On Friday 13 February 2026, Link-Up (Qld) CEO Patricia Thompson AM delivered a powerful keynote address at Parliament House in Canberra to attendees who had gathered to mark the 18th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. She was accompanied by Link-Up (Qld) Board Directors Faye Carr and Paul Sandow, caseworker Jack Webster and client Paul Robinson. Also in attendance were over 100 Stolen Generations survivors and descendants from across Australia, as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy.
Below is an excerpt from Patricia’s moving address, emphasising that healing for Stolen Generations survivors must extend beyond symbolic acknowledgement to urgent, tangible action, including the full implementation of the 1997 Bringing Them Home recommendations, the establishment of a Queensland Stolen Generations Redress Scheme, and a coordinated national commitment to long-term, survivor-led healing support.
I stand here today as a proud Aboriginal woman and the Chief Executive Officer of Link-Up (Qld) – a small but powerful, Aboriginal-led organisation that walks alongside Stolen Generations survivors and descendants on their healing journeys. I am a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji people from far north Queensland and the Wakka Wakka people from Cherbourg formerly known as Barambah.
I was born on the 28th November 1958 and removed from my birth mother Pamela and placed in the baby quarters at the Cherbourg Hospital. I was removed and placed there to be adopted out to non-Indigenous people. Such were the policies of the day to remove children from their mothers and to adopt them out to non-Indigenous people – in an attempt to assimilate us, to educate us, ‘give us a better life’ the records say…
On the 15th December 1958, 2 weeks after I was born, I was given or placed with Mick and Eileen Conlon, Eileen being my birth mother’s sister. They stood up to the ‘Protector’ on the mission, demanding that I remain in my family.
Two years later on the 16th November 1960 I was adopted by Mick and Eileen Conlon, my parents, the only parents I have known. I grew up calling my birth mother Aunty, but always knew that she was my birth mother, it was not a secret.
I often reflect on the courage and resilience of my parents to stand up to the authorities in those times when the Government, through the ‘Protector’ on Aboriginal missions, ruled every aspect of our lives.
My mother was a small, gentle woman. Her courage and determination though, changed the course of my life, allowing me to be adopted by her and grow up as a proud Aboriginal woman, forever grateful to have maintained my family and cultural connections because of her strength and love.
She was a truly incredible woman – not only did she adopt me, but she also raised many of her grandchildren and provided care and stability to countless others who needed it. She never sought recognition, but her kindness had a lasting impact on the lives of those around her.
She taught me respect, responsibility, and the importance of standing up for what is right. I am deeply aware that who I am today is a direct result of her care and determination.
My story is not unique. It reflects the experiences of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who sought to protect their children and maintain family connection in the face of government systems designed to undermine both.
We are all incredibly strong people. No matter how many times we’re knocked down, we continue to get back up, day after day. We are survivors, but we are far from healed.
Over the past fifty years – my working life, I’ve held various roles within the public service at local, state and federal levels and in community-led organisations, including my time as an elected ATSIC Commissioner and Regional Council Chair during the 1990’s and early 2000’s. In each role, I saw examples of genuine commitment to change.
Unfortunately, I have also seen far too many policies that speak to Stolen Generations survivors, rather than listen to them. And sadly, I’ve seen great opportunities for progress and healing scrapped or delayed under political and administrative pressure.
Of all the opportunities for hope and healing, for me the brightest was in 1997, with the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report following the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. The inquiry set the bar for community consultation and genuinely listening to survivors’ needs. Its subsequent report provided a clear roadmap for healing, including reparations, support services, truth-telling, and accountability.
It was this report in 1997 that recommended Australian Parliaments offer official apologies and acknowledge the responsibility of their predecessors, which led to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s famous words some eleven years later. It was one of 83 recommendations. Next year will be thirty years since the Bringing Them Home report was tabled, and currently only five of those 83 recommendations have been fully implemented. It makes me wonder: ‘what happened?’. It has now been 18 years since Prime Minister Rudd committed to ‘turning a new page’ and we’re still here, fighting for genuine change. I acknowledge that the report’s recommendations did not only target the federal government.
