The Apology Of The Holocaust

How was the removal of Aboriginal Children from their families justified by the Australian Government and white society??

Only in recent years have we seen the recognition that the stolen generation deserves and the essential part it has play in the struggle of Aboriginal rights. Since the end of the stolen generation, numerous organisations and government agency has come out and said sorry for what happened for seventy years and as a result Aboriginal rights are becoming more apparent. The famous “I’m sorry” speech said by Kevin Rudd was the first Parliament apology to the Stolen Generation and was seen as a huge leap forward in the recognition of the Stolen Generation. The Bringing Them Home Report in 1997 was a strong campaign for The

Assimilation policies existed in purpose of allowing the removal of Aboriginal children legal and believed as to be the right thing. The removal policy was managed by the Aborigines Protection Board. The Aborigines Protection Board was a government board established in 1909 with the power to remove children without parental consent and without a court order. These policies were especially detrimental to the Aborigines as a ‘government’ act prevented them with having authority over their own children and having no power in stopping the abducting of their children. Over causing a significant discrimination against the indigenous race, breeding hatred and inequality in Australian society, the implementation of these policies caused immense heartache and anguish for the Aboriginal parents for losing their children, the children of the Stolen Generation experiencing solitude and confusion for majority of their lives and the rest of society,

Mr Rudd opened his speech in parliament with the words “We honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history” (2012). It is true that Mr Rudd took the first step in reconciliation however he has not progressed as far as hoped. There has been little compensation made to the stolen generation. Was the apology a sincere one? Perhaps? His intentions were clear and precise. Rudd had said he would apologize and he did. He did not say he would compensate the Indigenous Australians in any form which would have gone a long way to begin the healing process. Especially due to the inconceivable horrors that were enacted against the Stolen Generations.

The National Inquiry into the separation of the children concluded that 'between one-in-three and one-in-ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in the period from approximately 1910 until 1970' (Wilkie, 1997). It was the 1960s, at the earliest, when the various 'protection' Acts were either abolished or discontinued.

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

I would like to begin this speech by recognising the owners of this land, the true ancestors of the country we call ‘ours’. To the Indigenous peoples of Australia, I acknowledge you, I thank you and most of all I apologise to you for the deep suffering and remorse you are put through. I am ashamed of this country’s treatment towards you. Past and Present.

Most of the crimes Indigenous children were being arrested are unreasonable; for example Girls falling pregnant young were taken away from their families where the Boards ‘advertise children for fostering: 150 on public offer and 90 for non- Indigenous parents’ (Haebich and Mellor, 2002, p. 259). As a result to the Aboriginal Affair Act 1958, over 200 children were being adopted into white families; to the government was a way of keeping them out of poverty or other negative circumstance. However, in my opinion stripping a child away from their parents will negatively impact the child; they are more likely to misbehave and come in contact with the police. Also the children will feel vulnerable as they could be exposed to sexual, physical and emotional abuse from their adopted families. This form of force assimilation can be considered as the process of cultural genocide, as Aboriginal children are taught to conduct themselves similarly to Europeans and reject their people and culture leaving them detached from their

This article gives the reader an inequitable view of Indigenous Australians, defending Tony Abbot’s point of view and the audience is encouraged to agree with mainstream media in regards to whether or not Tony Abbott is racist. Article B from the Koori Mail condemns Tony Abbott’s viewpoint as not only racist but he is insulting the very culture that he is representing. Article B states that Tony Abbott does not understand Indigenous culture and how important land is to them “Connection to country is everything to Aboriginal people – defines Aboriginal people and sustains us in a cultural and spiritual sense and can play a vital role in building economic independence, self-determination and healing” (Greg Cromelin, Article B). With Article B the audience is encouraged to get angry at Tony Abbott’s comments and make him out to be racist.

Reconciliation is the process of building respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community. It is about understanding and respecting their culture and heritage and signifies ‘coming together’ to become one nation without racism and with equality for all. There are still vast differences in health, education, employment, and standards of living of the Indigenous peoples as compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Even today Indigenous peoples have a significantly lower life expectancy, up to 11.5 years for men and 9.7 years for women . The infant mortality rate for the Indigenous peoples is double the rate for non-Aboriginal Australians. Understanding these inequalities is the first step to reconciling the differences. Policies such as the stolen generation and assimilation policy destroyed Indigenous identity and culture and justified the dispossession of Indigenous people and the removal of Indigenous children from their parents. We can’t change the past but we can make a better future by understanding and learning from the mistakes of the past, reconciliation is about that. Many practical and symbolic strategies have been implemented over the last 50 years to achieve reconciliation such as ATSIC, Northern Territory Intervention and the Mabo decision. However, the most significant ones are the 1967 Referendum, Closing the Gap framework in 2008 and the ‘Sorry speech’. The aim is to improve the five dimensions of reconciliation: race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity, unity, and historical acceptance.

From 1910 to 1970 Indigenous children were taken from their home due to the policy called assimilation by the government (Australians Together, no date).Australians Together is a social group helping to see better relationships between indigenous and nonindigenous

In 1937 Conference of State and Federal Ministers of Native Welfare, the debate about the policy for indigenous people, the aboriginal issue has been divided into two populations, the ‘full-bloods’ and the ‘half castles’ (Hollinsworth, 1998). The first group was assumed would be die out eventually, and the second group can trained and absorbed into white family as a servant. In fact, Indigenous children kidnapping as servants was existed since European new arrival. And the removals and the blocking of return to Indigenous families was became common while the growth of ‘mix race’ people (Hollinsworth, 1998). In NSW, the legislation trying to remove the ‘mix race’ children from their family and placed them in foster care (Haebich 2000), while the prohibition of marriage and contact between racial categories has been legislated. Removed children are broken emotionally by told that their parent were dead out or abandoned them, and forced to neglect their own culture, as well as physically, as

The Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families 1997 better known as the ‘Bringing Them Home Report’ brought to the fore the policies of separation and assimilation but also denial from several quarters of society specifically the Liberal Prime Minister-

Between 1910-1970, many Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families because of various government policies. The generations of children removed under these policies became known as the Stolen Generations. During federation in 1901, the Constitution states that Aboriginal People will not be counted in the census, and that the Commonwealth has the power to make laws relating to any race of people In Australia except for Aborigines. Kevin Rudd’s sorry speech in 2008 is a significant event in Indigenous Australians receiving civil rights. This point will be proven by previous events and impacts of the stolen generation on Indigenous right and freedoms.

It is commonly claimed that Aboriginal children were stolen away from their decent, loving families, as an intentional government policy done for racist reasons and not for any legitimate purpose, but instead, to ‘breed out the black.’ The truth however, is that this just did not happen, or at least it did not happen in the way it is described to have occurred.