About our Peat Island advocacy

Peat Island is an island on the Hawkesbury River in NSW.

From 1911 to 2010 the NSW State Government ran a disability institution on Peat Island. It caused people with disability to be exposed to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

People who lived on Peat Island showed resilience and survival. They built communities and formed lasting friendships. For the people with disability who lived at Peat Island, it was their home.

In 2022 the NSW Government made the Darkinjung Aboriginal Land Council the owners of Peat Island.

CID supports the return of Peat Island to the traditional owners. We thank the Darkinjung Aboriginal Land Council for working with CID to honour the experience of people on Peat Island in the past. We are looking forward to working more with the traditional owners in 2023.

In 2021 the NSW Government planned to develop the Island. We wrote a submission against their plans. We told the Government they needed to talk to people with disability about what should happen with Peat Island. A lot of people joined us in an open letter to the Premier to say this.

Our advocacy

Research

CID and UTS have worked together on research about remembering disability institutions (Easy Read PDF).

Here is some very detailed research about disability institutions in NSW including Peat Island.