Koorie Family History Service

KOORIE FAMILY HISTORY SERVICE

Knowing who you are and where you come from is an essential part of identity and pride for Koorie people and our aim is to be a part of this process of rebuilding pride for the individuals and families we assist.

Our objectives

Our main objective is to be a part of our community’s healing process through “knowing who you are and where you come from, finding families, rebuilding communities”. We view our role as an important part of creating a sense of wellbeing in the Koorie community through providing knowledge of family and ancestors. Koorie people have been dispossessed of this knowledge through the policies and practices of past governments, including the taking away of children from family and community.

What we do

Our aim, through providing an individual client-based service, is to build a collection of Koorie family trees and genealogy information that can become a resource for the Koorie community. This family tree database will be a valuable tool for Koories searching for family, cultural and historical knowledge.

We assist members of the Stolen Generations, Koories in custody and Koorie communities to trace their family history and access records including:

  • Create family trees for members of the Stolen Generations through the sourcing of birth/death/marriage information
  • Support Koories in custody and members of the Koorie community to create their direct family tree
  • Access personal records on behalf of clients from non-government archives, such as orphanages and children’s homes
  • Search government archives for information on family members
  • Gain copies of written material that relates to an individual’s family tree and helps to create a sense of their family history
  • Provide cultural information
  • Referrals to support providers
  • Provide family history advice for people searching for their heritage if we are unable to take them on as clients

Who do we help

The Service has an “open door” policy – we will do our best to assist anyone who comes to us for support or advice. However, because we have limited funds and therefore limited staff time, we are unable to take on everyone as a client. We have to prioritise who we can help according to our funding requirements and program guidelines. For those we cannot take on as clients, we will provide search advice and appropriate referrals.

We will take on case files from:

  • The Stolen Generations, members of their family and their descendants
  • People separated from their Koorie family through family breakdown or adoption
  • Koories in custody
  • The Koorie community

The Stolen Generations

The Koorie Family History Service was established from recommendations of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families presented in the 1997 Bringing Them Home report. The Service was created specifically to assist members of the Stolen Generations and their families to access family history records and cultural information. Our first priority is therefore to help Stolen Generations clients and their families.

We have a broad understanding of the term “Stolen Generations” as we believe it encompasses Koorie people who may not officially be termed “stolen” but have been removed or separated from their Koorie family and therefore from their culture, heritage and identity. This also includes Koorie people whose parents or grandparents have been taken from their families, as their links to culture, heritage and identity have been affected.

Koories in custody

Another high priority group for the Service is Koories in custody. We have been funded to provide an outreach service to Koories in gaols and juvenile detention centres as: ”There is a clear correlation between the breakdown of Aboriginal families, involvement of children in the protection and care system, and subsequent contact with the justice system.”
Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement (1999)

Clients in custody are also a high priority for the Service as there are many Koories inside who do not have links to their culture and history. These clients cannot undertake family history searches without someone on the outside acting on their behalf.

The Koorie community

The Service has been funded to assist the Koorie community to find links to family, culture and heritage. This is especially important as Koorie people and communities often exist at a level of disadvantage disproportionate to the rest of the Australian community, or live in rural areas where service provision is not as extensive as it may be in metropolitan areas.

Working to assist individual members of the community also assists the Service with our aim of developing a collection of family trees and genealogy information that will provide a valuable resource for people, such as the Stolen Generations who are still searching for their family.

Contact us on (03) 8622 2600 or by email familyhistory@koorieheritagetrust.com

We do not take on the following as clients:

  • Proof of Aboriginality requests
  • People who do not fit the Koorie Family History Service criteria