THE only successful compensation case brought by a member of the Stolen Generations has been upheld by South Australia's highest court, sparking renewed calls for schemes to compensate Aboriginal people taken from their families as children.

It is unclear whether the South Australian government will appeal the decision to the High Court or settle other compensation claims by members of the Stolen Generations, because it remains in caretaker mode following Saturday's state election.

The Full Court of the Supreme Court yesterday dismissed an appeal by South Australia against the 2007 judgment that found Bruce Trevorrow, an Aboriginal man from the Coorong region, south of Adelaide, was taken from his parents when he was a baby in 1957.

Aboriginal leaders praised the decision and hoped it would push the states to follow Tasmania's example and offer compensation to the Stolen Generations, a key recommendation of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report.

Former ATSIC chairwoman Lowitja O'Donoghue welcomed the judgment, saying: "I'd like to see state governments set up a tribunal themselves, and deal with these issues out of court."

One of Trevorrow's lawyers, Claire O'Connor, said outside court the commonwealth and state governments had spent millions of dollars on the case, and it was time for the state government to consider a compensation scheme.

"Now it's time to spend money on indigenous people, not on white lawyers," she said.

Trevorrow, who died in June 2008, was awarded $775,000 compensation after a judge found he had been removed from his parents without their consent.

South Australia's Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement has more than 100 members of the Stolen Generations on its books, and seven cases lodged with the courts.

Chief executive Neil Gillespie said the success of the case gave members of the Stolen Generations new hope, and showed that "removing kids just because they were Aboriginal was just plain wrong".

One of the key findings upheld in the case was that the Aborigines Protection Board, which arranged for Trevorrow to be placed in white foster care when he was 13 months old, did not have the power to remove him from his parents without their consent.

Julian Burnside QC, who also represented Trevorrow, said the decent thing for governments to do was to introduce a simple compensation scheme.

Referring to Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, Mr Burnside said: "I would have thought if you say sorry, that you've committed a moral wrong that's caused harm to people, the next thing you have to do is compensate them for the harm."

Trevorrow's older brother Tom, who still lives in the Coorong region, said the judgment was good news.

The federal government last night ruled out any possibility of a national scheme for compensating members of the Stolen Generations.

Stolen Generations compo payout upheld by appeal court

Gavin Lower, Matthew Franklin

From: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ The Australian

March 23, 2010 12:00AM