Series
A time for truth: Yoorrook Justice Commission
The Yoorrook Justice Commission is Australia’s first truth-telling body inquiring into the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Victorians. Warning: This series includes images of people who have died.
‘We have to be part of the change’: Why Aunty Eva-Jo believes a treaty is key to Victoria’s future
The Yoorrook Justice Commission has revealed hard truths about injustices Indigenous people have suffered. Those who shared their stories tell what the priorities of Australia’s first treaty should be.
- Tony Wright
Faces of truth: Victorians fighting for a brighter Indigenous future
View the photo gallery of leaders and witnesses of the Yoorrook Justice Commission and read about the effects of colonisation on Indigenous Victorians and a shared path forward in their words.
- Justin Mcmanus, Selma Milovanovic and Tony Wright
Watch: Thousands join the Walk for Truth to confront Victoria’s colonial past
Commissioner Travis Lovett led more than 12,000 people over 500 kilometres in the Walk for Truth from Portland to Parliament House, a Yoorrook Justice Commission initiative to inform Victorians about colonisation’s impact.
- Opinion
The hot-take flying monkeys are circling again. It’s time they got out of the way
Victoria’s record suggests we either hate Indigenous people or don’t know what on earth we are doing.
- Chip Le Grand
‘Aqua nullius was a myth too’: Yoorrook puts claim on share of water billions
The inquiry says First Peoples are far removed from a resource fundamental to their culture.
- Kieran Rooney
- Updated
Truth-telling commission calls for compensation for Aboriginal Victorians
Land restitution and compensation are among redress options the government is considering.
- Kieran Rooney and Chip Le Grand
- Analysis
The final Yoorrook report delivers unapologetic truths
The recommendations offer a radical blueprint for Indigenous self-determination and a road map how to fund it.
- Chip Le Grand
- Exclusive
Yoorrook commission split over findings on injustices against Indigenous people
Only two of five Yoorrook commissioners presented the final reports to the Victorian governor and First Peoples’ leaders.
- Chip Le Grand and Daniella White
- Walk for Truth
500km and seven pairs of shoes later, Travis delivered a one-word message
Indigenous Victorians expect a treaty with the state as the Walk for Truth ends.
- Tony Wright
- Aboriginal Australia
Long walk begins where an ancient world ended for many in blood
The Walk for Truth starts in Portland, where Victoria’s first European settlers arrived in 1834.
- Tony Wright
66 dead children, 5400 abuse claims: State’s child-protection system under blowtorch
Most of the dead were under two, and were either inside or known to the system over four years.
- Kieran Rooney
My ancestor knew more about atrocities against Aboriginal people than he let on, inquiry told
Atrocities during the Frontier Wars must be honestly acknowledged, settlers’ descendants say.
- Tony Wright
- Analysis
How Indigenous people got zilch from a billion-dollar mining bonanza
The “stark reality” of economic exclusion imposed on Victoria’s First Peoples has been laid bare.
- Jack Latimore
‘Not enough to merely know history’, premier says
Commissioners warned Jacinta Allan to live up to her words before they quizzed her for hours.
- Jack Latimore
‘Destroy monuments to my family’: Settler descendant’s pain over massacres
A descendant of James Henty says her family had “enslaved” Indigenous people.
- Tony Wright
Push to open up compensation for Aboriginal Victorians who suffer human rights abuses
Yoorrook says changes to Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights are long overdue.
- Kieran Rooney and Jack Latimore
The blueprint to end Victoria’s ‘pipeline’ of Aboriginal kids into the justice system
Victoria’s truth-telling commission has called for urgent reforms.
- Jack Latimore and Kieran Rooney
- Updated
Victorian police chief apologises to First Peoples at truth-telling inquiry
Shane Patton admits many Indigenous Victorians fear the police uniform.
- Jack Latimore
- Updated
A-G: Justice system a ‘site of exclusion and oppression’ for Aboriginal people
Jaclyn Symes says laws have entrenched racism within the justice system and the government.
- Sumeyya Ilanbey and Jack Latimore
Why a new $1.1 billion prison in Victoria is sitting empty
There is a link between tougher bail laws and building the 1248-bed jail, Yoorrook has heard.
- Jack Latimore
- Truth-Telling
I was kept from my Indigenous family as a child. Then my own kids were taken from me
A Gunditjmara woman recalls her dealings with child protection - first as a child, then as a mother.
- Mikaila Frost
State sorry for failure to provide evidence, delaying truth-telling inquiry
The government has failed to produce reports on the criminal justice and child protection systems.
- Jack Latimore
- Opinion
‘Family violence is not part of Aboriginal culture’, but Katrina knows it too well
Indigenous woman Katrina Harrison lays bare her lifetime of despair and her reasons for hope.
- Katrina Harrison
Brother’s life in jail and tragic death: Yoorrook inquiry hears elder’s story
Aunty Geraldine Atkinson relates the effects of the child protection and criminal justice systems.
- Jack Latimore
- Truth Telling
How Johnny Kangatong and Sarah survived a time of purge and peril
The Indigenous youths found refuge, romance and high art on the property of a white pastoralist.
- Tony Wright
Child protection workers ‘racist’ towards Indigenous families
Aboriginal children in care are also often denied their culture, the commission has heard.
- Jack Latimore
The Yoorrook testimony of Uncle Jack Charles in his own words
Edited excerpt from the testimony of Uncle Jack Charles (1943-2022). Warning: Distressing content
Call to raise age of criminal responsibility and stop ‘pipeline of shattered Indigenous children’
Yoorrook commissioners want the age raised to at least 14 as attorneys-general review the matter.
- Jack Latimore
- Opinion
Urgent changes are needed to halt a new ‘stolen generation’
I have seen first-hand the perpetuation of intergenerational trauma, often from birth.
- Sue-Anne Hunter
‘Truth receivers’ help Indigenous people share their stories
Tara Fry recently learnt the devastating truth of her family history. Now she helps others.
- Jack Latimore
‘Amazing day’: Bill to set up Treaty Authority passes state parliament
An independent body will help treaty negotiations between the government and First Nations people.
- Sumeyya Ilanbey
‘Bombing the Vatican’: The fight over an Aboriginal heritage site heats up
The inside story of a dispute between enduring Aboriginal cultural heritage and a car rally.
- Jack Latimore
‘Highly complex’ truth-telling inquiry asks for an extension
Australia’s first truth-telling commission wants two more years to deliver its final report.
- Callum Godde
Indigenous leaders ask Victorian MPs to ‘walk with us on the journey’ to treaty
A moving address to state parliament kicks off treaty debate after a Liberal MP’s dissent.
- Jack Latimore
- Exclusive
Yoorrook commission loses a third committee member in six months
Insiders are concerned that the commission’s crimped timeframes may delay its work.
- Jack Latimore
- Opinion
Devastating truths must be told and heard in the quest for a new nationhood
Denial of truth will eat away at the soul of the Australian people, Paul Briggs writes.
- Paul Briggs
Continue this series
A time for treatyPreviously
New powers, greater role for peak Aboriginal body in Victoria
An expanded First Peoples’ Assembly would be given statutory powers to question ministers, provide advice and make appointments to government boards.