How Did The Stolen Generation Affect Australian Aboriginal People

Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.

At the turn of the twentieth century the systematic forced removal of Aboriginal children from their mothers, families and cultural heritage was commonplace. There were several reasons that the government and white society used to justify the separation but the prevailing ideology of nationalism and maintaining Australia for the ‘whites’ was the over-riding motivation and justification for their actions[1]. Progressive sciences such as anthropology espoused such theories as eugenics, miscegenation, biological absorption and assimilation which legitimated governmental policies relating to Aboriginal affairs[2]. It was

‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair was the trigger that led my research into the effects of the Stolen Generation on Aboriginals in Australia. This film is about an Aboriginal singing group who want to make a name for themselves, but find it difficult because of the racism against them. This film also tells the stories of their cousin Kay, who was a half-caste and was stolen from her Aboriginal family at a young age to be taught the ways of white people, and forget her culture. This film made me realise that I am lucky to live in a country where racism of such an extent in which children are stolen from their indigenous families, isn’t part of our history, and has not affected me personally. From my research, I have found six main sources that have helped me to understand how large this problem was and continues to be. My sources: ‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair; a film about a group of Aboriginal singers who are affected by racism which is based on a real life singing group; ‘The Sorry Speech’, by Kevin Rudd who was the Prime Minister of Australia in 2008 who explains the damage and apologises for the way that the actions of past governments tore apart the lives of their indigenous people. Then there is ‘Blind Eye,’ the documentary in which people who were stolen are interviewed and tell their stories. The film, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ this tells the story of two girls who were stolen and gives us insight into how brutally that they were treated after being ripped apart from

The Stolen Generation has had a great effect on Aboriginal rights and freedoms as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders didn’t even have the rights to raise and look after their children and as a result 100,000 Aboriginal Australian’s were displaced and placed into white families. The lack of understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture also meant that many people who supported the removal of these children really thought they were doing “the right thing”. The impact on Australian life today is still being felt as the Stolen Generation is seen as a recent event has it only ended in the early 1970s. Children that where taken away back then now cannot trace back their roots and therefore have no record of their family history or where

The stolen generation is a term to describe aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from families by federal and state governments and by church missions. The aim of this was to bring aboriginal children up in white families and teach them to reject their original culture, therefore if they continued successfully there would eventually be no indigenous people remaining.

The “Stolen Generation” was caused by the Assimilation policy. Children under fourteen years old were taken away from their parents and placed in “training homes” such as the “Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls”. It was easy for the governments to defend their decision to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children due to the destitute conditions of the reserves. In 1939 the “Exemption Certificate” was introduced.

A perfect example of separation and dispossession is the stolen generation. The stolen generation is a term used to describe the indigenous children that were taken away from their families and their land by the Australian federal government. The stolen generation has grown up without any family ties or cultural identity. This may create social and financial disadvantages, feelings and insecurity, low self-esteem, depression, violence, suicide, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, crime and a general lack of trust.

Throughout the early 20th century, the Australian public was led to believe that Aboriginal children were disadvantaged in their communities, and that there was a high risk of physical and sexual abuse. Aboriginal children were being removed in order to be exposed to ‘Anglo values’ and ‘work habits’ with a view to them being employed by colonial settlers, and to stop their parents, families and communities from passing on their culture, language and identity

Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms

The stolen children were brainwashed over a duration of time. They were exposed to a different culture and customs that they had to adapt to as they were raised in a different world. This threatened the Indigenous people, due to the fact once they die no other generation will keep their culture and beliefs alive for the future. Even though, the children were separated from the families some of them did not forget their foot step and continued to follow their cultural traditions privately. Due to the separation from their families and land, many aboriginal children started getting involved in gang activity and exposure to alcohol and

History has unveiled the early contacts of colonization from the Europeans that set motion to cultural oppression and exclusion of the Aboriginal communities (Kirmayer, Tait, Simpson & Simpson, 2009). The introduction of the residential school system was meant to eliminate the indigenous people’s cultural heritage and way of life, creating a historical trauma. As a result, survivors of the residential school system left the majority of the Aboriginal population without a sense of cultural heritage, lack of self-esteem, and depression (Gone, 2010). Aboriginal culture was suppressed, breaking the connection of traditional knowledge from parent to child (Kirmayer, Tait, Simpson & Simpson, 2009). Trans-generational trauma of the Aboriginal people has left psychologically and physically damage towards their own heritage (Gray & Nye, 2001).

Were children of mixed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent whom were removed from their families by Australian Federal Government

The native Aboriginal peoples of Australia have inhabited the island for at least 50,000 years. European colonization did not occur until the late 18th century, which brought diseases that ravaged the indigenous populations throughout the continent. Aboriginal children were removed from their homes from the beginning of the British occupation of Australia. These children, as shown in the film, were sent to a sort of “boarding schools” to be trained to serve British colonists. Like in the U.S.A, certain land areas were “reserved” for the aboriginal peoples. A Chief Protector was designated for the responsibility and defense of the aboriginal peoples. A more accurate title would have been the “Chief Discipliner” whose job was to “indoctrinate the aboriginal children” so as to use them for the service of the British citizens.

1. The Stolen Generation explores the removal of Indigenous children from their families’ due to the ‘White Australian’ assimilation policies that were passed in motion by the federal government from 1909-1969 (Young, 2009). A psychological trauma that I could not imagine going through by having a higher authority to remove me or any of my siblings away from my parents at such an early stage in life would leave not only myself but my whole family in distraught and feelings of emptiness due to the fact our parents were emancipated from us without our consent. Even though the government has tried to compensate the cohort who were in the Stolen Generation and its descendants of a base pay of $20 000 and an extra $3000 for each year of

One of the abhorrent features of assimilation was the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families, and their placement in white institutions where they were made to reject their Indigenous heritage.1,2 Consequently, the children were stripped of their identity, and were left with an unrepairable scar of loneliness, and grief. 1-3 Many of these children, known as the Stolen Generation, are still alive today and have never recovered from their grief, while others turned to alcohol and drugs for coping.1-3 This explains the higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among Indigenous Australians