In accordance with the practice of the Federal Court in certain cases of public interest, a brief summary has been prepared to accompany the reasons for judgment that are to be delivered today.
Numerous writings tell tragically of a distressing past.
They have claimed that they, as young children, were forcibly removed from their families by employees of the Commonwealth Government. I must emphasise that the question of such an apology was not an issue that was raised in this case by either Mrs Cubillo or by Mr Gunner. I have not therefore addressed that subject. In order to understand the decisions at which I have arrived, I must make mention of the state of the law as it existed at the time when Mrs Cubillo and Mr Gunner were removed from their families. 4 Section 6 of the Aboriginals Ordinance permitted the Director of Native Affairs, a Commonwealth public servant, to undertake the care, custody and control of a part Aboriginal child if, in the Director's opinion, it was necessary or desirable in the interests of the child to take the child into care.