Australia?s Aborigines renewed calls for official recognition of past injustices yesterday after a court awarded an Aboriginal man A$525,000 (some Rs 14 272 000) for being taken from his family 50 years ago. In Wednesday?s landmark ruling, a court in the state of South Australia awarded Bruce Trevorrow the money in compensation and damages for being taken from his mother as a baby and given to a white foster parent without their consent.

Reconciliation Australia, set up to help promote better relations between Aborigines and white Australians, said the case highlighted the need for proper recognition and compensation for the victims of the so-called stolen generation of Aborigines.

A major government report in 1997 detailed the suffering of the ?stolen generation?, who were taken from their families to be brought up in white homes under old assimilation policies which ran until the late 1960s. The report, titled Bringing Them Home, recommended compensation to those removed from their families, and an official government apology.