“Remember Me” Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Bringing Them Home Report Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care “Remember Me” “Remember Me” Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Bringing Them Home Report Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care September 2007 ‘Remember Me’: Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report. Published by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Inc. (SNAICC), Suite 8, Level 1, 252–260 St Georges Road North Fitzroy VICTORIA 3068 Telephone: (03) 9489 8099 Fax: (03) 9489 8044 Email: [email protected] Website: www.snaicc.asn.au September 2007 The images, artwork and design of this publication are copyright © SNAICC 2007. Copyright for text of articles published is retained by the individual authors unless specified otherwise. Please seek permission from SNAICC before reproducing any information published here. This publication commemorates the tenth anniversary of the release of Bringing Them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. ISBN: 978-1-921174-11-7 Cover photograph by Tatiana Doroshenko, of a mural in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria Edited by Mark Lawrence Designed by Heather Hoare, Pixel City Digital Design Illustrations from artworks in SNAICC’s collection Disclaimer The views expressed in the articles are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Inc. unless otherwise indicated. The images and photographs in this publication are intended for illustrative purposes only. No inference is intended or implied that the children or adults depicted in the photographs are the subject of any issue(s) of interest to any child welfare authority in Australia. Join or subscribe to SNAICC Please contact us if you wish to become a SNAICC member or subscriber. Information about joining or subscribing to SNAICC is also available on our website. WArNINg: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peopled are cautioned that this publication may include images of people who have since passed away. Contents Acknowledgments 2 Never again: Telling the truth ensures a better future 3 by Julian Pocock SNAICC’s journey to the Inquiry: a timeline 6 Ten years of truth telling: What Bringing Them Home means to us all 8 by Muriel Bamblett, AM Aranda instinct 12 by Brian Butler Filling in the ‘blank spots’ of history: SNAICC’s role in the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal 14 and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families by Nigel D’Souza The long road home: Karu Link-up, the NT Stolen Generations and the campaign for the National Inquiry 17 by Rosie Baird A twilight of knowing: the Australian public and the Bringing Them Home report 20 by Professor Anna Haebich Not one without the other: Human rights and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s well being 23 go hand in hand by Terri Libesman Aboriginal Organisation calls for Enquiry into “Stolen Children” 27 SNAICC media statement calling for the National Inquiry into the Removal of Aboriginal Children, National Aboriginal & Islander Children’s Day, 4 August 1991 Human rights Commissioners meet with SNAICC 28 Report first published in SNAICC Newsletter, June 1995 Some listen, some won’t hear: the legacy of the Bringing Them Home report 29 by Professor Larissa Behrendt “This story’s right, this story’s true...” 32 by Jim Brooks “Imagine seeing us come home”: Reflections on the impact and legacy of the Bringing Them Home report 35 by Tom Calma Journeying back to healing: The promise of the Bruce Trevorrow case and Tasmanian compensation 38 by Dr Peter Lewis The launch of Bringing Them Home: the Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal 41 and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families – Speech given on 26 May 1997 by Professor Mick Dodson, AM SNAICC Values Statement: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children 46 1 “remember me”: Commemmorating the tenth anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report 1 Acknowledgments SNAICC expresses its sincere appreciation to the authors amazing banner for the SNAICC contingent to the 1988 who contributed their time and energy in writing their Bicentenary protest march. We also acknowledge Ray essays for this publication commemorating the tenth Thomas, who designed ATSIC’s 1998 NAIDOC poster anniversary of Bringing Them Home’s release. They featuring the theme ‘Bring Them Home’, which we’ve are Rosie Baird, Muriel Bamblett, Larissa Behrendt, Jim reproduced here. Brooks, Brian Butler, Tom Calma, Nigel D’Souza, Anna A special thanks is due to SNAICC’s former Chairper- Haebich, Peter Lewis, Terri Libesman, and Julian Pocock. son, Brian Butler, and SNAICC’s former Executive Officer, They delved into their memories, and their archives, Nigel D’Souza, who oversaw SNAICC’s campaign for, and and drew on their intimate knowledge, experience and involvement in, the National Inquiry into the Separation expertise of the National Inquiry and its report to allow of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Their in- us to reflect on this important process and publication, depth knowledge and advice on this history was invalu- and what they hold for our future. Without them, this able in making this publication happen. publication would not be possible. We also thank the SNAICC staff who worked on this publication also Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and deserve thanks, including Mark Lawrence, who developed Mick Dodson for giving SNAICC permission to republish the proposal for the publication, liaised with contributors Mick’s speech from the 1997 launch of Bringing Them and edited this publication, Kim Werner, who oversaw the Home, and Kym Walker for her permission to republish project’s progress and spent time delving into SNAICC’s her poem, which was originally published in SNAICC’s archives for documents to help piece more of the history Newsletter back in 1993. together, and Julian Pocock, whose leadership helped in We also acknowledge the artists whose original the conception and development of this publication. artworks were used in SNAICC’s National Aboriginal Finally, but in no way least, SNAICC thanks all those and Islander Children’s Day posters in 1992, 1995 and who struggled long and hard to have the experiences 1997 that are reproduced here. They are Clive Atkinson, of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who Isobel Coe and Heather Kemarre Shearer respectively. were, as children, forcibly removed from their families The 1988 poster was the result of the collective work acknowledged and recorded, and who worked long and of the SNAICC National Executive who put together the hard for healing and renewal. And we acknowledge the Stolen Generations, whose resilience and strength in sharing their personal stories and creating renewed futures for themselves are an inspiration to us, and renew our efforts on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. 1988: Stop the Cultural Genocide In 1988, SNAICC produced the first National Aboriginal & Islander Children’s Day poster, featuring a photograph from the Bicentenary protest march in Sydney. SNAICC highlighted the detrimental impact of placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with non-Indigenous families after these children had been removed from their families by welfare authorities. Describing this as a form of cultural genocide, SNAICC advocated that to deny children their culture was a form of genocide. 2 Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Never again: Telling the truth ensures a better future By Julian Pocock, Executive Officer, Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since HREOC is that in 1997 Bringing Them Home provided an completed its National Inquiry into the Separation of opportunity to connect the truth of our nation to a Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their reconciliation process that was searching for a way Families with the release of its report, Bringing Them forward. When Bringing Them Home was silenced, so Home. was the truth and at that point our national process of Sadly the launch of the report was overshadowed reconciliation faltered. by the extraordinary events at the opening of the 1997 SNAICC is an organisation with a long and proud Australian Reconciliation Convention when audience history and a capacity to reach out to our predecessors members stood and turned their backs on Prime Minister and those who lived this history, and so we are able to John Howard. As one of those audience members I felt reach back into our collective memories to recall what compelled to turn away from a Prime Minister that having the National Inquiry actually involved and what was acting in a manner that showed no regard for the the release of its report signalled for us. SNAICC has countless Australians – black and white – who had produced this publication commemorating the tenth committed to the reconciliation process. If Mr Howard’s anniversary of the release of Bringing Them Home to aim was to make an impression he certainly succeeded. remember SNAICC’s efforts in calling for and participating Reflecting now I have some regret for turning my back, in the Inquiry, to commemorate the tenacity and hard as it’s probably better to look at the faces of those we work on this matter of those who came before us, and have some disagreement with if we are serious about to refocus public attention on why this process was so reconciliation. important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people When the report was released at the convention, and what people hoped and dreamed it could deliver for I remember talking with a delegate from the Victorian Australia as a whole.