Kinchela is a village in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, The village is named after Kinchela Creek, which in turn may have been named after John Kinchela, Attorney General of New South Walesin 1831. The Kinchela Aboriginal Reserve was gazetted in 1883, Kinchela was gazetted as a village in 1885 or 1886, and in 1892 an Aboriginal school was established at Pelican Island, near Kinchela. [1]
Kinchela Boys Home was established by the Aboriginal Protection Board in 1924 and absorbed the Aboriginal school. The home was intended for Aboriginal children who were stolen from their families as part of the process of 'assimilating' them into white Australian society. The victims of this process eventually became known as the Stolen Generation. Kinchela Boys Home housed between 400 and 600 boys between 1924 and its closure in 1970. [2] Bringing Them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, documents the brutal punishment and sexual abuse suffered by these boys.
In 1980, Kinchela Boys Home was converted into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre ('Bennelong’s Haven') for the local Aboriginal community, a number of whom were former Kinchela boys.
In 2012, Kinchela Boys Home was given the highest level of heritage protection available in New South Wales. [3]
One of a pair of gates that originally formed the front gates of Kinchela Boys Home is now in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. A group of men, who had all been Kinchela boys, officially handed the gate over to the museum at a small ceremony in Kempsey in 2012. As part of the museum's collection, the gate will represent the stories of the Kinchela boys' experiences. [2]
Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC) was established in 2001 after some former Kinchela Boys Home inmates asked World Vision Australia to assist them in reuniting boys who had spent time at the Kinchela home and help them develop an organisation for all former inmates and their families. KBHAC seeks '... to reconnect members of the Stolen Generations to their families, clans and communities. It works to restore and reconstruct cultural identity, pride and self-worth. [4]
In 2001, the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation Strategic Plan was launched at Redfern Community Centre by the Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir. [5] This Strategic Plan for members of the Stolen Generation identified positive solutions for Aboriginal families and communities suffering from the trauma of forced removal. [6]
Kinchela has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
The Stolen Generations were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905 and 1967, although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.
Koori is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal clan, Worimi nation, Gathang language|Awabakal]]. For some people and groups, it has been described as a reclaiming of Indigenous language and culture, as opposed to relying on European titles such as "Aboriginal". The term is also used with reference to institutions involving Koori communities and individuals, such as the Koori Court, Koori Radio and Koori Knockout.
Kempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located roughly 16.5 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, on the Macleay Valley Way near where the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line cross the Macleay River. It is roughly 430 kilometres north of Sydney. As of June 2018 Kempsey had a population of 15,309 (2018).
Aboriginal Protection Board, also known as Aborigines Protection Board, Board for the Protection of Aborigines, Aborigines Welfare Board, and similar names, refers to a number of historical Australian state-run institutions with the function of regulating the lives of Aboriginal Australians. They were also responsible for administering the various half-caste acts where these existed and had a key role in the Stolen Generations. The boards had nearly ultimate control over Aboriginal people's lives.
South West Rocks is a town located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, near the mouth of the Macleay River. It is approximately 40 km (25 mi) from Kempsey. Jerseyville is located nearby.
Burnum Burnum was an Aboriginal Australian sportsman, activist, actor, and author. He was a Woiworrung and Yorta Yorta man at Wallaga Lake in southern New South Wales. He was originally christened Harry Penrith but in 1976, he changed his name to Burnum Burnum after his grandfather both to honor him and acknowledge his Aboriginal identity.
Bringing Them Home is the 1997 Australian Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. The report marked a pivotal moment in the controversy that has come to be known as the Stolen Generations.
Kempsey Shire is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.
Marribank, earlier known as Carrolup, is a locality in the Shire of Kojonup, Western Australia, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of Katanning. It was the site of one of two large native settlements for Indigenous Australians established by the office of the Protector of Aborigines of the Western Australian state government. The settlement was one place that the Stolen Generations were taken after being separated from their families. Artworks produced by children at Carrolup are some of the only extant objects produced by members of the Stolen Generations across Australia.
BarbaraWeir is an Australian Aboriginal artist and politician. One of the Stolen Generations, she was removed from her Aboriginal family and raised in a series of foster homes. In the 1970s Weir returned to her family territory of Utopia, 300 kilometres (190 mi) northeast of Alice Springs. She became active in the local land rights movement of the 1970s and was elected the first woman president of the Indigenous Urapunta Council in 1985. After starting to paint in her mid-forties, she also gained recognition as a notable artist of Central Australia. She also managed the artistic career of her own mother, Minnie Pwerle, who was also a noted artist.
The Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, commonly known as "Bimbadeen" and Cootamundra Girls' Home, located at Cootamundra, New South Wales, was a home and training college for Aboriginal girls during the 20th century. It operated by the NSW Government's Aborigines Welfare Board from 1911 to 1968 to provide training to girls forcibly taken from their families under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909. The only training received by the girls was to work as domestic servants, and they were not allowed any contact with their families. They were part of a cohort of Aboriginal people now known as the Stolen Generations.
The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA) was an early Indigenous Australian organisation focused on Aboriginal rights, founded in 1924 by Fred Maynard and based in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW). It ceased operations in 1927. The AAPA is known as the first Aboriginal activist group in Australia, with its membership roster peaking at over 600 members, with 13 branches and 4 sub-branches in NSW.
Kahlin Compound was an institution for part-Aboriginal people in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia between 1913 and 1939. After 1924, "half-caste" children were separated from their parents and other adults and moved to an institution at Myilly Point.
The Djangadi people, also spelt Dhungatti, Dainggati, Tunggutti or Dunghutti are an Aboriginal Australian people resident in the Macleay Valley of northern New South Wales.
Bellbrook is a locality in the Kempsey Shire of New South Wales, Australia along the Macleay River. The mountain village is classified by the National Trust as a heritage village and is part of the Macleay Valley Coast.
Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Training Home, also known as Kinchela Boys' Home and the Aboriginal Mission School, is a heritage-listed former Aboriginal Boys' Training Home at 2054 South West Rocks Road, Kinchela, Kempsey Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1924 to 1970.
Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home is a heritage-listed former Institutional home for Aboriginal children and now Nowra Local Aboriginal Land Council offices at 59 Beinda Street, Bomaderry, City of Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by United Aborigines Mission and built from 1908. It was also known as Bomaderry Children's Home; Bomaderry Babies Home; and United Aborigines Mission Home. The property is owned by Nowra Local Aboriginal Land Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 17 February 2012.
Purfleet is a small suburb of the Greater Taree region, located within the Mid-Coast Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated approximately 313 kilometres (194 mi) north of Sydney.
The Australian Hall is a heritage-listed community building located at 150-152 Elizabeth Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was the site of the Day of Mourning protests by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938. It was also known as the Cyprus Hellene Club. The property is owned by the Indigenous Land Corporation, a statutory corporation of the Australian Government. It was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 20 May 2008 and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Alice Eve-Marie Spigelman is a Hungarian-born Australian clinical psychologist, writer and human rights advocate. She is currently chair of Sculpture by the Sea. Her most recent book is The Budapest Job, a thriller set in 1989, at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. She has written a play A Kind of Reunion, to be premiered in Sydney, NSW in December 2020.