It pains me to acknowledge that Queensland remains the only jurisdiction yet to establish a redress scheme for Stolen Generations survivors, despite this being a key recommendation of the 1997 report. This is particularly troubling given Queensland’s distinct responsibility in this history; Around 20 per cent of all Stolen Generations survivors were removed in Queensland.
This is not a marginal issue. More than 6,000 survivors are still living in Queensland, and the impacts of their removal continue to affect tens of thousands of individuals, families and communities. The consequences are well documented. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that Stolen Generations survivors experience significantly higher rates of chronic illness, mental health conditions, housing insecurity and reliance on income support. These harms do not stop with survivors, but ripple across generations through intergenerational trauma, shaping the lives of their descendants and the wellbeing of families and communities across Queensland.
Every jurisdiction in Australia has acknowledged this reality through the establishment of redress schemes, except for Queensland. How many Stolen Generations survivors have died without ever seeing justice, and how many more will pass away before action is finally taken?
Survivors in Queensland, many of whom are elderly, have been forced to watch as their peers in other states and territories receive a long-overdue step towards genuine healing. We are not asking for charity or pity. We are seeking recognition, fairness, and dignity. Ageing survivors deserve to spend their remaining years knowing that their experiences have been acknowledged – not only in words, but through tangible and practical support.
At Link-Up (Qld), we have prepared a comprehensive submission to the Queensland Government recommending the urgent establishment of a Queensland Stolen Generations Redress Scheme. The submission is survivor-informed, evidence-based, and grounded in decades of service delivery and lived experience. We believe the strength of the case warrants serious consideration, and we remain committed to respectful and constructive engagement.
We welcome the opportunity for ongoing dialogue with the Queensland Government and will formally present the submission to the Attorney-General, Deb Frecklington, and the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Fiona Simpson, who have kindly agreed to meet with us next month.
For many survivors, the 2008 National Apology was a deeply meaningful moment and an important step forward towards truth and justice. Many of us remember it well. I recall an overwhelming feeling of hope as then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced what he described as “turning a new page in our nation’s history”. It was an uplifting moment, though it is with mixed emotions that I now look back on that day 18 years ago and reflect on what genuine change has occurred since.
We remain hopeful that the establishment of a Queensland Stolen Generations Redress Scheme can be Queensland’s “turning of the page moment”.
I also wish to acknowledge that although other jurisdictions around the country have established redress schemes, many were delivered inadequately. In addition to reparations, all states and territories have much work to do if they genuinely seek to improve survivor wellbeing and address intergenerational impacts.
As outlined by the Healing Foundation in its recent report titled ‘Are You Waiting for Us to Die?: The Unfinished Business of Bringing Them Home’, all governments must commit to a coordinated, long-term national healing package that strengthens survivor-led services, supports family tracing and reunions, invests in culturally safe healing and aged care, and ensures accountability for addressing intergenerational harm.
From what we at Link-Up (Qld) see and hear on-the-ground, working with survivors and their families every day, these recommendations must not be ignored. We do not need new inquiries to investigate and re-traumatise our people – we need the remaining 94% of the Bringing Them Home report’s recommendations to be implemented.
I want to be clear that in calling for stronger government action, I am not suggesting that Stolen Generations survivors and families are dependent on government support. Survivors have always shown the capacity to initiate and lead their own healing, and much of the healing that has occurred over the past decades has been survivor-driven.
However, survivors have too often been forced to carry this work largely on their own – seeking truth, reclaiming identity, reconnecting with family and culture, and fighting for justice in the absence of the government support that should have been there from the beginning. Survivors are incredibly resilient and deeply determined to heal.
Today, I am honoured to be joined here in Canberra by two Stolen Generations survivors whose lives and leadership reflect this truth.
Paul Sandow, a Director of Link-Up (Qld), is with us today. Paul is also featured in one of the light boxes around the room, which I think is a powerful reminder that the histories we speak about are not abstract or distant, but lived and present.
