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The Northern Territory Government has confirmed plans to build a $50-million museum on a historic site in Darwin, including a section dedicated to the Kahlin Compound.
In the 1900s, the Kahlin Compound was used to segregate Indigenous people considered to be "half-caste" from the rest of Darwin and their families.
A healing centre and a library are among the proposals being considered for the site, according to NT Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation's chairwoman Eileen Cummings.
"It's just the greatest recognition that we could ever ask for," she said.
"There were 2,000 children removed from the Northern Territory and put into seven institutions up here, but Kahlin was the first one.
"At long last we've got something we can look forward to."
The new museum aims to "tell the Northern Territory's story" stretching back 50,000 years, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said.
"This is a very important site for a lot of Territorians and it's stood vacant for a long time," he said.
Along with the Kahlin Compound, the site was also home to Darwin's former hospital, which was bombed by the Japanese in World War II and later damaged in Cyclone Tracy.
Mr Gunner said it was not yet clear how much of the museum and parkland would be dedicated to the Kahlin Compound's history.
"We'll be talking with the members of the Stolen Generations and it'll be considered through the design tender, the best way we can do that," he said.
The site overlooking Darwin's Myilly Point has been the subject of several development proposals over the past decade.
In 2014, the Northern Territory Planning Commission proposed using 60 per cent of the site for housing, which it said would make the project economically viable.
In 2008, then chief minister Paul Henderson also proposed a residential development for the site.
Opposition Leader Gary Higgins said he wanted evidence the latest plan would generate income.
"We're talking about what is the input into the economy?" he said.
"What financial impact statements have they done in regard to this project?"
Mr Gunner said a tender process for the museum was expected to begin in June so construction could begin in the 2019/20 financial year.
He also said the new museum would not replace the current Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory at Darwin's Bullocky Point.
Topics: library-museum-and-gallery, government-and-politics, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, darwin-0800
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