Kinchela, New South Wales
Kinchela is a village in New South Wales, on land traditionally owned by the Dungutti people. It is best known as the location of the infamous Kinchela Boys' Home, and named after Kinchela Creek, which in turn may have been named after John Kinchela, Attorney General of New South Wales who arrived at Sydney in 1831. The Kinchela Aboriginal reserve was gazetted in 1883, Kinchela was gazetted as a village in 1885 or 1886, and in 1892 an Aboriginal school was established at Pelican Island, near Kinchela.
Kinchela Boys' Home was established by the Aboriginal Protection Board in 1924 and absorbed the Aboriginal school. The Boys' Home was intended for Aboriginal children who were removed from their families as part of the process of 'assimiliation'. The victims of this process eventually became known as the stolen generation. The Home housed between 400 and 600 boys until it was closed in 1970. Bringing Them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, documents the brutal punishment and sexual abuse suffered by these boys.
In 1980 Kinchela Boys’ Home was converted into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre (‘Bennelong’s Haven’) for the local aboriginal community, a number of whom were former Kinchela boys.
In 2001, the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation Strategic Plan was launched at Redfern Community Centre by the Governor of NSW, Professor Marie Bashir. This Strategic Plan for members of the Stolen Generation identified positive solutions for Aboriginal families and communities suffering from the trauma of forced removal.