Hundreds of Aboriginal children likely buried in unmarked graves at three WA missions

That abbot seems a decent bloke. Didn't shy away from what happened, didn't fob off the journo. Answered the questions openly and honestly and was encouraging the idea of ground penetrating radar being employed to find graves they don't know about yet.

But of a sea change from Church peeps hiding stuff and being hostile to the media. More of this, please.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

As many as 400 Aboriginal children and babies are likely to have been buried in unmarked graves at three former Western Australian missions, the vast majority of them interred after dying when five or under, a Guardian Australia investigation can reveal.

Spanning decades, more than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, were most likely buried with no record at just three church and government-run missions in the state: Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia.

Some are calling for suspected burial sites to be excavated with bodies identified and the remains repatriated to their communities, while others want the graves to be honoured with proper recognition.

When Guardian Australia approached Abbot John Herbert, the head of the Benedictine monastery, he said the investigation and the number of New Norcia inmates lying in unmarked graves were “highly concerning”.

In 2018, the WA government and the state library commemorated the 100th centenary of the Moore River Native Settlement, unveiling a remembrance wall, honouring the names of 374 men, women and children who died and are buried in unmarked graves at the cemetery.

The WA government declined to answer questions about whether it would commit funding to ground penetrating radar scans on former mission sites but said in a statement it was committed to supporting and helping Aboriginal people uncover their history and heritage including strategies important to “truth-telling and healing as a foundation for improving the lives of Aboriginal West Australians”.

The original article contains 876 words, the summary contains 242 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!