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…

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…

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…