CAIK Seminar: Truth-telling and the Stolen Generations

In the 16 years since Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2007, to what extent has the broader Australian community come to terms with the truths emerging from the Bringing Them Home report? This panel discussion will highlight the ongoing need for truth-telling in relation to the Stolen Generations.

Aunty Glendra Stubbs UTS Elder in Residence, has provided support for trauma survivors and Indigenous families for over 40 years. Among many positions she has held, Aunty Glendra was the Aboriginal Engagement Adviser for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, a member of the Stolen Generations Alliance, and CEO of Link-Up NSW. Aunty Glendra will speak about her experiences working with Indigenous families over many decades, dealing with the impact of intergenerational trauma arising from child removal.

 

Fran Grant is a Yuin woman whose Aboriginal family comes the NSW South Coast. She holds a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) and a Master of Strategic Communication. Fran currently works for Qantas and was previously Chairperson of Virgin Australia's Indigenous Working Group, and was deeply involved in the development and launch of Virgin Australia's Reconciliation Action Plan. She is an accredited classroom teacher and teaches at both UTS and Macquarie University. Fran will speak about her family's experience of child removal and her ongoing search to rediscover her family history.

 

Dr Anne Maree Payne is Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Studies in the Centre for Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges. A non-Indigenous Australian, Anne Maree has been involved in Aboriginal employment and education for over thirty years. Her book Stolen Motherhood: Aboriginal Mothers and Child Removal in the Stolen Generations Era, has recently been released as a paperback. Anne Maree will discuss her research exploring some of the experiences of Aboriginal mothers of stolen children, and will reflect on what we can learn from the Bringing Them Home Inquiry about of the possibilities and limitations of human rights-based truth-telling processes.

 

The panel discussion will be chaired by Professor Heidi Norman, Associate Dean (Indigenous) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges. A leading Australian researcher in the field of Aboriginal political history, at the heart of Heidi's research is her support for Aboriginal people's rightful place in the nation, especially within political institutions, society, and the economy as landholders.

 

This a hybrid event, held both on-campus and available to view via Zoom. To confirm your in-person attendance, or for any further details, please contact CAIK Admin Nghaeria.Roberts@uts.edu.au. 

This event is run by the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges (CAIK).