Sister Kate’s Home Kids Aboriginal Corporation (SKHKAC) will this week take ownership of a bush block that sits opposite the former Sister Kate’s Children’s Home as a new place of healing and remembrance for Stolen Generations survivors, their families, and the wider community.
The bush block played a huge role in the young lives of Sister Kate’s Homees, who used to escape the harsh realities of life at the Children’s Home to reconnect with Country, family, and the natural world.
The bush block was a place of safety for children who were removed from their families at a young age as part of Australia’s assimilation policies.
SKHKAC CEO Tjalaminu "Tj" Mia said getting the bush block divested is an opportunity to heal from the trauma that has impacted Sister Kate’s Homees after they were taken from their families and placed at the Sister Kate’s Children’s Home from 1934-1975.
“When the Government’s Native Welfare Department placed us in the Home and trained us as young domestic servants this oppressed us further because it was really about assimilating us into servitude, which was the way of the world for our parents and grandparents over the generations. It was to breed out the black and assimilate us into a white world devoid of any of our Aboriginal identity and cultural heritage,” Tj said.
“We had heartbroken parents, heartbroken grandparents, our communities were torn apart, and we were heartbroken ourselves. We were left trying to pick up the pieces and ask how do we fix this when we finally came together as adults looking at what healing did we need as Stolen Generations survivors.
“The bush block is a place where we can sit down with people and start to tell the truth about what happened at the Home.”
The first children were taken to Sister Kate’s in 1934 from the Moore River Native Settlement at the direction of A.O. Neville, Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia.
Truth Telling is very important to the survivors of SKHKAC. They no longer want to collude with the lies from those days.
“We understand now exactly what went on and what was the truth behind this dark history of Australia’s past that we as Aboriginal children were part of,” Tj said.
“When we walk the bush block and share our Stories, people want to know, they want to understand what happened to us.
“We get to sit down in the bush, in cultural and emotional silence, and we speak our Truth so others can know the Truth, too. It takes a lot to open-up wounds and share what happened.
“It means everything to us, to get hold of that land and build a place of healing, but it goes deeper than that for us Home kids. It was a place from our childhood that bought us serenity, it bought us connection to Country, it bought us connection to the natural world.”
The 2.7ha bush block in Queens Park is being divested to SKHKAC by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) on Thursday, along with a grant from Lotterywest that will see the site developed into a healing place for Stolen Generations survivors and the broader community to come together on Country.
Wildflowers on the bush block have been brought back to life by the Homees of Sister Kate’s after years of neglect.
Tj said that SKHKAC has used the imagery of the wildflower as its icon of healing. A symbol of freedom that was denied to the children for so long.
“We were just kids. We couldn’t articulate it then, but that’s where we had freedom on that bush block. We could run free in the wildflowers,” Tj said.
“The symbolism of the wildflower heals us. I used to lay in the wildflowers as a kid, I am the living memory of the importance of that bush block.
“We were engrossed by the natural world. Us kids running barefoot on the bush block was restorative.
“We want to have a place of healing that’s accessible to all parts of the community.”
Many Homees from Sister Kate’s have now passed on. Those who remain don’t let what happened there define them.
“To have the land divested is an absolutely wonderful achievement and its come from our commitment, hard work, and resilience,” Tj said.
“It’s the power of us Homees and our sustainable organisation with reference to place of belonging.
“We don’t want to walk on this healing journey alone. We want to walk with the whole community and that’s why that bush block and place of healing is so important to us.”
The bush block also provides an amazing opportunity for SKHKAC to build capacity within the organisation and continue to expand on the programs they already offer.
A ceremony to celebrate this milestone achievement will be held on Thursday 25 August from 10am-12pm at the Canning Shire Offices. SKHKAC Homees and their families invite the media to attend this milestone event where Minister Buti and representatives of Lotterywest and ILSC will be in attendance and available for comment.
You can view the concept plan for the place of healing here.
You can also read about the history of Sister Kate’s Home here.
Sister Kate’s Home Kids Aboriginal Corporation is a not-for-profit, charitable status Stolen Generations organisation, that deliver a wide range of cultural healing programs to heal, empower and develop leadership in Sister Kates Home Kids and their families, other Stolen Generations groups, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and their children, and share cultural perspectives with the wider community.
