ABSTRACT
The contradictions of memory in multicultural societies and the participatory nature of commemoration in the late twentieth century are evident across a range of sites in contemporary Australia, both public and private. Anna Haebich's new work documents extensive evidence in the public domain of child removals during the twentieth century, and even brings to light public opposition that was both vocal and influenced government policies. This chapter explores some of the issues relating to history and memory that have emerged in a range of public forums. Bain Attwood has traced the process by which the 'stolen generations narrative' has come to assume centre stage in the national consciousness and its emergence as a 'collective memory' for indigenous people. From the 1970s, a number of non-indigenous historians researching the field began to be influenced by questions of memory, particularly if they drew on the new oral history methods that changed the relationship between past and present in historical research.
