Stolen GenerationsPrint Page

The plaque recognises the role of New South Wales Railway in the removal and placement of aboriginal children away from their families.

Many Indigenous children were taken by train to the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home and the Kinchela Boys Home.

The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen children) is a term used to describe the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969, although in some places children were still being taken in the 1970s.

The tragic legacy of removing Aboriginal children from their families is remembered on a series of plaques at train stations across NSW, including Cootamundra and Wagga Wagga.

Plaques also placed at Central Station in Sydney, Grafton, Kempsey, Berry and Bomaderry recognise that many children who were removed from their families travelled by train, either to the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls or Kinchela Boys Home on the Central Coast.

The plaques acknowledge NSW Railways’s role in removing the children and their placement follows consultation with Stolen Generations survivors, undertaken since 2018.

Transport for NSW regional director south, Sam Knight, said the plaques recognise the truth about what happened to many children and their families. "These stations have been recognised as significant because they were part of those sad journeys,” she said. “They are for everyone to see and acknowledge and remember those truths of the past.”
about regional, 13 April 2022.

Location

Address:	Eddy Avenue, Platform 1, Central Railway Station, Haymarket, 2000
State:	NSW
Area:	AUS
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -33.882347 Long: 151.206766 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Plaque
Monument Theme:	Culture
Sub-Theme:	Indigenous

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:	Monday 3rd December, 2018

Source: MA