A damning report has declared that British colonists committed genocide against Aboriginal people in Victoria, marking the first time an official inquiry in Australia has applied the term to the colonisation of the state.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission—Australia’s first formal truth-telling inquiry—released its interim findings after a four-year investigation into the historic and ongoing injustices faced by First Peoples. Established in 2021, the Commission was tasked with uncovering the full extent of harm caused by colonisation, and the results are confronting.
According to the report, the Indigenous population of Victoria plummeted by 75 per cent within just two decades of colonisation in the 1830s. The inquiry attributes this to a combination of state-sanctioned violence, introduced disease, sexual violence, forced child removals, and environmental destruction.
From 1834 onward, the report states that “mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal” and assimilation policies collectively led to the “near-complete physical destruction” of Victoria’s Aboriginal population.
“This was genocide,” the report concludes unequivocally.
The findings were drawn from more than two months of public hearings and over 1,300 submissions, offering a long-overdue platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to share their truths on record.
The report also notes the catastrophic drop in population—from 60,000 Aboriginal people in 1834 to just 15,000 by 1851.
In total, 100 recommendations have been made to address the historic and systemic harms detailed in the report. These include the establishment of reparations, land return schemes, greater investment in Aboriginal-led health services, and urgent reforms across education and public policy.
One key recommendation is for Victoria’s school curriculum to be overhauled, with increased input from Indigenous communities to ensure historical accuracy and cultural integrity. The Commission also urged the state government to issue a formal apology to Aboriginal servicemen who were excluded from post-war land grants offered to non-Indigenous diggers.
The state’s health system was also scrutinised, with the report finding that racism is “endemic” and calling for immediate measures to improve cultural safety and employment pathways for Aboriginal health professionals.
Despite the strength of the findings, the Commission was not without internal disagreement. Three of the five commissioners—Sue-Anne Hunter, Maggie Walter, and Anthony North—did not endorse the report’s key findings, although no explanation was provided.
Nonetheless, the response from Aboriginal leaders has been unwavering.
Jill Gallagher, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, called the genocide determination “indisputable”.
“We don’t blame anyone alive today for these atrocities,” she told the ABC, “but it is the responsibility of those of us alive today to accept that truth – and all Victorians today must accept, recognise and reconcile with these factual findings.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said her government would “carefully consider” the recommendations, acknowledging the report’s role in “shining a light on hard truths”.
The report arrives at a time of heightened tension in Australia’s national reckoning with its colonial past. It follows the defeat of the Voice referendum in October 2023, when Australians voted against amending the Constitution to establish a permanent Indigenous advisory body to parliament.
While Victoria has led the way with its commitment to truth-telling and treaty, progress across other states remains inconsistent. In Queensland, for example, a truth-telling process was scrapped following a change in government.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s work now stands as a historic and urgent call to action—not only to redress the past but to reshape the future.
Its central message is clear: until the truth is faced, justice for First Peoples in Victoria remains out of reach.
