I acknowledge that I write on stolen land, the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and I pay my respects to elders past and present. For over 65,000 years, before British colonisation, this land has been a place of storytelling. As a history student at the University of Sydney, it is imperative to recognise the significance of this past and the enduring impact of colonialism on the stories and histories of Australia today. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
On Dunghutti land, not so far from where I grew up in Port Macquarie, lies what used to be Kinchela Boys Training Home – an Aboriginal Children’s Home established in 1924 by the Aboriginal Protection Board. For more than 400 boys, KBH was a site of incarceration. It was justified as a protection act, yet it was anything but that. The boys who passed through the gates of Kinchela were not known by their names but by a number. They endured conditions that were hostile and dehumanising, no home for any child or person.
The stories of KBH are just one in countless others from the Stolen Generation, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Australia were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian Government with the intent of assimilation and cultural destruction.
However, this story of pain and trauma is also a story of strength. In 2002, the survivors of KBH established Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, an organisation “built on and informed by the guidance and unique insights offered by survivors and which, contributes to the social and emotional wellbeing of survivors, their communities, and culture.” KBHAC offers services such as:
- Kin Connect Program, created to support the healing of KBH survivors, and address the intergenerational trauma faced by their descendants and families.
- Connecting Abilities Program, which provides NDIS registered services for Indigenous or non-Indigenous Australians with a disability.
- Education Program, to further First Nations truth telling on the Stolen Generation. Initiatives include the Mobile Education Centre and Educational Resources available to schools for History, English and Aboriginal Studies curriculum across NSW.
- Support for those eligible to gain access to the National Redress Scheme
As a proud Gamilaraay women, and niece of a survivor of the Stolen Generation, the work of KBHAC is powerful and so important to everyone it reaches. KBHAC not only advocates truth telling, preserving the stories and memories of survivors, but it also is making the meaningful steps needed for healing and rebuilding cultural connection and community.
If you would like to learn more about the KBHAC, have a read of their website here: https://kinchelaboyshome.org.au/. Additionally, if you are interested in offering any support, you can email: office@kinchelaboyshome.org.au for more information on volunteering or you can provide a donation at https://www.givenow.com.au/kinchelaindigenousstolengensupport.
Indeed, there is the opportunity to get involved and help out this October on the 18th – 19th! This October will mark one hundred years since Kinchela Boys Home first opened. KBHAC invites KBH survivors, their descendants and families as well as you, your families and the wider community to “honour the spirits of the children who walked through the gates of KBH.” If you would like to volunteer on the day, contact 100kbh@kbhac.org.au.