AN Indigenous Riverina woman, who was plucked from her parents as part of the Stolen Generations, has welcomed compensation but said it could not completely erase the pain.
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Fay Moseley, 70, was 10 when she was taken from her family to the Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Training Home.
On Friday, the state government vowed to offer financial compensation to survivors of the Stolen Generations under a multimillion-dollar policy acknowledging the harm inflicted on Aboriginal communities by the forcible removal of children
Almost 20 years after a landmark national report recommended financial reparations be made to Aboriginal people affected by successive state governments' forcible removal policies, NSW will set up a scheme to streamline compensation claims.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Leslie Williams announced a $73.8 million package on Friday.
It includes a $59.5 million administrative scheme offering one-off financial payments of $75,000 to survivors "without the need for a lengthy and arduous legal process".
Thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board or the Aborigines Protection Board between the late 1800s and the 1970s.
It is estimated the number of Stolen Generations survivors in NSW today is about 730, although there may be as many as 1350.
Ms Moseley and six of her siblings were "picked up by the side of the road" in Leeton.
She said the Stolen Generations "generated billions of dollars in revenue in terms of our work out in the farms and in houses".
"None of us girls were paid," she said
While compensation was welcome, Ms Moseley said it could not replace "the loss of your parents, the loss of your siblings" and children.
Kerrie Kelly, the network co-ordinator of the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, said survivors were "cautiously optimistic" and looked forward to working with the government.