Paul is a Darumbal and Wakka Wakka man who was separated from his family as a child and raised under the Aboriginals Protection Act at Cherbourg. Like so many boys and girls in the dormitory system, he grew up without the security of family life, with cultural connection actively suppressed and identity deliberately withheld. The ‘domo boys’ he lived alongside became his brothers. And some of those brothers are also here today.
Paul’s later attempts at reconnection were complex and painful. He experienced not only separation from family, but exclusion from the only place he had ever called home – told at one point by law enforcement that he was not welcome back in Cherbourg.
Yet despite this, Paul has rebuilt his life, reclaimed his identity, and strengthened his connections to family and community. Today, he is a proud father and grandfather, deeply connected to his sisters, and a respected leader.
As a Board Director of Link-Up (Qld), Paul brings lived experience into governance and advocacy. His leadership ensures that decisions remain grounded in the realities of survivors’ lives, and that no one is expected to navigate the long journey to healing alone.
Also accompanying me today is a client of Link-Up (Qld), Paul Robinson. Paul’s experience speaks powerfully to the importance of identity, truth and self-determination.
For much of his life, Paul was denied access to his full identity. Yet through persistence and determination, and with the support of our incredible research team, Paul has now reclaimed much of that knowledge. He now proudly identifies as a man of two nations, Tibra and Bundjalung, and speaks of the profound impact that knowing his heritage has had on his sense of self.
Paul’s journey was not quick or easy. It required patience, resilience and a willingness to engage with systems not designed for healing. But his story is not one of defeat. It’s a remarkable story of persistence, and a reminder that healing is not only about addressing past harm, but about enabling people to rebuild their own sense of peace and belonging.
I know there are many other survivors present today who could share their own stories of healing through self-determination. Each has found ways to keep going, to heal, and to advocate – often quietly, often without recognition, and too often without adequate support.
I acknowledge you all, and I thank you for your strength and continued determination to seek justice. Your persistence and leadership remind us that survivors are not defined by what was taken from them, but by the dignity, resilience and leadership you demonstrate in the face of adversity.
For more than forty years, Link-Up (Qld) has walked alongside survivors and their families through such healing journeys.
Established in 1984, Link-Up (Qld) was created in response to the growing calls from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forced removal for support to reconnect with family, culture and identity – long before national apologies, inquiries or policy frameworks existed. From the beginning, our work has been grounded in the simple but profound understanding that healing begins with truth and connection.
Every day, our organisation supports survivors and descendants to access records, trace family histories, reunite with family, return to country, and navigate the complex emotional terrain that accompanies reconnection. This includes counselling support, reunion facilitation, research, advocacy and practical assistance – all delivered in ways that are culturally-safe, survivor-led and trauma-informed.
This important work is carried out by an extraordinary team of people. Our researchers, caseworkers, counsellors and administrative staff bring skill, compassion and deep commitment to their roles. What unites us is a shared belief in the dignity of survivors and a determination to support healing in ways that respect lived experience.
Much of this work is unseen. It happens in long phone calls, quiet conversations, careful and thorough research, and moments of trust built over months or years.
It requires patience, cultural knowledge, and emotional strength, particularly given the weight of vicarious trauma carried by those working so closely with survivors’ stories. Yet our team continues this work with integrity, care and resilience, because they understand what is at stake.
Link-Up organisations across the country have carried this responsibility for decades. We have done so despite inconsistent funding, shifting policy priorities and long delays in government action. And we will continue to do so, because survivors and their families cannot wait.
We will remain alongside survivors, families and communities for as long as support is needed, before, during and beyond the time when governments are genuinely committed to ‘turning a new page’ in our nation’s history.
Whilst today is a special day, healing is not a moment. It is not a speech, a report, or an anniversary. It is a responsibility. If governments are serious about turning a new page, then that page must be written through action. The roadmap has already been written for you – survivors outlined their needs almost thirty years ago. The question before governments now is not what to do, but whether they have the courage to act. Time is not on the side of survivors, and justice delayed is justice denied.
Thank you.
Thank you to the Healing Foundation for hosting our delegation in Canberra.
Published February 2026.