Permeable boundaries: The Stolen Generations, former child migrants and forgotten Australians

Considering as its case study the federally-funded Find and Connect Web Resource, this paper will discuss the challenges which occur when the reality of permeable boundaries between Forgotten Australians, Former Child Migrants and members of the Stolen Generations disallow the stringent classifications imposed by policymakers. The insights of this case study impacts upon the third principle of the Bringing Them Home Report which states that ‘in the longer term Indigenous communities should have an opportunity to manage their own historical documentation’. Rather than creating more artificial silos of information, the reality of complex societal interrelationships has to be better reflected in future archival policy and practice, resulting in shared infrastructure networks of robust collections which support archival autonomy.