Right: Mornington Island school, 1950. Courtesy of the State Library of Queensland and the community of Mornington Island. State and federal governments and their "Protectors of Aborigines" had the right to remove children from their parents without the permission of those parents. It was not until 1969 that the last State Government repealed laws which allowed this forced removal.
Background information
Compensation to the Stolen GenerationsOn 5 April 1997, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission delivered the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.
The report was titled, The Bringing Them Home Report.
One of the Report's 54 recommendations concerned the need to make 'reparations' including 'monetary compensation' to those forcibly removed from their families.
The report recommended the establishment of a national compensation fund for people affected by the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The aim of the fund would be to offer reparation to those affected and avoid the courts having to deal with costly individual litigation.
The Howard Government's response to the Bringing Them Home Report
On 16 December 1997, Senator Herron, the then Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, released the Commonwealth Government's response to the Report, indicating it would deliver '$63 million in practical assistance over the next four years' in designated areas.
Among its initiatives, the Commonwealth promised improved access to archives, family support and link-up programmes and to provide counsellors in an expanded range of regional centres.
However, regarding the payment of monetary compensation, the then government asserted that 'there is no practical or appropriate way to address this recommendation.'
The Howard Government's refusal to offer a full, formal apology
The Howard Government also refused to give a full, formal apology to the Stolen Generations. One of the reasons given for this was concern that such an apology would leave the Commonwealth Government liable to compensation claims from those affected by forcible removal policies.
The states, however, adopted a different view and between 1997 and 2001 each of the Australian states and territories formally apologised.
The states and compensation
Western Australia has indicated it will set up a fund for those abused in state care, including stolen generations members. Victoria currently does not have such a fund and appears unlikely to change its position. Queensland and New South Wales have rejected the idea.
Tasmania has set aside $5 million for surviving stolen generations members and the children of those who have died. It is the only state to have done so. Tasmania has capped payments at $53,333 each for its small number of claimants, with the possibility of larger payments for those who can establish exceptional injury.
South Australia may examine a wider scheme following the South Australian Supreme Court's decision to award Mr Bruce Trevorrow $525,000 compensation in Australia's first successful stolen generation court claim.
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court found that Bruce Trevorrow was treated unlawfully and falsely imprisoned when he was removed from his mother's care and handed over to a white family in 1957.
However, on February 28, 2008, the South Australian Government announced that it would challenge the legal precedent created by the nation's first compensation payout to a Stolen Generations member.
The state will seek to overturn the central elements of the historic judgment that compensated Mr Bruce Trevorrow for being illegally taken from his parents 51 years ago. The move has the potential to delay for years a statutory compensation fund for Stolen Generations victims pledged immediately after the Trevorrow decision in August, 2007.