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DVD activity sheet PDF or Word (note that DVD needs to be ordered separately from the Commission’s publications area, Ph: (02) 9284 9600, or online at: www.humanrights.gov.au/publications)

2. The obligation to respect and to ensure respect for human rights and humanitarian law includes the duty: to prevent violations, to investigate violations, to take appropriate action against the violators, and to afford remedies and reparation to victims. Particular attention must be paid to the prevention of gross violations of human rights and to the duty to prosecute and punish perpetrators…

Established the Northern Territory Aboriginals Department with responsibility for the control and welfare of Aborigines and `to provide where possible for the custody, maintenance and education of the children of aboriginals'.

neglected child - a child found begging, wandering about or frequenting any thoroughfare or tavern, sleeping in the open air and who has no settled place of abode or means of subsistence; residing in any brothel or associating or dwelling with any person, known or reputed to be a thief, prostitute or drunkard or a person convicted of vagrancy; a child having committed an offence and who, in the…

The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families occurred during two periods in Tasmania. The first commenced with the European occupation of Van Dieman's Land (as Tasmania was called until 1856) in 1803 and lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century. The second commenced in the 1930s with the forcible removal of Indigenous children from Cape Barren Island under general…

The Protector of Aborigines made the legal guardian of every `aboriginal and half-caste child' whose parents are dead or unknown, or one of whom agrees, until the age of 21. Any two Justices, with the consent of the Governor and one of the parents, may apprentice `any half-caste or other aboriginal child having obtained a suitable age' until the age of 21 provided that `due and reasonable…

Established Aborigines Protection Board. Its functions include submitting proposals to the Governor relating to the care custody or education of the children of `Aboriginals' and exercising a general supervision and care over all matters affecting the interests and welfare of the `Aboriginals'.

For the `better protection and care of the aboriginal and half-caste inhabitants of the colony' and `for restricting the sale and distribution of opium'. Established positions of regional Protectors and later Chief Protector.

Our life pattern was created by the government policies and are forever with me, as though an invisible anchor around my neck. The moments that should be shared and rejoiced by a family unit, for [my brother] and mum and I are forever lost. The stolen years that are worth more than any treasure are irrecoverable. Confidential submission 338, Victoria.

Where a child under the age of 19 is convicted, court may assign care and custody of the child to such persons as make application where the court is satisfied it is for the benefit of the child.

Amended by Aborigines Protection Amending Act 1915 (NSW) Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1918 (NSW) Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1936 (NSW) Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1940 (NSW) Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1943 (NSW) Repealed by Aborigines Welfare Ordinance 1954 (Cth).

Note: This overview is based primarily on the Bringing them home report and provides a background to the policies and practices that authorised the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. It is not intended to be used as a comprehensive historical document.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Anglican Church Social Responsibilities Commission Anonymous Australian Association for Infant Mental Health Inc.

The general opinion of station people is that it is a mistake to take these children out of the bush. They say that the aboriginal mothers are fond of their children and in their own way look after them and provide for them and that when they grow up they are more easily absorbed and employed than those who have been taken out of their natural environment and removed to towns.

Every morning our people would crush charcoal and mix that with animal fat and smother that all over us, so that when the police came they could only see black children in the distance. We were told always to be on the alert and, if white people came, to run into the bush or run and stand behind the trees as stiff as a poker, or else hide behind logs or run into culverts and hide. Often the white…

In 1863 the area now known as the Northern Territory came under the control of South Australia. By 1903 the whole area was leased to non-Indigenous people. As there were few non-Indigenous women, relationships between the Indigenous women and non-Indigenous men were relatively common. The consequence was a growing population of children of mixed descent who were usually cared for by their mothers…

Within months of the `First Fleet' arrival at Sydney Cove in 1788 there was `open animosity' as Indigenous people protested against `the Europeans cutting down trees, taking their food and game, and driving them back into others' territories'. Bitter conflict followed as Aboriginal people engaged in `guerilla warfare - plundering crops, burning huts, and driving away stock' to be met by `punitive…

Family law plays a role in the `placement and care' of Indigenous children when parenting disputes come before the Family Court of Australia (except in WA where the State Family Court deals with all family law matters) or those lower courts, presided over by magistrates, which have power to deal with them. The parents do not have to be married: children born outside marriage are treated in the…

Following the founding of the Swan River Colony in 1829 relations between the British settlers and local Indigenous peoples in Western Australia became characterised by conflict. As a result of fierce fighting,

From 1835, when the European occupation of Victoria commenced, until the 1880s government policy was one of segregation of Indigenous people on reserves. These were mainly controlled by missions.