Thousands expected to join NT Stolen Generations class action

Thousands of Aboriginal Territorians are expected to join a class action demanding compensation for seven decades of forced removal from their families by the federal government.

• Class action to seek millions in compensation for forgotten NT Stolen Generations and descendants
• Indigenous Territory workers poised to sue for stolen wages

THOUSANDS of Aboriginal Territorians are expected to join a class action demanding compensation for seven decades of forced removal from their families by the federal government.

The Territory is among the last jurisdictions where victims of the Stolen Generations are yet to be compensated and Shine Lawyers special counsel Tristan Gaven said the lawsuit would seek to change that.

“We estimate that there are around 4000 to 6000 Northern Territory members of the Stolen Generation eligible to register for this class action,” he said.

“The Commonwealth was responsible for tearing apart Indigenous families in the Territory and it’s up to the Commonwealth to make amends.”

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Group member Heather Alley was nine years old when she was forcibly removed from her mother in Mataranka and taken thousands of kilometres away to NSW.

“I loved my mother and when she passed away, it took me thirty years to find the strength to even say her name — that’s how much the loss of her shook me,” she said.

“In my eighty-four years, I think I only ever got to spend eight with her and she was a good woman who loved me dearly.”

When she finally made it back to the Territory, Ms Alley was placed into St Mary’s Hostel in Alice Springs where she says she was flogged for no reason.

“I couldn’t understand why this was allowed to happen and I was very broken for many years,” she said.

“My mother never knew her mother. They’ve wiped away entire generations, like they never existed — I joined this class action because I believe our stories have to be told.”

Litigation Lending Services is funding the class action and its director, Warren Mundine, said Aboriginal Territorians deserved compensation for the Commonwealth’s “barbaric acts”.

“If this was to happen today, there would be serious public global outrage and criminal charges laid on all involved,” he said.

“The government needs to acknowledge that First Nations people will never know what life might have been like if this tragic theft of innocence and identity didn’t occur.”

To register, visit https://www.shine.com.au/service/class-actions/northern-territory-stolen-generations-class-action

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