intentions of some involved needs to be acknowledged, without undermining recognition of the impact of their actions.