What did the Bringing Them Home report investigate?

The Bringing Them Home report, published in 1997, was the result of a national inquiry conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) into the forced removal of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their families.1

Initiated by the Australian attorney general in 1995, the inquiry investigated the history and impact of policies that led to the creation of the Stolen Generations. The report’s findings were based on more than 500 written and oral testimonies provided by Indigenous Australians, as well as input from various organizations and foster parents from every state in the country. The inquiry ultimately documented the widespread practice of forcibly separating children from their families, which occurred from the mid-1800s through the 1970s, and highlighted the profound, lasting trauma and cultural disruption these assimilationist policies caused for survivors and their descendants.1