The newsletter will keep you up to date with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs' (FaHCSIA) programs and announcements of interest to the Stolen Generations, including events, funding opportunities and policies.
We also want to highlight the fantastic work being achieved by Stolen Generations' members and organisations across the country. So if you or your organisation has an upcoming activity or project that you would like us to include in future editions of the newsletter, please contact us with the information.
We would also love to share creative works, so contributions to our Expressions Section are more than welcome!
You will receive the newsletter every three months; however, we will send you email updates if anything important arises in the mean time that cannot wait until the next edition.
Name the Newsletter
FaHCSIA would like your help in naming this newsletter! This will be a quarterly newsletter, with information from Government about Stolen Generations' activities and initiatives and will share the latest news and stories from our readers. We are looking for a catchy title that captures the themes and ideas for our newsletter. If you have any ideas, see the bottom of the newsletter for contact information. The winner will also receive a special prize pack!
Budget Announcements
Expansion of the Link-Up Program
In the recent 2009-10 Budget, the Government announced an additional $13.8 million over four years to expand the Link-Up program and provide Stolen Generations' Newsletter additional caseworkers to help more members of the Stolen Generations trace, locate and reunite with their families. The additional funding will allow up to 140 'Return to Country' and institutional reunions.
Link-Up is managed by the Department of Health and Ageing. For further information call 02) 6289 5381 or go to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
The Healing Foundation
On the 13 February 2009, the first anniversary of the motion of Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, the Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs announced the establishment of an Indigenous Healing Foundation. The 2009-10 Budget provided $26.6 million over four years for the Foundation which will address trauma and aid healing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with a focus on the Stolen Generations.
Consultations on a preferred model for the Healing Foundation were held from May to August 2009.
A report on the consultations will be provided to Government in September.
For more information on the Healing Foundation call 1800 724 185, go to FaHCSIA's website or email healingfoundation@fahcsia.gov.au
Have you got an upcoming event or program?
If you would like information about your next event included in future editions of the newsletter just call, email or fax us the details. It’s as easy as that!
Oral History Project
FaHCSIA is currently working with the National Library of Australia and the Stolen Generations’ Testimonies Foundation on projects to record the personal stories of the Stolen Generations’.
The National Library of Australia (NLA) plans to make many of the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project interviews, recorded between 1999 and 2002 available online through their web catalogue. NLA will be contacting those interviewed previously to ask them about making the interviews more easily available. A lot has happened since that project, and NLA is also interested in re-interviewing a number of Stolen Generations' members who were recorded in the project to record their stories and feelings since the National Apology. If you participated in the 2002 Oral History Project, the Library's Oral History team would love to hear from you, contact 02) 6262 1545 or email oralhist@nla.gov.au
The Stolen Generations' Testimonies Foundation will undertake a new pilot project recording the stories of around 30 Stolen Generations members on film, in a short documentary style. These stories will then be made available in an online format on a dedicated website. For more information on the Stolen Generations' Testimonies Oral History Project contact the Foundation on email info@kanyini.com
Do you need more information? Would you like to add a person or organisation to our mailing list? Contact us on the details below. We are happy to help!
Grants and Funding Opportunities
Stolen Generations' Organisations Small Grants Funding
FaHCISA recently provided funding to 34 organisations across the country to assist them to better meet the needs of the Stolen Generations at the grassroots level.
The one-off funding was provided to organisations for activities and projects aimed directly at assisting Stolen Generations' members, such as peer support projects, healing camps, art therapy sessions and the production and distribution of local newsletters.
For information on current FaHCSIA funding opportunities see the Grants and Funding page.
Volunteer Grants 2009 - call for applications now open
Grants to Support Volunteering
Volunteers play a crucial role in our communities and are the backbone of many organisations. The Australian Government has announced that $21 million will be provided to non-profit organisations that are supported by volunteers. Grants between $1000 and $5000 are available to purchase equipment, such as tools, computers, air conditioners, and to assist in covering the cost of petrol.
Applications opened on 14 August and close 25 September 2009.
For more information call the Volunteer Grants toll-free Hotline on 1800 183 374. More information and an online application can also be found at: Volunteer Grants 2009
Other Funding Opportunities
There are a wide variety of funding opportunities available to Stolen Generations' organisations through both Federal and State Government departments and through Non-Government organisations.
GrantsLINK is a website thathelps you find funding available under a variety of programs for individuals, businesses and communities to help you to develop solutions to local and national problems, fund ideas and initiatives or provide assistance in times of hardship. GrantsLINK lists Commonwealth, state and local government grants and funding programs and can be found at GrantsLINK directory
Express Yourself
The Expressions Section will showcase written and visual art from Stolen Generations’ members. We would love to share your work or the work of your members with others around the country.
To submit a piece, simply email, fax or post the work, and don’t forget to include your name and city/town. We also need approval from the artist agreeing for their work to be shown in the newsletter.
Remember that it needs to fit on the newsletter, so pictures must be A4 size or smaller and written works should not exceed 500 words. If you are emailing us a picture, please send it in jpeg format.
Expressions Section
The first poem was written by Lorraine Peeters. Lorraine, a Stolen Generations' member, presented Prime Minister The Hon Kevin Rudd MP with a glass coolamon on behalf of the Stolen Generations after he gave the National Apology in Parliament in 2008.
Lorraine is also the 2009 NSW Senior Australian of the Year. She has played a vital role in the healing journey of many people, through her program Winangali-Marumali and her Marumali model of healing.
The Seed of Life
The seed of life within
Laying dormant for many years
Has now blossomed.
As each new branch grows strong
It is another pain I have overcome
I know my tree of life
Will never be fully developed
I can live with this.
The weak part of the tree
Will always survive
From all the love
It continues to receive
From those who care.
The second poem is by Elizabeth Miller, from Wamboin NSW. Elizabeth, a Stolen Generations’ member, is a participant on this year’s FaHCSIA Indigenous Leadership Program and has recently returned from the first workshop in Cairns.
I Am Here
Her mother’s womb was ripe and young
Puberty so naïve
Words capture the innocent
And force the young to believe
Inside she carried the little one
A child within a child survives
The mother’s innocence, all but gone
Unjust times, parts two lives
The child’s skin was light you see
First offerings to place
The baby’s chosen captivity
Then gone without trace
Her people out there remember her
But she doesn’t remember them
They know she exists somewhere
Questioning through time of when
When will the child come home?
Say her people of the land
When will we see this woman?
Her footprints marking the sand
Our kinship chain was broken
The day they took her away
Overwhelming pain for the lost one
They carry from day to day
Faraway a woman sits quietly
A fire keeps her warm
The love from family surrounds her
A part deep inside is torn
Did she hold me in her arms?
As I took my first breaths
Or was she deprived of that first touch
And left with an empty death
Maturity creates the wonder
Of a time long ago
Unknown thoughts spiral
Imagination voices, maybe so
Her journey home has been a long one
As the ending comes so near
Her footprints will mark the land
And take away her fear
For this woman now knows within
As she thinks of her first mother
Her love is with one family
Her spirit is with another
To all my people
May your truth find justice from past tribulations
May your search come to an end I pray for you
Contact us
Email StolenGenerations@fahcsia.gov.au
Phone 1800 081 549
Mail
Building Sector Capacity Section
Indigenous Leadership and Engagement Group
P.O Box 7576
Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Do you have any feedback or ideas for the newsletter? Let us know, we look forward to hearing what you think.
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