About this page

Since colonisation, thousands of First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families by governments, churches, and welfare organisations. Many were placed in institutions or adopted by non-Indigenous families. These children are known as the Stolen Generations.

Today, many institutions across Australia are working together to assist those affected to reconnect with their families, communities, and culture. The Library has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Through this partnership, we facilitate access to materials that assist in tracing family histories and reconnecting with heritage.

If you need support, please reach out to us or contact a Link-Up organisation in your state or territory. Link-Up services provide professional, culturally sensitive and confidential research, as well as social and emotional support services to members of the Stolen Generations and their descendants. 

What you can find in the Library 

Books and reports

Oral histories

Our Bringing Them Home oral history project delivered a collection of interviews with individuals involved with or affected by the Australian Government’s child removal policies and practices.

Between 1998 and 2002, people from all over Australia told us their stories as part of this project. Forty-one interviewers recorded 340 interviews with families and children who had experienced separation, as well as with those who cared for them, worked in institutions, and were involved with administration, policy and implementation in a professional capacity. 

Where Bringing Them Home oral history project speakers have given permission, recordings and transcripts are available online through Trove and the Library catalogue. Sometimes you will need to get permission to listen, read, or get copies, but this is detailed in the records.

Listen to the recordings through Trove

Listen to the recordings through the catalogue

In some cases, you can order copies through the Library catalogue .

You can listen to some of the recordings that are not available online in the Special Collections Reading Room. 

How to search and find items 

Search the catalogue

Search family and location names and the names of orphanages, missions and reserves in our catalogue. 

Learn more about how to use the catalogue

Search the catalogue now

Keyword search  

Use a quick keyword search in the catalogue using the places, family names or people your family is connected to. 

For example:

• Cootamundra Girls Home
• Colebrook Home

If you get too many results, you can:

• add title, author, subject or AIATSIS subject limits on your search, or
• click into the catalogue full results and use the Limit Your Results options (at the right of the search results page) to display only the items of interest, for example, manuscripts or oral histories.

If you need to widen your search, try searching subject headings. You can search by subject directly in the catalogue (selecting subject in the drop down), or by opening an item’s catalogue record and clicking on the subject headings to find other material related to that subject.

Author search

You can also search by author where a group or governing body has published the material.

For example:

• South Australian Museum. Aboriginal Family History Project
• Stolen Generations Survivors Group
• National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (Australia)

Where else to look

You can continue your family history research by using these resources outside the Library.  

Link-Up  

Family tracing and reunion services are available to members of the Stolen Generations throughout Australia via the AIATSIS-run national Link-Up program.  

Link-Up gives priority to first generation members of the Stolen Generations who have directly experienced removal or separation from family and community, especially those who are elderly or have urgent health concerns. It also provides services to subsequent generations and communities of Stolen Generations. 

To Remove and Protect

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) online exhibition, To Remove and Protect, includes state and territory legislation identified in the Bringing Them Home report that enabled the forced removal of First Nations children, and the annual reports of state and territory ‘protection’ boards and subsequent government agencies.

The Apology

The Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples speech made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February 2008 can be found online via the Parliament of Australia website.

Goodna Girls

In an event at the Library, ANU Lecturer and author of Goodna Girls, Adele Chynoweth and the Library's past Director of Indigenous Engagement, Marcus Hughes, reflected on the lives and stories of the women of Goodna and the role of cultural institutions in preserving the stories and experiences of marginalised communities. You can watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

Get help with your research

Our librarians can offer some tips, help you locate resources and point you in the right direction but we are not able to undertake extensive family history research on your behalf.

You can use our Ask a Librarian service to access assistance, ask us specific questions and provide us with information you have already gathered, such as: a family tree, any family papers and photos, or family history notes.

Our Indigenous Engagement team may also be able to offer general guidance and support to First Nations researchers.  

Ask a Librarian