National Reconciliation Week commemorates two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey with First Nations’ mob – the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.
According to www.reconciliation.org.au, ‘The National Reconciliation Week (NRW) 2025 theme, ‘Bridging Now to Next’, reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future’.
‘Bridging Now to Next calls on all Australians to step forward together, to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us’.
With National Sorry Day on May 26, The Healing Foundation said in a media statement that the day is about honouring survivors and marks the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report.
‘In 1997, the report first shared Australia’s Stolen Generations history with the nation, and made a series of recommendations to address the damaging impacts. Twenty-eight years on, only six per cent of these recommendations have been fully implemented’.
Removal of children
The Stolen Generations refers to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by government agencies, churches, and welfare bodies under official policies.
The practice occurred from the mid-1800s through to the 1970s, with the most widespread removals happening between 1910 and 1970.
The Healing Foundation are a national body calling for an ‘urgent healing package for ageing Stolen Generations survivors, saying “we cannot wait another generation”.’
The Healing Foundation’s Chairperson, Professor Steve Larkin, highlighted the importance of Sorry Day commemorations and education, but said more action was sorely needed for ageing survivors.
‘Many survivors have already passed away, without seeing justice for themselves or their families’, Professor Larkin said.
‘Even the youngest survivors are ageing now, with most eligible for aged care. Yet they are facing a system that can re-trigger the trauma of being placed in an institution as a child.
Underfunded
‘The organisations which tirelessly support survivors are severely underfunded and struggle to retain talented and dedicated staff due to insufficient and uncertain funding.
‘We are calling for minimum five-year operational funding for Stolen Generations organisations to provide urgently needed healing, reunions, records support, social and emotional wellbeing assistance and to fund new models of workforce development,’ Professor Larkin said.
The Healing Foundation’s CEO Shannan Dodson urged all those with a responsibility to support Stolen Generations survivors to act without delay.
Dodson added, ‘Stolen Generations survivors have been through so much. Many suffered abuse in care, on top of the trauma of being separated from their families. They have seen how their trauma has affected their families. They deserve justice’.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
