SABRA LANE, HOST: Stolen Generations Survivors from the Northern Territory, ACT and Jervis Bay regions are being encouraged to come forward and claim redress payments from the Commonwealth. The Federal Government set aside almost $400 million for the scheme, but so far only a few hundred applications have been made. Political reporter Dana Morse has more.
DANA MORSE, REPORTER: Even down a crackly phone line, you can hear the joy in Eileen Cummings voice when she speaks about growing up on Mainoru Station in the heart of Arnhem Land.
EILEEN CUMMINGS: I had a wonderful childhood on the station. I was happy, healthy.
MORSE: Now almost 80. She recalls the day her life changed with absolute clarity, the day she was stolen from her mother and country.
CUMMINGS: They asked me if I wanted to go for a ride in the truck and I said yes. Being a curious child, I jumped on the back of the truck. The next minute they took me straight out of the community. No explanation to my mother.
MORSE: She was just four years old. Eileen and her cousins were taken to the Croker Island mission off the coast of the Northern Territory.
CUMMINGS: And we got on the boat petrified because we'd never been on a boat before and we'd never seen the sea.
MORSE: It was 15 years before she reunited with her mother at Mainoru.
CUMMINGS: Mum was so happy to see us all. But even then, when she saw me, she. I'd come back as a grown woman. But I could see that she was crying. She kept saying to me, I'm glad you brought my grandchildren back to see me.
MORSE: Eileen has been a champion for survivors of the Stolen Generations, leading the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Corporation and acting as the lead claimant for a class action that saw landmark payments from the federal government to survivors. The class action has wound up, but survivors are still eligible for redress payments from the Federal Government. Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is in charge of administering the scheme.
SENATOR MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Our Government must reach out to First Nations people in the redress scheme in a manner that is sincere but in a manner that also enables them to have hope going forward.
MORSE: $378 million has been set aside for the program, enough for thousands of applicants to receive a $75,000 redress payment. A $7,000 healing assistance payment. And a personal acknowledgement from a senior government person. But so far, only a few hundred people have come forward to make a claim.
MCCARTHY: We certainly need to see more applications come through. It does take time and there is no rush. We want people to do this when they're ready.
MORSE: Chief executive of the Healing Foundation, Ian Hamm, says it can be difficult for survivors to come forward.
HEALING FOUNDATION CEO IAN HAMM: I think people are taking their time to come to terms with doing an application because it's a complete reversal of what people had experienced for them for a lot of their lives.
MORSE: Eileen Cummings says while compensation is important, many survivors want the government to recognise past wrongs, take responsibility and make sure the stories of the stolen generations are preserved.
CUMMINGS: Even though it was a hard and terrible thing to happen, I think we need to record and tell the world what actually happened to the children of the Stolen Generations.