Warrnambool protest highlights continued removal of Aboriginal children from their homes

Standing tall and proud were Jamal Thorpe, Tamika Clark, Tracy Roach and Bernie Clark against the blazing black, yellow and red of the Aboriginal Flag.

They hoped to open up a dialogue that afternoon with government workers, to tell them of the impact of the removal of Indigenous children from their families on National Sorry Day.

But no-one came out to meet them.

The trauma of being removed has impacted generations of the Roach family.

Tracy Roach and her five siblings were taken from their mother as young children. Before that, their mother was taken from the Framlingham Mission.

"I came back and reconnected the chains of what happened to my family many years ago," Ms Roach said.

"Mum was taken at 15 and never saw her mum and dad again.

"The cycle doesn't stop at the ones taken, it then goes further into the family.

"This is real, it's coming from someone who this has happened to.

"I want people to hear and know about what happened and bridge that gap, especially here in Warrnambool."

Ms Roach found her mum again at 17.

"I knocked on her front door and found her, I'm blessed - I'm one of the lucky ones who could come home and reconnect the chains," she said.

"I've been able to bring the family back this way now, the Roach-Austins, which is a big thing.

"We're back on Country, we're living diamonds."

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Since former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to Aboriginal people for the actions of past governments in 2008, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care has increased.

According to a Family Matters Report, there were 20,077 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care as of June 30 2019, representing one in every 16.6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in Australia.

Indigenous children were found to be almost 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children - an over-representation the report states has increased consistently during the last decade.

The report states that over-representation in out-of-home care has increased in every state and territory during the last decade. In 2019 it was highest in Western Australia (16.7), followed closely by Victoria (16.1).

Tracy's uncle is singer-songwriter Archie Roach, whose famous song 'Took The Children Away' told the world what really happened to Aboriginal children on missions like Framlingham in south-west Victoria.

"I'll never forget the first time hearing Uncle Archie sing 'Took The Children Away'," she said. "I was one of those children.

"Six of us were given away; three were lucky to be fostered to one family, and the other three of us all got separated.

"I was 17 when I realised my family wasn't my real family, I didn't understand it.

"I had applied for my birth certificate and it didn't exist. Mum had registered me as Dianne Roach, but I grew up as Tracy Lee."

Despite only meeting her siblings for the first time as an adult, she considers her family "one of the lucky ones."

"We were strangers because of what the stolen generations did to us," Ms Roach said.

"Uncle Archie took me to meet all my siblings and I said, who are they Uncle Archie?

"They're your brothers and sisters, he said.

"I want people to understand I was lucky, many of us didn't make it home and didn't get the chance to reconnect with their brothers and sisters."

Tracy is now a foster mum and takes in Aboriginal children to make sure they don't get removed completely from their culture.

"I now foster children myself, I'm a kinship carer, and I have two foster children that are my family.

"I never want what happened to me, to happen again.

"When they said sorry all those years ago, sorry means you don't do it again.

"The rate of Aboriginal children being removed is unbelievable, and the rate that don't go home is so sad.

"Here we still are in 2021 and kids are still being removed.

"Something needs to change.

"I know in some cases it is to help the child, but things can be done differently I believe."

She joins a chorus of people who believe the system needs reform from the ground up, starting with education.

"In school we were taught an Aboriginal person was someone who stood with one leg up holding a spear. That's not right.

"To be Aboriginal is to have a connection to everything.

"When people go to the beach and they pick up a shell, it's just a shell to them. But to me it's a whole lot more: I wonder, did my ancestors touch that shell?

"I never take anything from the beach for that reason, and that's how I explain that being Indigenous is to have that connection with everything, even to a tree.

"It's a connection to land, Country and family.

"Being part of the stolen generation that's what connected me back.

"That's why I want them to hear our stories, to make them see and understand that taking children away isn't always the answer.

"I don't know what I would do if anyone took my kids away.

"It's really sad to grow up without a mother's love. It doesn't matter what colour you are, everybody needs to grow up with a mum.

"Without it a part of you is lost."

Affected by this story? Phone Lifeline on 13 11 14. 24/7 Aboriginal crisis support is also available from Yarning SafeNStrong, 1800 959 563

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