Intergenerational trauma and the Stolen Generations

If Stolen Generations survivors don’t have the opportunity to heal from trauma, they’re likely to live in a state of distress, which can lead to a range of negative outcomes for themselves and their descendants.

Healing Foundation - Intergenerational trauma, Healing Foundation, Barton, Canberra, [n.d.], healingfoundation.org.au/ intergenerational-trauma, accessed 3 June 2023.

Bringing them home

Every First Nations person in Australia has some familial connection to children forcibly removed by government policies between 1910 and 1970. Though many of these government policies have been abolished, government agencies are still taking children away today.

The 1997 Bringing them home report documents experiences arising from these government practices. The term ‘Stolen Generations’ has been in use ever since.

Stolen Generations survivors can pass on the effects of institutionalisation, finding it difficult to nurture when they have experienced harsh treatment and not had much experience of nurturing themselves.

References: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children From Their Families, Bringing them home, Australian Human Rights Commission, Sydney, 1997, humanrights.gov.au/our-work/bringing-them-home-report-1997 and Healing Foundation, Intergenerational trauma: https://healingfoundation.org.au/intergenerational-trauma/

Intergenerational trauma and the stolen generations

June Oscar AO
Previous CEO of Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre

Video length: 1m 49s

Professor Judy Atkinson

"We continue to remove children considered at risk of harm from their families (despite the fact that laws enabling forced removal no longer exist) and place them off country and in out-of-home care. There are now more First Nations children in out-of-home care than at any other time in our history."


Professor Judy Atkinson has written powerfully about the intergenerational and transgenerational transmission of trauma, arguing that many of the challenges in First Nations communities – be it alcohol and substance use, mental health issues, poverty, family violence or contact with the justice system – are symptomatic of the effects of this unresolved trauma.

Reference: J Atkinson, Trauma trails recreating song lines: The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia, Spinifex Press, Melbourne, 2002

Complex harms

The former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO, makes a strong connection between trauma and other complex harms, including the prevalence of FASD in the Fitzroy Valley, Western Australia, and beyond:


"The trauma our communities have sustained has brought into being complex harms, of which FASD is one of the most damaging. With a better understanding of trauma, we will overcome its harmful effects, and make fetal alcohol spectrum disorder history. We will allow our societal strengths to flourish again as we confront, heal and put an end to all forms of harm caused by intergenerational trauma."

Reference: J Oscar, Our patron, Marulu Strategy, 2023, www.marulustrategy.com.au/pages/our-patron, accessed 28 July 2023

The US Without Abuse Campaign

The US Without Abuse campaign is a proud collaboration between Kimberley Community Legal Services and the Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre, two organisations deeply rooted in the Kimberley community. Together, we are the US behind US, united in our mission to create a brighter, stronger, and safer Kimberley for everyone.

This initiative is about shifting the narrative from one of despair to one of strength and recognising the vital role the community plays in making this change happen. It’s a message of hope, unity, and action: that together, we can be the change we need. To support this, we have created resources to inspire and empower individuals and families across the Kimberley. For those experiencing abuse or affected by it, we are here to help and support you on your journey toward safety and healing. Because US is better without abuse.

View the US without abuse website.