Aunty Eva Jo Edwards' first memory is of a torch being shined in her face as she tried to sleep.
The next day Ms Edwards was taken, along with her sisters and eight-month old baby brother, and placed in state care at the Lutheran Children's Home in Kew.
She was five years old.
Now nearly 60, Ms Edwards gave evidence at the Yoorrook Justice Commission as part of its inquiry into Victoria's criminal justice and child protection systems.
"I can't remember my life before the institutions," Ms Edwards told the hearing.
"My earliest memory is a torch being shined in our faces whilst we were sleeping... they came back the next day and we were removed early the next day."
Her older brothers, aged eight and 11, were sent to Burwood boys home and Ms Edwards struggled with her sense of identity.
"I knew I was different because of the colour of my skin. But that was all I knew," she said.
"I was never told that I was loved, hugged, kissed, needed, or ever recalling that I was encouraged to think about what it is that I might achieve in life."
Ms Edwards spent 13 years in institutions and family group homes and has struggled with abandonment issues and addiction for much of her life.
Her baby brother took his own life at 25.
The Yoorrook commission will look into past and ongoing injustices experienced by Aboriginal Victorians.
It aims to develop a shared understanding among Victorians about the impact of colonisation and make reform recommendations to be included in future treaties.
A 2016 report into 980 Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care in Victoria found 88 per cent experienced family violence, while more than 40 per cent had been separated from siblings and their extended families.
One-in-four had no cultural support plan and 86 per cent of children were case managed by non-Aboriginal agencies.
Counsel Assisting Tony McAvoy said Aboriginal children were 10 times more likely to be subjected to community based supervision and were nine times more likely than non-Aboriginal children and young people to be in youth justice custody.
Mr McAvoy said the details heard at the Yoorrook roundtable suggested things have not changed since previous inquiries and reports into the impact of child protection and criminal justice systems.
"The harmful impacts of these interventions recorded are well-recognised in the literature," Mr McAvoy told the hearing.
Despite this, a culture of over-policing and surveillance, forced removal of children from their families, disproportionate youth justice system outcomes and adverse experiences persist."
The Australian Law Reform Commission and the the Victorian Parliament Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations committee have previously called for a shift in focus towards justice reinvestment to reduce re-offending, and community-led approaches.
"It is not something that can be decided from an office in the CBD," Mr MvAvoy said.
"These are decisions that need to be made by First Nations organisations, doing what they do best from within their communities in every part of the state."
