The Yoorrook Justice Commission is Australia's first formal truth-telling inquiry, exposing a violent past long buried in the nation's consciousness. Bridget Brennan has been working with Four Corners and the ABC's Indigenous Affairs team to document the powerful testimonies emerging from this groundbreaking royal commission in Victoria.
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00:00What's the significance of this mission, Lake Conda mission, where we are now in southwest
00:07Victoria to your own family?
00:10Yeah, it's a deep, deep personal connection first and foremost.
00:16Like, you know, I feel quite emotional every time I come home.
00:21After his family were rounded up here, some of Travis's relatives were stolen from this
00:26mission as children.
00:29People were taken from here, you know, my dad wasn't taken from here, but his siblings
00:32were taken from this country, this land here.
00:36And you know, it's, it's, it's deeply troubling, you know, again, this is the stolen generation.
00:44These are the remnants of the segregation era in Australia, aren't they?
00:48They sure are.
00:49They're a continual reminder that, that of the segregation around our people from non-Aboriginal
00:55people.
00:56They were never, ever considered as equals.
01:00And again, treated horrifically for just being born as an Aboriginal person.
01:06Do you often come across Australians who tell you they don't know about this history?
01:10Every day I hear people say, I didn't know about this, why didn't I learn?
01:15And again, it's, I understand that because I went through the Australian schooling system
01:19as well.
01:20We're not asking people to say, sorry, but we're asking people to open their minds,
01:24to open their hearts to the full story.