The McGowan Government today announced a Lotterywest grant of $310,000 to Bringing Them Home Western Australia Inc and the WA Stolen Generations Alliance to support commemorative events and healing initiatives.
The funding will be used on a range of innovative projects led by Yokai, the flagship Aboriginal healing project developed by Bringing Them Home and WA Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation, created as a result of the appalling period of our nation's history between 1910 and 1970 when tens of thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to church and government run institutions.
Yokai has been operating for three years and has developed constructive and creative relationships with universities, government agencies and community-based organisations.
Their innovative and collaborative work ensures the experiences of the stolen generations and the descendants of the people who survived the trauma of that era are appropriately recognised as a basis of building resilience and healing.
That Yokai works from the Murray Street office that AO Neville, the most infamous architect of the stolen generations policies, was stationed is a poignant irony and highlights the triumph of resilience and the human spirit.
Comments attributed to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt:
"It is a great honour to be able to be a part of the great work both Lotterywest and the Yokai project do. The wonderful people who have led the WA Stolen Generations and Bringing Them Home organisations in the healing and recovery process that the shocking legacy of the stolen generations has left us deserve our support.
"I know from my own family experiences that this period of history had devastating and cruel impacts. I also know that the power of resilience within Aboriginal families and communities has the capacity to heal the scars of the past."
