Powerful and award-winning documentary Genocide in the Wildflower State has been selected to screen at the WA Made Film Festival, a major platform for locally produced films.
This harrowing yet necessary documentary sheds light on one of the darkest chapters in Western Australia's history—the systematic removal of Aboriginal children through a violent, state-sanctioned system of eugenics, racial absorption, and social assimilation.
Produced by YOKAI Healing Our Spirit (West Australian Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation) and Bringing Them Home WA Inc, the documentary exposes the brutal policies that saw thousands of mixed-race Aboriginal children in Western Australia forcibly taken from their families between 1905 and 1972.
The State, with widespread societal support, carried out this act of cultural destruction for over sixty years, seeking to erase Aboriginal identity in favour of European, settler dominance. In 1997, a National Inquiry called this policy for what it was—genocide.
Through the voices of Stolen Generations Survivors, the film presents firsthand accounts of the brutal separation, abuse, and institutional control that defined their stolen childhoods.
Their testimonies, supported by state records, public archives and historical scholarship, serve as an undeniable indictment of the injustices committed.
More than a documentary, Genocide in the Wildflower State is an act of truth-telling, a demand for justice, and a call to action.
It holds successive Western Australian governments accountable for their failure to make meaningful redress and highlights the ongoing trauma carried by survivors and their descendants.
Appearing in the documentary to share their stories are Stolen Generations Survivors and descendants Dorothy Bagshaw, Ezzard Flowers, Timothy Flowers, Brenda Greenfield, Dallas Phillips, Lorraine Pryor, Marie Pryor, Garry Ryder, Valerie Stella Woods, Glenda Williams, and Gail Yorkshire.
At its core, the film is about healing—both within the Survivor community and in the broader Australian society that must reckon with this past.
Executive producer Bringing Them Home WA Inc co-chair, Tony Hansen, said via social media that YOKAI are delighted to have been officially selected to screen at the WA Made Film Festival.
The film will screen alongside Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day and Wadjemup Wirin Bidi, further amplifying critical Indigenous stories.
With its selection at the WA Made Film Festival, Genocide in the Wildflower State will continue its vital work—educating audiences, confronting historical truths, and fostering a deeper understanding of the resilience and strength of Aboriginal people in the face of systematic oppression.
For more information on the screening and festival schedule, visit the WA Made Film Festival website.