The process of healing and reconciliation took another step forward with the launch of the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation Strategic Plan at Redfern Community Centre by the Governor of NSW, Professor Marie Bashir.
The first comprehensive Strategic Plan for members of the Stolen Generation in NSW, it identifies positive solutions for NSW Aboriginal families and communities suffering from the trauma of forced removal.
From 1924 until 1970, between 400 and 600 Aboriginal boys, as well as a number of girls, were forcibly removed from their families and placed in the Kinchela Boys Home on the NSW Mid North Coast. The harsh treatment, brutal punishment, deprivation and sexual abuse they suffered were documented in Bringing Them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.
Development of the Strategic Plan began in October 2001, with healing workshops involving several Kinchela men. The Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation was formally established in 2003, and in 2005 the Corporation began working with the University of NSW’s Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit to develop programs and projects to address the needs of Kinchela men, their families and future generations. The resulting Strategic Plan has been developed through extensive consultation and in partnership with the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, NSW Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services, World Vision Australia and Bunji Consultancies.
The launch event on Tuesday 27 October, which included a smoking ceremony and performances by local indigenous artists and Tabulam indigenous dancer Donald (Duck) Budda-Deen, was organised by the Kinchela Men.
For more info see Koori Mail and ABC