Newcastle councillor Deahnna Richardson shares family Stolen Generation story

The theme for the July 3-10 celebration is "Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!" and, despite her nerves, councillor Deahnna Richardson took courage from that when she told a council meeting about how her aunt and uncles were taken from their family before her mother was born.

"[My mum is] 54 and has never met her older brother David, or indeed seen a photo of him," Cr Richardson said.

"Documents obtained by my aunt from the department show that subsequent efforts by my grandparents over a number of years to have them returned were refused for reasons including not having an indoor toilet in the house they rented.

"My grandfather died when my mum was five and mum's siblings were never returned."

Cr Richardson said she had heard of the injustice through the different way her family were treated.

"Yes mum's family were poor and living in an overcrowded house," she said. "But dad was white and one of seven living in a three-bedroom house. Dad will talk about how they didn't have an inside toilet. For mum, that was a reason for welfare.

"When I tell people this, they say 'well obviously there's a reason they were taken'. There's a refusal to say it's the system that was bad."

The Wiradjuri woman fought back tears sharing the story at the council meeting, but said she decided to speak to provide a better understanding of the Stolen Generation and its ongoing impacts.

"I wrote it earlier in the week and didn't look at it again so I wouldn't get nervous," she said. "I ended up getting nervous anyway.

"It's not something I share very often.

"It's a really difficult topic to talk about, but the point I wanted to make was that the Stolen Generation is barely in the rear view mirror.

"I think a lot of people's understanding of the Stolen Generation is based on watching Rabbit Proof Fence.

"While that definitely happened, it's so much more recent. It isn't something in the distant past. The trauma is still felt today."

The speech was in response to a motion acknowledging the 25 year anniversary of then NSW Premier Bob Carr's apology to the Stolen Generation.

While Cr Richardson said that was an important first step towards healing, issues still lingered today including the high proportion of First Nations people in youth detention and out of home care, as well as the 2018 decision by the NSW government to allow adoption of Aboriginal children without their parents' consent.

Acknowledging the positives, Cr Richardson said her culture had instilled a strong family bond, kinship and sharing in her and described her childhood as "joyful".

But she said she feels a responsibility to represent First Nations people and be a voice on issues that affect them.

"Representation is really important," Cr Richardson said. "Nothing in politics is certain. I have an opportunity to use whatever platform I have to advocate for issues, especially for the Aboriginal community.

"But I do think everybody brings their own experience and if you don't have a diversity of experience you're going to keep making decisions in the same vein."

While being a federal issue, Cr Richardson said she would like to see the Uluru Statement from the Heart enacted. She also believed local government had a role to play in bringing Aboriginal culture into the mainstream.

"We are doing it," she said.

"But people say to me they go to England for the history," she said. "We've got tens of thousand of years of history here. That should be really visible in the community."