Golson, Kate; Yu, Sarah --- "The Stolen Generations Project in the Kimberley" [1996] AboriginalLawB 87; (1996) 3(86) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 19

• The Stolen Generations Project In The Kimberley

---

The Stolen Generations Project in the Kimberley

by Sarah Yu and Kate Golson

When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry Into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families was announced in June 1995, the Kimberley Land Council ('the KLC') committed itself to a process of regional discussions with Aboriginal people about how they might want to participate in the proceedings. The Inquiry provided the catalyst for raising the issue for the first time across the entire Kimberley region.

The KLC's involvement stemmed from the development of a native title claim over Moola Bulla station, which, from 1911 to 1955 was a government-run institution to which Aboriginal children were removed, and which was set up as a rationing depot. Despite being home to both traditional owners of the area and to those who were taken there, Moola Bulla station is now inaccessible to Aboriginal people. It became clear that the native title process did not adequately address the rights of the people taken to the station, and the Land Council began preparing a fiduciary duty case against the Western Australian government. However, the Western Australian statute of limitations prevented the case being heard.

Prior to the hearing of the Inquiry, consultative meetings were held across the Kimberley for six months, during which time a number of Stolen Generations Working Groups, whose tasks ultimately involved the development of a regional submission with recommendations for action, were set up. With the emergence of these groups, the project became locally driven and directed.

For the KLC, this submission, now complete, provides a basis for future research as part of its continuing commitment to work on Stolen Generations issues. It contains a set of regionally-specific recommendations drawn directly from the consultation process, which are to serve as an action plan for change at regional and local levels. In particular, concern is expressed about the need to systematically collect information and stories from those who were taken away, so that a clearer understanding and appreciation of the impact of removal laws, policies and practices on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley can be reached. This is seen to be particularly important for future generations of Aboriginal people. Recommendations also note the critical role of education in the reconciliation process, and the need for educational resources (oral histories and the like), that tell stories of the Stolen Generations.

In the process of collaboration, various other Kimberley organisations, such as the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, and some of the Working Groups, decided to put together their own submissions intended to complement that of the KLC's. As a result, the Kimberley Language Resource Centre has produced a collection of stories of people who were at Moola Bulla, soon to be published by Magabala books.

Throughout the process, and particularly through the establishment of the Working Groups, people have spoken about the underlying significance of issues of separation in all aspects of their lives, including removal from family, from country and from culture. They have interpreted the Terms of Reference of the Inquiry widely to encompass examples of forced separation through massacres, and the removal of people from cattle stations in the 1960s and 1970s.

For many people, these experiences are being spoken about for the first time. The hearings, in particular, but also the Working Groups, were viewed as an opportunity to come together and to share stories as a step in the process of healing and reconciliation.

In Halls Creek, two hundred people gathered from all over the East Kimberley and the Fitzroy Valley for the hearing. For the many who had lived and worked at the Moola Bulla Native Station, it was their first reunion since their mass eviction from the reserve in 1955. In Broome, about one hundred people, representative of various institutions which were established in the West Kimberley, attended the hearing from the Kullari and Derby regions.

It is now the responsibility of the Working Groups, which have already played a central role in contributing to processes of change at both the regional and national levels, to progress the issues raised in the recommendations. Their roles have been discussed in many capacities: as groups which can begin to develop political and legal strategies to progress Stolen Generations issues; as the beginnings of a regional Link Up organisation; as the bodies to negotiate with governments and church groups; as the groups who could co-ordinate, oversee or perhaps even facilitate further research on the impact of forcible removal; and as Kimberley representatives in national Stolen Generations forums.

For many people, their involvement in the process of the Inquiry and in the Working Groups has not been primarily to seek restitution for themselves. Most people are cynical, in any event, about the likelihood of compensation and an adequate response from the current Federal and State Governments. Instead, their participation has been motivated by the desire to ensure that this part of our history as Aboriginal people is understood, and for the healing process to commence.

Preparing for the hearings and preparing the submission are seen as just a beginning. The full impact of the laws, policies and practices which led to the separation of families of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley still needs to be thoroughly documented and assessed. The regional . Working Groups are in the process of establishing-a Kimberley Steering Committee, which will be the beginning of a Kimberley Link-Up organisation. They have decided not to wait for the report from the Inquiry, but rather to begin action on the issue now.