Due to parliamentary policies throughout much of the 20th century in Australia, numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their family homes and placed in institutions and foster families. The goal was to create a racially assimilated “white Australia”. The discriminatory policies that existed throughout these years gave the Australian government permission to forcibly remove these children and place them into non-Indigenous families and institutions. They had no contact with their own families, language, culture, belief system or heritage. From the age of about 14, many of these children were sent to work in white households.

Susan Moylan-Coombs was born in Darwin and taken from her mother at birth

Ten years ago the then Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, made an official apology to all Indigenous Australians, and in particular to the stolen generations, for past governments’ mistreatment and wrongdoings to Australian’s Indigenous populations, and the “profound grief, suffering and loss” that was caused by the forcible removal of these children.

Jennifer Moylan, daughter of Susan

I didn’t understand why people at school started to say horrible things about me and Mum

– Jennifer Moylan



This photographic series explores the effect of the Australian government’s apology on Indigenous Australians, both the stolen generations and also those who were indirectly affected by the policies of the past. The images tell the story of women who have been marked by historical injustice but who have worked towards a point of healing. The images are a mix of landscapes and portraits – the landscapes speak of memory and attachment to place, while the portraits explore identity, grief, loss and reconciliation.

Top: Yeena Connelly, Orient Point. Yeena recounted in vivid detail the stories of children being removed with force from the mission where she grew up; Middle: Patricia Ellis, south coast. Patricia’s sister is a member of the stolen generations; Bottom: Caroline Glass-Pattison, Freshwater beach. Caroline’s mother, grandmother and sister were all stolen as children and placed in other the care of the state or in foster homes

The apology didn’t change much, the only way to make real change is through education

– Patricia Ellis

My mother, grandmother and sister were all [of the ] stolen generations. I miss their presence and their whispers of knowledge gently steering me on the right wave

– Caroline Glass-Pattison



The series focuses on women, in order to highlight the voices of those often less heard. These women are bound together by the fact that they have been marked by the racial policies of the past, although they all have a diverse relationships to the history of the stolen generations. Not all were themselves removed from their families; some were present as other children were taken from their communities, and others are children or relatives of those removed.

Lorraine McGee-Sippel. Lorraine was taken away from her Aboriginal mother at birth and adopted out to a white couple who could not have children

The stories depicted are reflective of the fact that almost all Indigenous Australians have been affected by the racist policies of the past in some way, in particular the forced removal of children. As Jasmine, one of the young women who participated in the project, says: “Because of what happened, I’m afraid the same thing will happen to my own child.” Jasmine has no reason to be fearful of her child being taken from her, yet such is the depth and pain of the past that this fear lives on in many people from the younger generations.

History has a way of repeating itself … I knew other people who were stolen. Now I’m afraid that the same thing could happen to my own child

– Jasmine Atkinson-Haby



The prominent anthropologist WEH Stanner has written of the culture “of disremembering” that has occurred throughout the history of Australia. Stanner stated in his famous lectures for the ABC: “In Australia we have shown … a view from a window which has been carefully placed to exclude a whole quadrant of the landscape.” Stanner went on to say that we have continued to honour what he called “The Great Australian Silence”, which was not only a silence on the telling of an alternative history, but also a silencing of Indigenous voices as well. This photographic series was made as a way of remembering, acknowledging and honouring some of those voices that have been silent in the past. And by remembering the past we give a space and a platform to the voices and stories of the present.

I continue to walk two worlds. I dream of a day that we, as First Peoples, only need to walk one. This will only happen when this country fully recognises its traumatic history and the impact on First Peoples and is willing to take real action. The apology presented the first of these opportunities

– Eliza Pross



This series is photographed with a large-format camera and expired film. The treatment of the images is intended to stimulate memories, thus becoming a landscape which contains deeply embedded memories and speaks of attachment to a time and place. Expired film enhances random chemical aberrations, exaggerating the imperfections of the marks on the surface of the film. The imperfections and distortion of the film are reflective of the irretrievable past, where memory is blurred and altered by the passing of time. These wounds on the surface of the film are reflective of the scars of history and, like our own personal history, remain etched within us.

I was born in Berry – at that time Aboriginal women were not allowed in the hospital so I was born in a shed out the back

– Aunty Grace



The photographic landscapes are paired with portraits in order to emphasise the importance of belonging: to the land, to a people, and to a history. The stolen generations were not only removed from their families but they were also removed from their history and their place of belonging. It is only recently that we, as a nation, have began to understand the immeasurable effect of this and to try to move forward towards a place of reconciliation.