Speech given by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to the full Brisbane City Council Council Meeting, Tues 3rd June 2025

I rise to speak on the Sorry Day Breakfast on the 23rd of May. 

I attended the Sorry Day Breakfast hosted by Aunty Patricia Thompson, CEO of Link-Up, at Cranbrook Place. A former Aboriginal Girls Home at West End, which operated from 1900 to 1906 under the Queensland's Aboriginal Protection Act. During this time, Aboriginal girls and young women were forcibly removed from their families, held in the home under harsh and inhumane conditions while being trained to be domestic servants.

I couldn't help hold back my tears as I heard from Aunty Angelique as she told her story of struggle and loss. She spoke of her loss of identity and connection to her family and country. After many barriers and challenges Link-Up was able to assist her and her children in finding their long lost connections to their community. Tragically she never got to meet her mother. 😭 This is truly heartbreaking. 💔 Despite the ongoing trauma and suffering that was inflicted on her, Aunty Angelique showed resilience, kindness, compassion and love. She is an incredible First Nations woman.

The depth of harm that our successive governments have imposed on First Nations Peoples is unconscionable or immoral and is still ongoing to this very day.

The 23rd of May marks the 28th anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing them home report in the Australian Parliament in 1997 and commemorates Stolen Generations survivors, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly separated from their families in an attempt to assimilate them into white Australian culture during the 20th century.

The Bringing them home inquiry was a landmark truth-telling process, that highlighted the extent of Australia’s Stolen Generations history, and sharing this with the nation. 

In 1997 the report made multiple recommendations, yet almost 30 years on many crucial actions have not been implemented.

Link-Up (Qld) is an extraordinary organisation that provides support to reunite First Nations people with their families and communities, where contact has been lost due to forced removal, fostering, adoption or institutionalisation.

Thank you Aunty Pat and the Link-Up team for all your compassion, care, research and love.