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Becoming an elder in the community I was stolen from as a baby

How Australian community leader Dianne O'Brien discovered the truth of her Indigenous heritage - and her calling.

Dianne O'Brien was born in the 1940s and grew up in an Irish-Australian family near Sydney. But when she was just 14, she found out by chance that she was adopted. Years later in search of her birth family, Dianne discovered that she was Indigenous, part of the Stolen Generation and a descendant of celebrated Indigenous Australian politicians. She eventually went on to become a leader in her own right in the community she was taken from so many decades before. (A longer version of this interview was first broadcast in March 2022)

A warning that this interview contains descriptions of physical and sexual violence.

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Zoe Gelber

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Dianne O'Brien with her mother, aged two. Credit: Courtesy of Dianne O'Brien)

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 4 Sep 2023 02:32GMT

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