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Victoria Inquiry Finds British Colonists Committed Genocide Against Indigenous People
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A four-year investigation by the Yoorrook Justice Commission has concluded that British colonists committed genocide against Indigenous people in the Australian state of Victoria. The landmark report, released on 2 July, catalogues mass killings, disease, sexual violence, child removal and cultural erasure beginning in the 1830s, leading to what it calls the “near-complete physical destruction” of First Nations communities.
The commission estimates that the Aboriginal population in Victoria plunged by three-quarters within two decades of colonisation, falling from about 60,000 in 1834 to 15,000 by 1851. Its 100 recommendations seek “redress” for the harms, including financial compensation, restitution of ancestral lands, an overhaul of school curricula and increased funding for Indigenous health services.
Victoria’s Labor government said it will examine the findings, with Premier Jacinta Allan noting they "shine a light on hard truths." Three of the five commissioners declined to endorse unspecified elements of the final report, but the genocide determination stands. The inquiry is Australia’s first state-wide truth-telling process and comes amid a broader national debate on reconciliation after voters rejected the 2023 referendum on creating an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament.
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