"'I'll come back here in a box' - that, to me, tells me the traumatic past that she had."

Remembering the Stolen Generations is something Vicki Peart understands as necessary, not only as the daughter of a survivor, but as a Stolen Generations worker at the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC).

"The older community who were placed here have gone through dementia and things like that - they're actually reliving their traumatic experiences. My mum's actually doing that now. She's reliving the trauma she went through," Ms Peart said.

BADAC are calling for a memorial to the Stolen Generations on Sturt Street.

"We were ripped away from our families, we had our culture taken away from us, our land taken away from us, our identity taken away from us, our communities taken away from us," Ms Peart said.

"To get that acknowledged - I think a memorial would be fantastic."

READ MORE: National Sorry Day Ballarat 2021: Why this day is so important

Ballarat has a sad, unique history connected to the Stolen Generations.

Children were taken from all areas of the country, and over many decades, thousands of stolen children from infancy to 16 years old were housed across five orphanages here; Ballarat Orphanage, St Joseph's Home, Alexandra Babies Home, Nazareth House, and Warrawee Reception Centre.

There are countless stories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in these centres.

A third of children lost all contact with their families.

BADAC chief operating officer Jon Kanoa said a memorial on Sturt Street would open up a much-needed conversation in Ballarat.

"To have a memorial in the middle of Ballarat would be something that would get people having a conversation 'What this is? Why is this here?'," he said.

Mr Kanoa said it would allow the community a chance to deepen understanding of the ongoing and far-reaching effects of this dark period in Ballarat's history.

"We can't change the past, but what we can do is understand and educate each other about how we move forward from such a negative historic component from the Ballarat era especially," Mr Kanoa said.

READ MORE: Uncle Murray's story an important reminder on National Sorry Day

Over the next week, Ballarat will host a range of events by local government and community groups in support of NAIDOC Week.

This year's theme is 'Healing Country'.

NAIDOC.org.au explains, "to Heal Country, we must properly work towards redressing historical injustice".

"For generations we have repeatedly called for just recognition of our right to participate on an equal basis in economic and social terms. Yet such participation cannot be successful unless, first, there is formal recognition that Indigenous people have been dispossessed and, second, definite, specific steps are taken to redress the grave social and economic disadvantage that followed that dispossession."

BADAC chief executive Karen Heap said that healing begins with acknowledgement.

"I think for too long things have been put under the rug and hidden ... it's time now to do that truth telling, which I think is a good thing. And it's a good thing for Ballarat," she said.

The survivors of the Stolen Generations are now in the later stages of life.

Ms Heap said this is why Ballarat needs to act on a memorial.

"The elders of that era are getting older and I think we need to really act reasonably quickly to actually put something straight now," she said.

Ms Heap said a memorial would be symbolic, and in line with other meaningful moves to acknowledge and remember the past.

"It just adds on to all the things that we do like Sorry Day and reconciliation - this is something that we should be recognising," she said.

"Its recognition of the past, recognition of what atrocities that Aboriginal people have had done to them. We need to be able to have something that will tell people, 'you are important, you are recognised' as a part of that generation'."

READ MORE: National Sorry Day 2021 protest in Ballarat: call for people to support Aboriginal community

Ms Peart often thinks of her grandmother.

"I'm just imagining my Nan - I'm going back in time and just thinking how she would have felt ... she had seven kids," she said.

"She never once drank or anything like that before her children were taken. She actually drank herself to death. Seven kids ripped away from you at once, that's a lot of pain."

The ripple effect of the individual and collective pain experienced by the Stolen Generations has been well documented, and manifests in many ways.

In a comprehensive study of health and economic impacts of forcible removals and the Stolen Generations, the Healing Foundation in 2018 concluded:

But, there is loss that can't be measured in statistics.

Deprivation of identity and erosion of culture that resulted from these government policies, Ms Peart said, meant some of her clients struggle to identify with their Aboriginality.

"That was stripped away from them. Going back to the mission days, where you weren't allowed to practice your culture or song or dance or anything like that - that was the same in the orphanages," she said.

Mr Kanoa said a memorial would need to be developed in collaboration with survivors.

"We don't just want to do it from a BADAC, or the City of Ballarat, or community perspective, we need our survivors that actually were part of this and their families," he said.

"They need to have a say about what it looks like ... we need their voice to guide us in this space, not the other way around."

Ms Peart said a memorial would not only serve to commemorate and mourn the past, but act as a celebration of survival.

"We've survived," she said.

"Just. We just seem to get stronger."

NAIDOC Week is July 4-11. Visit www.naidoc.org.au

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support, phone Lifeline 13 11 14.

Help is also available, but not limited, via the following organisations. The key message is you are not alone.

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