One day after a new report from Reconciliation Australia launched last week stating that Australia is ready for truth-telling the nation was confronted and saddened by news of the potential unmarked graves of Aboriginal boys at the notorious Kinchela boarding home.

The news prompted Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, to call for an investigation into the claims, whilst experts are now suggesting broadening investigations to include the many sites of former Aboriginal boarding homes and missions is needed.

Bardi Kija person, education specialist and Oxford scholar Sharon Davis told National Indigenous Times if Stolen Children's graves are found in clandestine burial sites at the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home grounds, "surely there will be further investigation into the grounds surrounding other institutions across the country".

Professor Peter Yu, a Yawuru man and Vice President (First Nations) at the Australian National University, told National Indigenous Times "we have to wait to see what the investigation finds in relation to this and I believe the Minister has called for one".

Professor Peter Yu from the Australian National University. (Video: Jess Whaler - National Indigenous Times)

Professor Yu has been a proud advocate for the social, cultural and economic advancement and well-being of Kimberley and other Aboriginal communities for more than forty years.

"We have to deal with this on a factual basis, it's a highly emotional subject for all Aboriginal people. I just think that there hasn't been enough attention paid to this," he said.

"Many of our families were in government institutions, or government and church institutions. The nature of the collusion in terms of the policy that existed more generally and broadly between the countries that were colonised and the way they treated Aboriginal people personally, I wouldn't be surprised.

"We've seen what's happened in Ireland and we've seen what's happened in Canada, there's been a reckoning of that. And I would speculate that we are potentially dealing with something much bigger than we realise here."

In 2021 the ABC reported Noongar Elders and surviving members of the Stolen Generation had been asking what became of "the kids that never came back", and where are they buried.

Sharon Davis said Noongar people have been asking for support to identify the unmarked graves of at least 50 children for years.

"This fight is still ongoing."

Following a year-long investigation into Aboriginal missions and boarding homes in Western Australia, Guardian Australia reported that more than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, were most likely buried with no record at just three church and government-run missions in Western Australia: Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia.

"Indigenous survivors of KBHAC and other missions or children's homes in Australia have waited long enough. Truth-telling is an important part of healing for Stolen Generations survivors; they deserve justice and reparations," said Sharon Davis.

Reconciliation Australia's new report titled 'Recognising community truth-telling: An exploration of local truth-telling in Australia' highlighted that eighty three percent of the general community and eighty seven percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples believed that Australia should undertake formal truth-telling processes.

The report made several recommendations, with the first being that funding and support for truth-telling initiatives needs to be provided at all levels, including local, state, and Federal. It also said that support should come from both the private sector and government.

It also states that Survivors of Kinchela Boys Home and Cootamundra Girls Home are seeking to reclaim the sites of their violation at as sites of healing, recovery, memory and education.

Adjunct Professor Victoria Grieves Williams, an Aboriginal historian with expertise in decolonisation and Truth Telling, was chair of the advisory committee to the research project of the report.

"In this connection I know that ordinary people can work in ways to bring about better relationships through dealing with painful histories. This is happening already in settler colonial contexts in the USA and Canada as well as Australia," she said.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, has previously said: "When we think about the effect that a national truth-telling process would have on Australia, it's remarkable.

"The Uluru Statement talks about three things: It talks about an enshrined Voice in the Constitution, but it also talks about the establishment of a Makarrata commission that would have two jobs — treaty and agreement-making, and also truth-telling."

Truth Telling is a process that is also backed by Blak Sovereign Movement Senator Lidia Thorpe, who said she would support the Voice to Parliament if the Federal government were to commit to Truth Telling through the establishment of a Truth and Justice Commission and implementing the recommendations made in the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report, in addition to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

The Bringing Them Home Report, was created following a National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families. It details accounts of the tragedy and grief suffered by survivors of forced removal, some of who are no longer with us to see justice or recognition. The report made many recommendations to assist with providing justice and peace to the victims.

The Healing Foundation is a non-partisan organisation that has undertaken significant work in this space to document and acknowledge the stories of survivors of these institutions, to educate the broader population and to assist with the healing of trauma.

In 2021, the foundation produced a report 'Make Healing Happen' which also references the report "Despite the 1997 Bringing them Home report, the 2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations, and many other inquiries, there has still been no systematic government response to the needs and rights of Stolen Generations survivors and their descendants."

Evidence suggests there is significant First Nations support for implementing the recommendations of the Bringing them Home Report, which has been available for twenty six years. Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul Woman Vanessa Turbull-Roberts recently told ABC's Q&A that Aboriginal people have always had a voice but have never been listened to.

The Healing Foundation has created a range of educational and informative tools such as this interactive map of Aboriginal missions and boards that existed throughout the Stolen Generation period.

This story was updated 21 September