Twentieth Anniversary of the Bringing them Home Report

Access to records must be made easier and less harmful A statement from the Bringing them Home report that does just that – brings home the impact records and recordkeeping processes have on people’s lives. It’s one that has had a huge impact on me as an archival and recordkeeping professional, educator and researcher. Although I do need to confess that it took a number of years for the realisation of the structural inequities in our existing…

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May 2017

By Joanne EvansAnniversaries, ArticlesComments Off

Ninth Anniversary of Apology to Stolen Generations

Good to see that on the ninth anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, the Queensland government chose to reaffirm their commitment to supporting family and personal history research. Twenty years on from the Bringing them Home Report, access to records has improved to be ‘easier and less harmful’. But also a reminder that more needs to be done, with Victoria in particular yet to implement a redress scheme and address the inter-generational ramifications of denial of connection to…

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Feb 2017

By Joanne EvansAnniversaries, ArticlesComments Off

Seventh Anniversary of the Apology to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants

Another anniversary to reflect upon – seven years since the Apology to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants on the 16 November 2009. While the investment in the Find and Connect suite of services and projects by the Commonwealth Department of Social Security has achieved much, the 2015 evaluation report reinforces that still much to do, particularly around access to records. In his speech our current PM, Malcolm Turnbull, as opposition leader back then, highlighted the lack of…

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Nov 2016

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Fifth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Archives

Alerted in my emails this morning that today, 10 November 2016, marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption by UNESCO of the Universal Declaration on Archives. It’s drafting and adoption was an important step and congratulations to those in the ICA that worked so hard on making it happen. The declaration has been a source of much inspiration for me, particularly in pondering what the following statement means for those who childhoods have been severely impacted upon by child…

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Nov 2016

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Family Matters releases inaugural report on child protection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home Report, the Family Matters campaign has released their inaugural baseline report into the state of child protection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The numbers say it all. If the current trend continues then the more than 15,000 Indigenous children in statutory care in 2015 will be 45,000 by 2035. Natalie Lewis writing in The Guardian makes an impassioned plea for a co-ordinated…

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Nov 2016

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Federal redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse announced

Great to launch this section with the news that the Commonwealth Government has announced that it will establish a National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse by 2018. It’s over a year since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its final report on redress in September 2015 recommending that such a scheme be established. Now it’s over to the states, territories and institutions to show their commitment and opt-in…

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Nov 2016

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