Hello everyone and happy new year Most of us are in the same boat. The long line of British and Australian governments did a good job with their policies of 'protection' and we learned to keep our secrets. Only one generation it takes for the stories not to be told and they are gone. Fortunately though, those very same governments from day one kept records and seemed proud of their accomplishments (so much so that they don't see the need for 'sorry'). We know about the massacres, the punitive expeditions all from the Colonial Secretaries papers. There are the blanket returns and reserve and mission reports to name but a few. These reports are mostly public documents but the government apparently continues with the patronising attitude of 'protection. I need permission from them to access many of the files that contain the information about my people and family. They say there is a privacy issue, this may be the case but as we can see from our friends on this site we some times need to access these files to find out just where we belong, it might be the starting point. Sorry for the ramble, I just feel so frustrated at the barriers we still encounter. Some of us have had some success and I see also from other genealogy sites a lot of information being exchanged. I think if we posted more information / requests and findings and kept the site 'busy' it may benefit all the subscribers. Try to get others to join also, its amassing how many names or places come up on these sites that we know of. This link was sent to me by a friend it might be useful, but those of you really struggling let us know where you have looked and we might be able to add to your list. http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/publications/aboriginalguide/aboriginalguidetoc.htm Anyway happy hunting Cheryl Darug descendant