Eileen Cummings was raised by missionaries on remote Croker Island, off the Top End's north coast, for decades unaware that her family was living just across the water.

"Years later we found that if I went across the bay (Van Diemen Gulf)... I would've got to my country, but in those days, we didn't know where we were," she said.

"We had nothing, we didn't have our parents, we didn't have our community, we didn't have our country and we were put on a mission that we didn't know anything about."

Now the chair of the NT Stolen Generations Corporation, Ms Cummings was four years old and living on Mainoru Station, halfway between Katherine and Nhulunbuy, when a native affairs officer took her from her family.

"They said to me, 'You wanna come for a ride?' I thought I was just going for a ride on the truck, so I jumped on the truck like all little children do," she said.

Ms Cummings was kept in a police cell until other Aboriginal children from the area were picked up, and she eventually ended up at the Croker Island mission.

She's one of 150 Stolen Generations members still alive in the NT who have sent letters to federal ministers calling for the Commonwealth to follow other states' leads in creating a compensation scheme.

About 2,000 Aboriginal children in the NT were removed from their families by Government officers and taken to seven different missions between 1905 and 1969.

The NT was governed by the Commonwealth during that period, and Ms Cummings said the onus remained with the Federal Government to provide redress for victims.

"We've got the lawyer who did the NSW compensation claims... he drafted up a letter for us to send to the Prime Minister and all the senators," said Ms Cummings.

Lost records an obstacle to compensation

Lawyer Maithri Panagoda wrote to the NSW Government on behalf of that state's Stolen Generations and in December 2016 a compensation package was created.

"We have been very successful in settling 185 claims (in NSW) so far, so we want to try and introduce the model to the Territorian members of the Stolen Generations," Mr Panagoda said.

In 2000, the Federal Court in Darwin rejected two critical claims for compensation on behalf of the NT Stolen Generations.

Mr Panagoda said there were many barriers to prevent victims succeeding in suing the Government for compensation.

"The statutory limitation periods... loss of records, fading memories, a lot of people have passed away who could have been witnesses," he said.

"I don't think litigation through the court process is the answer; we need to have an informal recognition and the Government to reconsider their position to do some justice."

Claire Henty-Gebert says she doesn't think compensation could restore what she has lost. ( ABC News: Emma Vincent )

The Tasmanian and South Australian Governments have also set up reparations schemes for members of the Stolen Generations, while the Western Australian Government has set up a redress scheme, but only for people who have suffered abuse or neglect with ongoing effects.

In Victoria, a Stolen Generations member successfully sued the Government for compensation, which kicked off several other similar claims.

"We feel like we're the last people in Australia who have been addressed through compensation," said Ms Cummings.

Compensation 'won't fix anything'

Claire Henty-Gebert is 87, diehard Blues fan and a great-grandmother.

She's one of the oldest living Stolen Generations members in the NT, and grew up at The Bungalow mission in Alice Springs.

"My mum, there's no photos of her at all, whatsoever," she said.

Claire Henty-Gilbert says compensation "won't fix anything". ( ABC News: Emma Vincent )

"I went back to have a look for mum but no good, she gone. 'Two years they passed away,' they said, and no-one's got any photos of her."

Ms Henty-Gebert was born at Hatches Creek in Central Australia. Her mother was Aboriginal and her father was white, and she said compensation could not restore what she had lost.

"Getting compensation won't fix anything... my kids have made their lives for their children and brought their kids up good," she said.

"I can't think of anything fixing it; my children had to fix it themselves."

'Circumstances not clear'

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said it is necessary to determine who was responsible for the NT during the time of removals.

"The system or the jurisdiction or the organisation that's responsible for taking those individuals away will be responsible," he said.

Senator Scullion referenced the Commonwealth's contribution to compensation for abuse survivors of the Retta Dixon home in Darwin — many of whom were Stolen Generations members.

"We, the Commonwealth, were very swift to move because we had a specific role to pay and we were straight up in ensuring we compensated those people who were historically responsible for that immediately," Senator Scullion said.

"The circumstances in this case are nowhere near as clear and that's why I'm loathed to make any particular comment at this time."

But there were several other homes and missions that members were taken to across the NT.

Senator Scullion said the Federal Government had invested $44 million annually through NGOs to provide support for the Stolen Generations more generally, but would not commit to setting up a scheme to compensate individuals.