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Stolen Generations MemorialPrint Page Print this page

06-October-2020
06-October-2020

Photographs supplied by Stephen Warren

The monument commemorates the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children.

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.

Location

Address:Gilruth Avenue & Gardens Road, George Brown Memorial Garden, Darwin, 0800
State:NT
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -12.445377
Long: 130.835523
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

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

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 30th July, 2005
Front Inscription

Hearts Broken

Mothers left with empty arms
Hearts broken, minds with no calms.
Children without an identity
Taken from their country.

For such was the policy
A strong destructive force.
For the governments command
"Deny them access to culture and land".

Tears fell in empty arms
As they sat in silence
Waiting and hoping in vain
For the child they could not claim

They were the silent victims
Aboriginal mothers of yesterday.
So children of the stolen generation
Remember them today.

 

Right Side Inscription

Launch of the International Year for the World`s Indigenous People

Extracts from a speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating 10th December 1992.

“It begins, I think with that act of recognition.”
“Recognition that it was we that did the dispossessing.”
“We took the children from their mothers.”
“We practised discrimination and exclusion.”
"We failed to ask - how would I feel if this were done to me?”

A message for future generations

The policies and practices of the past should never be carried into the future as we look to the children of today becoming  leaders that will take Australia forward in making this country a better place.

Indigenous and Non-Indigenous must come together in promoting reconciliation, peace and harmony.

The N. T. Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation would like to acknowledge the following for their support

Department of Health & Ageing - for the funding of this Project

Larrakia Nation the traditional land owners

Parks & Wildlife for this site in the George Brown Memorial Garden

 

Source: MA,ACPH
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au